[Closed] Concrete Imprint Driveway

No idea on price but all the ones I have seen around here look dreadful.... They seem to have a shiny almost gloss surface that makes it look like its covered in ice.

That'll be the resin sealant many use.
Not necessary and generally makes it look worse as it wears.

Yeah i agree i am not keen on that look to be honest, really unsure what rout to take as need a contemporary look as my house is white. Have considered tarmac with a nice block paved border ?

What are those resin drives like? Keep seeing ads for them around our way, and at some point we're going to have to do something with the patched tarmac/crazy paving abomination we have currently.

have you consider a resin bonded aggregate driveway?
relatively cheap and look better than printed concrete and non slippy too.
http://resinbondedaggregates.com/inspiration/what-is-resin-bonding
I had a quote for our front drive which is just a bit bigger than the size of two cars and it was just 2k. This was for a small chipping. The salesman was very convincing, no maintenance required, weeds can't get through etc.

You can get matt sealers which imho improves the appearance of the surface.

If you do decide to get one, worthwhile investing £6 in Imprinted concrete – model installation clauses and guidance notes http://www.concretebookshop.com/imprinted-concrete--model-installation-clauses-and-guidance-notes-4202-p.asp

It's all good till you get a service failure....

We have it with the gloss finish. It was there when we bought the house. Had a lot of people comment on how good it looks. As mentioned you can get a Matt finish too if it bothers you. Not found it slippy when wet although it does sqeek a bit when wet for a few weeks after re applying a fresh coating of the laquer. Soon stops though.

As for the weeds it's excellent. No doubt tarmac would be good too but can only comment on the Imp Concrete stuff.

with a nice block paved border ?

Impossible! Block paving is the devil. Have a block paved drive and patio and detest both. I am looking for something nigh on maintenance free to replace the stuff.

Looking at replacing our driveway and concrete is winning at the moment.

Apart from checkatrade, is there any other way of finding someone who isn't a complete cowboy?

We had some door-knockers wanting to do a quote for our drive. After much pressure I finally got the lad to give me a rough figure of "£60-70/sqm" for pattern concrete. To be honest, a good quality tarmac drive still seems more attractive in terms of both aesthetic and maintenance - the relaxquering of the concrete very couple of years sounded like a royal ****-on.

I'll be honest and say I think I prefer tarmac with a nice block paved border but the wife is adamant we go for concrete.

To be fair to concrete, my dads had it for a good 5/6 years now and has lasted well. The bloke who did his has since retired otherwise I'd have used him.

My Mate's parents had one put in, didn't convince anyone it wasn't what it was, leathal in the wet not helped by the fact it was on a steep slope, ended up in a pile at the bottom of it more than once.

As I said before services do go down and when they come to repair your gas main they'll patch it with tarmac...

Have to replace our drive in the next few years currently concrete with craving paving etched in. Looks rubbish. Couple of resin drives popped up locally. They do look smart no idea on logevity. Other option we are considering is flags

If you do have to have a hole out in imprint it is possible, with care, to have a reasonable repair done. Never be invisible, but getting the right moulds and judging the colourants right can give acceptable results.

My dad got printed concrete about 30 years ago on his drive. Its a house he's rented out for the last 15 years since he's re-married and moved in with the new wife, and in that time it has worn really well, so from a lack of maintenance and durability point of view it is the best option. The finish he got they sprinkled red sand over the top before sealing it so there is a nice colour to it where the cobbles are a darker grey colour with a sprinkling of red on the crowns (might be the other way round) so looks really attractive. I've not seen that affect on any other printed concrete drive i've seen since.

A neighbour has recently got a resin drive and it looks really nice, but not sure how robust and durable it is over time.

I'd prefer a tarmac drive with decent drainage and possibly some coloured small stoned mixed in to break up the slab of grey/black. Something like this:

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My parent's neighbour went for a concrete imprint drive and it didn't last long! The majority of it was fine, it was where their car was turning left at the end that wore out very quickly. My parents went for plain tarmac and it's fine despite the same amount of use, maybe more. Might be something to think about.

A lot of the imprinted concrete drives I see are crumbling or cracked, most likely due to cheap installation.

For resin there are 2 options, one where resin and aggregate are mixed before application, one where a layer of resin is poured and then top dressed with aggregate. The full mixed option is more expensive but gives a deeper wearing course, but both need a solid concrete or tarmac substrate underneath them so if that fails the resin surface will suffer too.

We went resin over 10 years ago and it's still looking good. Our neighbours got a cheap resin job done, which fell apart in a couple of years and they've now got tarmac. The failure was mainly down to the lack of a decent base - but that's probably why it was cheap...

With resin drives how deep are they normally? Presume if there is an existing concrete drive they just lay on top of it?

From what I've read the resin stuff relies on being laid upon a solid foundation.

Had a quote for both concrete and tarmac, both from reputable companies with excellent feedback (= will be a complete **** up for me).

Both are within £200 of each other. First world problem and all that but struggling to decide.

From what I've read the resin stuff relies on being laid upon a solid foundation.

True!

The next door neighbors have just ripped theirs up & put down a block paved one. The concrete one was lethal in the winter & the edges were collapsing!