Discussion
Do we have anyone here who has or does lay these resin drives? Recently had a firm in laying this stuff on an area in work and was surprised how easy the whole process is considering the high cost to get it done. In fact as it seems so easy, I'm considering doing my own driveway. Although pricey at about £60 a square metre to get a contractor in it seems the best product available these days so do away with their markup should save a wad of cash
We have one and I'm still pleased with it. It's a sloped drive and I can't stand block paving so it's the best option for us. Unfortunately it's only as good as the base underneath it and any movement will crack it. Our tarmac drive (new resin drive laid on top) had been down 20 years and was fine but our 2.8 tonne LR Discovery has since left four indentations where the tarmac below has softened on a hot day. A normal car wouldn't have done it.
The reason its expensive is because its expensive.
The resin material alone is around £30 a m2, then you've got the dig out, type of sub layer ? concrete, tarmac, plastic crates? I've added it all up myself and its expensive to do before theres any (god forbid) profit.
Im a paving company and i don't want to do it or really get that involved, if any comes up i sub contract the resin to an experienced resin specialist, someone who has wasted thousands of pounds learning how to do the stuff.
As with everything it is easy, but theres a lot to go wrong and due to its nature its not like say block paving where you can quickly just re do it iykwim.
The resin material alone is around £30 a m2, then you've got the dig out, type of sub layer ? concrete, tarmac, plastic crates? I've added it all up myself and its expensive to do before theres any (god forbid) profit.
Im a paving company and i don't want to do it or really get that involved, if any comes up i sub contract the resin to an experienced resin specialist, someone who has wasted thousands of pounds learning how to do the stuff.
As with everything it is easy, but theres a lot to go wrong and due to its nature its not like say block paving where you can quickly just re do it iykwim.
Prohibiting said:
Resin driveways seemed to be on par with fake grass in the "things we'll do to homes that'll make future generations wince" thread 
. Stick to gravel 
Nice for those powerfully built directors in country mansions....but we live on a (nice!) estate at the end of a driveway shared with 2 other houses.. Stick to gravel I'm not convinced resin will get a bad rap: if well laid, it seems to look good and absorb water well...imho!
Our tarmac is the original (~28 years old) & looking pretty tired and chewed up. For years I've been sweeping bits up (tarmac-gravelled anyone?!).
It's getting to the point where we need to do something.
Tarmac will likely be the cheapest choice, I imagine: skim the old and lay some new.....but we had some patio landscaping this year and the fella mentioned resin. I believe it would be resin-bound we would want rather than resin-bonded (very confusing!).
Anyway, I can see m3jappa's point: I assume tarmac is much less per m2, easier to lay and repair if needed?
We have one area where we and our immediate neighbour turn cars that gets more wear than the rest. Any ideas on how well resin would fare compared with tarmac for wheel turning?
Just googling showed that you can get good guarantees with then: https://www.sureset.co.uk/about/guarantee (no affiliation, of course!)
Cheers
As always with paving you get what you pay for, The best website in the world has some good info on it. http://www.pavingexpert.com/home.htm
We have a fairly large area being resin bonded on Monday, weather permitting. We picked a specialist company for the reasons given, and the prep work seems to be important so far. We have a mix of old and new concrete areas and the whole surface has been levelled and keyed with an industrial 'scouring' machine followed by a huge vacuum cleaner. I'll report back...
m3jappa said:
The reason its expensive is because its expensive.
The resin material alone is around £30 a m2, then you've got the dig out, type of sub layer ? concrete, tarmac, plastic crates? I've added it all up myself and its expensive to do before theres any (god forbid) profit.
Im a paving company and i don't want to do it or really get that involved, if any comes up i sub contract the resin to an experienced resin specialist, someone who has wasted thousands of pounds learning how to do the stuff.
As with everything it is easy, but theres a lot to go wrong and due to its nature its not like say block paving where you can quickly just re do it iykwim.
Just curious: if this was replacing a tarmac drive, which has not suffered any issues with levels over 25+ years, would it be possible to simply 'skim' off 20mm (perhaps a bit more), whacka the base to check and then lay the resin?The resin material alone is around £30 a m2, then you've got the dig out, type of sub layer ? concrete, tarmac, plastic crates? I've added it all up myself and its expensive to do before theres any (god forbid) profit.
Im a paving company and i don't want to do it or really get that involved, if any comes up i sub contract the resin to an experienced resin specialist, someone who has wasted thousands of pounds learning how to do the stuff.
As with everything it is easy, but theres a lot to go wrong and due to its nature its not like say block paving where you can quickly just re do it iykwim.
(not trying to oversimplify, it just seems that replacing an existing driveway ought to be more straightforward, no?)
