Resin driveways, anyone got one? Any thoughts?

[Dave7]

The main part of my drive is flagged and is OK. The adjacent part really needs sorting.
I am debating having the flagged area taken up and the whole thing resurfaced properly.
Tarmac. Black with red speckles looks nice.
Printcrete/concrete looks OK...ish
Resin looks really nice. I have no idea of cost.
Any thoughts ?

 

[teeonethousand]

Anything but blocks😂 we have a lot of it and it's a pain to keep the gaps gunge free.

I know 2 people that have resin...they look good but one of them has had cracking/crumbling issues around the edges.

If I was to redo ours I would go with a good quality tarmac..purely as it's relatively maintenance free...clean blocks do look good though.

 

[Dave7]

Anything but blocks😂 we have a lot of it and it's a pain to keep the gaps gunge free.

I know 2 people that have resin...they look good but one of them has had cracking/crumbling issues around the edges.

If I was to redo ours I would go with a good quality tarmac..purely as it's relatively maintenance free...clean blocks do look good though.

Some good points which back up what my research agrees with. My Bro spent a lot on block paving.....as you say, it looks good until it doesn't.
I like the look of resin but like you say I've read bad things about cracking/crumbling.

 

[a.twiddler]

Anything but blocks😂 we have a lot of it and it's a pain to keep the gaps gunge free.

I know 2 people that have resin...they look good but one of them has had cracking/crumbling issues around the edges.

If I was to redo ours I would go with a good quality tarmac..purely as it's relatively maintenance free...clean blocks do look good though.

Block paving seemed to be all the rage at one time but it seems to be a licence for endless weedkilling and maintenance once it's been down a few years. We have a drive about three car lengths long and a car width plus wheelie bin wide. We've tried various weedkillers, an electric heat gun and physical scrubbers between blocks but they always come back. About the most successful thing has been a £9.99 gas powered flame gun from Home and Bargain which we used this year and has kept them at bay for a few weeks now. No doubt they'll be back but the flame gun is at least a bit gratifying to use, and a £1.99 canister of gas does the whole drive. Then there are the endless door knockers offering to deweed and seal your drive, and various other chancers.

We had some resin done in the garden where it was a bit uneven to do paving and it lasted about 10 years before it started to shrink and develop cracks. A later contractor suggested that it had been laid a bit thin. It's possible to lift the edges like an old carpet now. It's still there. A bit undecided what to do about it atm. Paving tends to wobble and need relaying after a few years. The original drive was concrete and lasted well. Not pretty once it developed cracks and weeds stated getting through but it must have lasted about 30 years before we block paved it. We have lived here for quite a long time, being the second owners of this place so have been guinea pigs for a few resurfacing methods.

 

[presta]

Concrete. It'll last a lifetime if it's properly laid.

Tarmac. Black with red speckles looks nice.

A neighbour persuaded my father to have our shared drive done with tarmac ~50 years ago against my will. It looked pretty when it was new, but you can't put anything like a car jack or decorating stool on it without the legs poking holes in it, and after a few years it started to crumble and disintegrate. It gets full of weeds, and you can't even sweep it with a broom unless you want several barrowloads of loose tarmac to dispose of.

Block paving seemed to be all the rage at one time but it seems to be a licence for endless weedkilling and maintenance once it's been down a few years.

My previous neighbour was a block paver, and wanted to do ours, but I wouldn't let him for that reason. He reckoned that the weeds won't grow if you put polythene sheet under the blocks, so I assume he never did the experiment with a bean growing between damp blotting paper and the inside of a jam jar when he was a kid.

The council did part of the town centre with flags when they refurbished it, and they were broken by the cars within a few weeks. The remaining part of the town was done with resin bonded pea gravel, which looks quite nice, but I noticed it has the same problem as tarmac when it comes to table & chair legs poking holes in it.

 

[PaulSB]

For those with a weed problem on block paving. It's worth trying rock salt, the stuff that's put on roads to prevent ice forming.

 

[MontyVeda]

Next door neighbour has had three (maybe four) driveways laid in the 24 years I've lived where I am. The most recent was the imprinted concrete about 10-12 years ago and it still looks like new. Prior to that was various styles of block paving that spewed weeds and went wonky in places. If i had the money (and a driveway), I know what I'd be going for.