Bonded gravel

[Jilly]

Just at the research stage: My architect specified this on the plans and I'm discovering I can't deviate from this, unless I do a 'Variation of condition'. Does anyone have experience of it?  We are alongside a hedge, I can't see how it won't crack eventually. Is it really porous? It looks very expensive and a faff.

[Jeremy Harris]

We looked at using it.  The cheaper stuff has a bit of a dubious reputation, but the expensive stuff can be very good indeed.  The stuff probably gets a bit of a poor reputation from the cowboys who have been offering to do drives with the stuff, and who haven't bothered to prepare the sub-base properly.  There's some useful info on the Paving Expert site (which is a very good resource for all things related to paving and drainage, IMHO): http://www.pavingexpert.com/resin.htm

 

(site index is here: http://www.pavingexpert.com/pavindex.htm )

[AliG]

We have it. It has been down for a year and so far it appears to be the finest driveway I have ever seen. No sign of cracking whatsoever, no weeds and water drains away no matter how heavily it rains.

 

If built properly it should last a long time. This involves a layer of well compacted type one, we kept topping this up as the build went on so by the time we came to do the driveway it had been compacted by two years of trucks driving over it. Then a layer of tarmac and the bonded gravel on top.

 

It is very expensive as basically you are laying a tarmac driveway and then another gravel driveway on top of it, it the gravel all has to be laid in one day to avoid joins. I think we paid £92 a square metre but this was for 270 square metres. Generally I would expect tp pay around £100 a square metre to have it done properly.

[ProDave]

I would strongly advise resin bound.

 

The very first house I owned had the private parts of the roads were done in resin bonded, and it was hopeless.  On the corners, the sidewas forces of a car driving around a corner was too much and the cars wore two clear channels through to the tarmac below.  The builder re did it but the same happened.

[AliG]

Good spot @ProDave

 

I was assuming that @Jilly meant resin bound. Resin bonded is indeed a far inferior product which is thin and wears out quickly. Bonded isn't porous I would assume that the architect meant resin bound, but best to make sure that the right type is specified to suppliers.

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by AliG

[ProDave]

I suspect in our case it got a lot more traffic than an individual driveway would and it was clearly the wrong product for the job. Of course it could just have been badly laid in the wrong weather with poor preparation.

[Alexphd1]

I think it looks very nice but everybody's taste is different. We are planning to do a DIY with resin bound.

 

[nod]

1 hour ago, AliG said:

We have it. It has been down for a year and so far it appears to be the finest driveway I have ever seen. No sign of cracking whatsoever, no weeds and water drains away no matter how heavily it rains.

 

If built properly it should last a long time. This involves a layer of well compacted type one, we kept topping this up as the build went on so by the time we came to do the driveway it had been compacted by two years of trucks driving over it. Then a layer of tarmac and the bonded gravel on top.

 

It is very expensive as basically you are laying a tarmac driveway and then another gravel driveway on top of it, it the gravel all has to be laid in one day to avoid joins. I think we paid £92 a square metre but this was for 270 square metres. Generally I would expect tp pay around £100 a square metre to have it done properly.

Looks great 

We have paved ours with a good quality block paver 

450 m2 

My wife said let someone else have the hassle and pay it out of our 30k vat claim

No chance with quotes coming in between 44 and 51k 

So comparably to what you have paid 

[Gone West]

14 hours ago, Jilly said:

Just at the research stage: My architect specified this on the plans and I'm discovering I can't deviate from this, unless I do a 'Variation of condition'. Does anyone have experience of it?  We are alongside a hedge, I can't see how it won't crack eventually. Is it really porous? It looks very expensive and a faff.

Originally there was tar bonded gravel onto an asphalt or concrete base. Our neighbours had that laid a couple of years ago. The disadvantage is that on a driveway, the gravel is gradually pulled off the bitumen by the car tyres and you end up with a lot of loose gravel and black bitumen visible. That system was replaced with resin bonded gravel which if laid correctly sticks the gravel to the base far more effectively. The resin bound system mixes the gravel with the resin and the mix is laid around 20mm thick on the base. We had a small area of this type laid at the front of our driveway. This is the best from the point of longevity. There is also self binding gravel which is the easiest to lay but requires more maintenance. The base for our driveway was 200mm compacted type1 and 70mm asphalt with the resin mix laid on top.

[Jilly]

Thank you for the explanations

 

[Bitpipe]

19 hours ago, AliG said:

We have it. It has been down for a year and so far it appears to be the finest driveway I have ever seen. No sign of cracking whatsoever, no weeds and water drains away no matter how heavily it rains.

 

If built properly it should last a long time. This involves a layer of well compacted type one, we kept topping this up as the build went on so by the time we came to do the driveway it had been compacted by two years of trucks driving over it. Then a layer of tarmac and the bonded gravel on top.

 

It is very expensive as basically you are laying a tarmac driveway and then another gravel driveway on top of it, it the gravel all has to be laid in one day to avoid joins. I think we paid £92 a square metre but this was for 270 square metres. Generally I would expect tp pay around £100 a square metre to have it done properly.

 

Beautiful - we did much the same.

 

Excavated a lot of the temp & original hard standing and put down about 120 tonnes of scalpings, heavily compacted. Then the 50mm of porus tarmac and finally 25mm of the bonded resin gravel, mixed on site and laid in one day to avoid joins.

 

Still looks great 2+ years on, quick jet wash and good as new.

 

Not cheap - £70/m2 for the tarmac & resin (we used a very reputable contractor) and the prep cost a bit also.