diyenthusiat

No prior to the clay ground, it was a foot high garden which was taken out by previous workers. They dug down and removed all the topsoil until they got to ground-level which revealed clay.

Thanks! The MOT type 1 has large (3-4inches) and small rocks/gravel (1.5inches or less with some sand - Couldn't give you the exact dimensions though. There was no original driveway. It was just clay and I was planning to return and do it up into a driveway. The MOT type 1 was put down and wackered by previous builders around a month before the imprinted concrete was done.

Sorry when you say sublayers what you mean? What I can tell you is that the concrete is 4 inches thick in most places.... definitely not less than 2-3 inches in the least areas. Below the concrete there is MOT type 1 hardcore which has been wackered down. The original ground is clay. Hope this better explains it

Thanks for your help guys. So below is what it looks like right now. The first photo shows the colour being washed out and you'll notice the tile pattern missing from some locations. The second photo show the concrete has broken at the edge after a vehicle was driven onto it,

Thanks Temp. Yeah it's very scary stuff that happens nowadays. I will look into Paving Expert. I'm happy to leave it for now, but users on here have mentioned that I can recolour and reseal it myself at a later date, but no one has explained how it's done. Can anyone assist me with this at all?

Thanks very much. Now just need to know how to recolour and seal.

@Nickfromwales Just so you know the mot type 1 was not laid out by these cowboys, but it was done by another team of workers whom were doing other work on the property. However they didn't have any experience of imprinted concrete, hence when these rogue traders came around, my grandad accepted them thinking they were professionals. I'm not sure how to polish and recolour it so any advice from you or anyone would be greatly appreciated. Are you asking about the price of what the concrete cost per m2 in total? I'd say around £70 per m2. I appreciate it's not the worst, but the concrete is already disintegrating on the edges. @saveasteading How can you tell what type of concrete has been laid and is it any good? I'm happy to leave it for a while, but I'm still not sure how you re-colour it so any advice on the process would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, I will take your advice onboard. I would like to colour and seal it myself, but I don't know what the process is. Not sure what you mean by prep, but the concrete came ready mixed and was poured onto the clay ground which had some mot type 1 hardcore and that had already been pressed down with a wacker plate. At first they wanted the money upfront for the concrete, but my grandad said no. So they said that he could pay the concrete company directly using a credit/debit card under their business as they had a trade account with Breedon. So he agreed and paid around a grand for it. It was around 6 cubic metres. It got delivered the same day the payment was made.

I'm afraid he paid them all in cash which he had saved.

@nod Would you be so kind as to explain what items I need and how this can be done? Also any idea on how long would the colour and the seal last? I just want to make my grandad feel good as he's now lost trust in people 😞 @Nickfromwales I didn't realise, but our neighbour took photo and videos of the cowboys working on the driveway, so not sure how useful that is if I'm not 100% sure where they live. Any ideas on how I can trace the person using the limited information I have and legally challenge them in a small claims court?

Thanks so much for your replies everyone. It's really appreciated. I want to add that the only proof that my grandad got the driveway done from them are messages on whatsapp. A partial car number plate. Possibly which town they live in. I also have got a receipt from the concrete company that delivered the ready-mix concrete to my grandad's home. It's got the main guy's full name and company name. The company is not limited though. The concrete they used is called "P 300 AEA Fibres CEM II/A-L S3 10mm" Here's some of the items that they left behind: @Nickfromwales Thanks for your kind words of reassurance and the helpful link which I will certainly look into. I'm not sure if this means anything to you or anyone else, but they used ready-mixed concrete, bought from Breedon and gave my grandad the following name and details of concrete: "P 300 AEA Fibres CEM II/A-L S3 10mm". @saveasteading The size is approx 8m by 8m. The concrete is supposed to be around 4 inches thick at most. @nod I did do the sealing on the parts that were showing the bare concrete colour, but it still seems to be washing away. When it comes to recolouring, is it possible that I can do it myself to save money? @Onoff Looks really good. I'd be a very happy person if our concrete lasted this long. My driveway is too big for someone like me to do it on my own.

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone can help me. Due to work I've been abroad for 6 months. I returned to find that my grandad has very recently had our home driveway done with imprinted concrete by some so-called driveway experts whom knocked on his door to offer their services. But within a week of the driveway being laid, the most of the colour has washed away. I've tried to contact the guys that laid the concrete, but they've turned their phones off. Grandad had got it done with his hard earned savings and paid thousands for the job. He thought it would be a nice surprise for me when I get back we've got a number of vehicles that we use. He's in bits as he knows he's been scammed. We've been in touch with the law and that's being dealt with separately to see if we can get anything back. But I want to specifically focus on what I can do to get the driveway to look better without costing the earth. Currently it looks like absolute crap (sorry for my language). The attached photos were taken by a family member about 5 days after the concrete was laid. The shiny part is where they used the sealer. I tried use some sealer which the cowboys had left behind on small patch of the concrete to see if the colours would come back, but sadly this has not made any difference. As of today (around 2.5-3 weeks later), a considerable amount of colour has washed out and the bare concrete can be seen. I would be most grateful if any kind soul can help advise if there is anyway of fixing this. Thank you for your help.

Hello everyone. Thanks for a great forum. This is my very first post, so apologies for any mistakes. We have been living in a large semi-detached house (1930s) for over 5 years. About 18 months ago, I called out Yorkshire Water because our water flow/pressure was low. They did a number of tests and concluded that the flow from our kitchen sink tap is around 8-10 ltrs per minute, but the outside boundary test showed that Yorkshire Water's actual flow rate is 35-40 ltrs per minute. They said the reason for the low flow rate on our side is because we most likely either have old lead or copper pipes feeding into the property. They advised that although they are responsible on the street side, any change pipework within our boundary is our responsibility. So fast forward to present time, we're thinking that due to the pressure being so low it might be worth changing to an MDPE pipe. The MDPE pipe size I'm thinking of is 32mm, rather than 25mm but a builder said it won't make any difference because the incoming connection from Yorkshire Water is either only 25mm or it will have a small lead pipe connection to which the MDPE pipe would need to be attached to. But I've read in a few places that having a larger diameter pipe makes a big difference. Could someone please advise if this matters? Also another point worth noting is that the distance between the water connection on street and our stop tap is 25 mtrs, so not sure if having a bigger pipe has any impact on the amount of flow we would be able to get. Finally, based on what I find out on here, if I did decide to go 32mm, what connectors would I need to correctly connect it to either a 25mm or lead pipe? Thanks in advance