Cheers!
mikeiow said:
Just curious: if this was replacing a tarmac drive, which has not suffered any issues with levels over 25+ years, would it be possible to simply 'skim' off 20mm (perhaps a bit more), whacka the base to check and then lay the resin?
(not trying to oversimplify, it just seems that replacing an existing driveway ought to be more straightforward, no?)
Cheers!
it can be overlayed onto an existing substrate. you just need to watch for cracks in it as these will mirror through (reflective cracking). (not trying to oversimplify, it just seems that replacing an existing driveway ought to be more straightforward, no?)
Cheers!
Im not that experienced with the stuff tbh, like i said above its one of those things which looks easy and i think the actual laying of it is, its all the little things which can cause aggro.
Most people will dig out, put down a bit of type 1, then a tarmac base course then the resin.
I really like the look of the plastic crates, this allows some movement, remember its really like tarmac and when it moves it will crack, once its cracked it can't be repaired without seeing the repair iykwim.
However if its on crates then imo it needs to be on a proper permeable sub base. As normal type 1 and sand isn't really permeable.
Its still new and i think its a bit of a fad. The buff colours can look really really good, some of the others just look plain weird (imo).
So, following on from prep work on Friday, team of three returned to lay the resin. Quite a lot of material!
Cleaned down and prepped
piece of kit to spread the correct thickness to then be finished with a float
a few hours later, all done
Finished job viewed from one end
and the opposite direction, though the low sun makes it look darker than it really is
All in all, a good result and seeing the guys in action, it's clear that it is a specialist job - once started they cannot stop as each batch of mix has to follow the last at exactly the right time, as the two pack resin goes off pretty quickly. One chap also had to make sure there is a consistent mix of coloured gravels to make the selected colour throughout, plus a skilled man with a float doing the finishing.
Cleaned down and prepped
piece of kit to spread the correct thickness to then be finished with a float
a few hours later, all done
Finished job viewed from one end
and the opposite direction, though the low sun makes it look darker than it really is
All in all, a good result and seeing the guys in action, it's clear that it is a specialist job - once started they cannot stop as each batch of mix has to follow the last at exactly the right time, as the two pack resin goes off pretty quickly. One chap also had to make sure there is a consistent mix of coloured gravels to make the selected colour throughout, plus a skilled man with a float doing the finishing.
gred said:
So, following on from prep work on Friday, team of three returned to lay the resin. Quite a lot of material!
Cleaned down and prepped
piece of kit to spread the correct thickness to then be finished with a float
a few hours later, all done
Finished job viewed from one end
and the opposite direction, though the low sun makes it look darker than it really is
All in all, a good result and seeing the guys in action, it's clear that it is a specialist job - once started they cannot stop as each batch of mix has to follow the last at exactly the right time, as the two pack resin goes off pretty quickly. One chap also had to make sure there is a consistent mix of coloured gravels to make the selected colour throughout, plus a skilled man with a float doing the finishing.
Looks really good! What was the approx cost per Sq M if you don't mind me asking? Are you up north or in the south? Been looking at this to replace our current tarmac driveway. ThanksCleaned down and prepped
piece of kit to spread the correct thickness to then be finished with a float
a few hours later, all done
Finished job viewed from one end
and the opposite direction, though the low sun makes it look darker than it really is
All in all, a good result and seeing the guys in action, it's clear that it is a specialist job - once started they cannot stop as each batch of mix has to follow the last at exactly the right time, as the two pack resin goes off pretty quickly. One chap also had to make sure there is a consistent mix of coloured gravels to make the selected colour throughout, plus a skilled man with a float doing the finishing.
I've also been looking into this for our driveway, as an example they have quoted £2650 for a 7ftwide by 30ft long driveway. But a more accurate quote needs to be obtained.
Still undecided as to longevity between this and bricks so i'm going to get a quote for both - for the moment I like this look but don't know how well it will age!
Still undecided as to longevity between this and bricks so i'm going to get a quote for both - for the moment I like this look but don't know how well it will age!
ChrisDT said:
I've also been looking into this for our driveway, as an example they have quoted £2650 for a 7ftwide by 30ft long driveway. But a more accurate quote needs to be obtained.
Still undecided as to longevity between this and bricks so i'm going to get a quote for both - for the moment I like this look but don't know how well it will age!
So about 20sqm - over £130 per sqm. Still undecided as to longevity between this and bricks so i'm going to get a quote for both - for the moment I like this look but don't know how well it will age!
Wonder what the rate would be for tarmac.
I also wonder how well resin works in the long term - I imagine it would be perfect for walking on, I am still curious about the duration compared with tarmac, especially when there is a car turning circle involved, with all the impact that would imply (as ours would be - shared driveway with neighbour).
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