Driveway options... Resin bonded?

[marc1]

Does anyone have experience of resin bonded driveways at all?

I've dug up a good section of the front of my house where originally there was a front garden, after that a slight extension to the driveway and large rockery. This was always something I wanted to remove and hence have now dug it up.

I'm not sure which driveway option to go for. The rest of the driveway is Tarmac, which obviously does the job but isn't great and terrible for jacking cars up, etc, etc

Resin seems to look the best, but I'm not sure how it holds up long term. Or indeed how to choice 'the right' company to do the work. You seem to be able to buy 'kits' and do it yourself which doesn't 'look' that difficult (could be wrong).

Block paving seems to encourage weeds, etc so probably not a fan of that.
Tarmac, serves the purpose as said.
Resin bonded seems to look good, but as said not sure how it holds up.

Any advice welcome.

Cheers

[MikeFish]

I'm interesting in this too. Not keen on the practicality of my gravel drive.

[marc1]

Like you say greaves isn't the most practical. It's also not a great option for me as the driveway has a slight gradient towards the road and I'd lose it all. Lol

Although as a short term solution I have thought to put down some sub base MOT and gravel over the top to get me a tempary level I could use.

Have also considered the concrete imprinted driveways. Almost temped to give that a go myself too as I have a friend with the pattern and doing the concrete isn't too difficult. The tricky bit is, I have a number of different angles to work with to ensure no pooling in corners, due to the gradients, etc.

[Mav8]

Guys
im no drive way expert but 1 of my customers has had a resin drive put down(i done the lighting),its a light almost sand
colour,i guess its been down about 3 years now,its still looking superb,.
cheers Mav8

[A20LEE]

I've been told by a builder friend resin is very good and great value for money. One of my neighbours had it done and i've been watching how it wears as i'd been looking into doing mine in the next 12 months. At the moment i'm thinking repaving. Not keen on block paving either as its dated now and needs maintenance. Imprinted concrete is another option.

[MikeFish]

Yes imprinted concrete was also an option for me. My biggest concern is that I live at the bottom of a hill so drainage is a big concern and issue. Currently, being gravel it drains very well. Most other types of driveway will require a run off or soak way installed. I do have a run off between driveway and garage but not sure on its capacity.

[marc1]

Guys
im no drive way expert but 1 of my customers has had a resin drive put down(i done the lighting),its a light almost sand
colour,i guess its been down about 3 years now,its still looking superb,.
cheers Mav8

Awesome, that's good to hear mate. Cheers

[marc1]

I've been told by a builder friend resin is very good and great value for money. One of my neighbours had it done and i've been watching how it wears as i'd been looking into doing mine in the next 12 months. At the moment i'm thinking repaving. Not keen on block paving either as its dated now and needs maintenance. Imprinted concrete is another option.

Cheers Lee. Might pop round and take a look then.

[RIV]

Stable drive with gravel, works a treat

[RIV]

http://www.stabledrive.co.uk

[marc1]

Cheers Silas, thought you might have some solutions actually. Will looking pretty that a bit more. Do you know what prep work is required for the base?

[marc1]

^ ignore that, it's all on the website. But just thinking if I could go over existing Tarmac and build the new area up to the existing Tarmac level with MOT and waker it down properly.

[dan@biali]

We've had a driveway done in resin bound recently. It was applied over a new tarmac base which has to be left long enough for all the oils to come to the surface - think that's a few weeks but we waited 6 as probably due to scheduling. It's not used often as a driveway so hard to comment on its durability. Does look very smart and as driveways have to be permeable now, water doesn't run off it but rather almost disappears through it. As for diy, having watched the 4 blokes spend a whole day sweating to get it laid, I can't say I'd fancy doing anything bigger than a small path. 2 of the blokes were constantly either mixing up in a special mixer or were cleaning up whilst the other 2 were having to work hard to lay the resin before it cured which can be as little as 20 minutes! Once they started laying there were no tea breaks until it was finished 6 hours later. The biggest problem with a driveway in resin bound is the cost. It's nearly double a tarmac equivalent. Having done a bit of research I wouldn't recommend resin bonded (resin applied to surface and the aggregate scattered over it) on high traffic areas as it has a reputation for coming off and being laid by 'no warranty cowboys'.

[MikeFish]

Just for clarity of dan satements; there are 2 methods for this type of driveway; Bonded and bound.
Bound is the type where the resin and aggregates are mixed together then layed on the floor. This is permeable.
Bonded is the type where the resin is layed on the floor then the aggregate is sprinkled onto it. This is non-permeable.

Bound = Good
Bonded = Bad

[marc1]

Cheers for that Mike. I didn't realise there were two ways to do it, so worth checking with any proposed contractors.