Resin driveways in Poole
Resin bound drives, paths and front parking across Poole, built on a base that lets the rain through and priced in writing after a free visit.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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A resin bound drive is washed stone mixed with a UV-stable resin and trowelled by hand over a porous base, so rain soaks straight through it. Most of the job, and most of the price, is the base, the edges and the kerb. The resin goes on last.
A resin drive in Poole usually starts from one of three places. A concrete or tarmac drive that is stained and tired but still solid underneath. A front garden you want to park on, where the dropped kerb, the planning rule and the drainage have to line up first. Or an earlier resin drive that is cracking, shedding stone or holding water, where the question is what went wrong under it.
We come out, dig a trial hole if needed, take levels and tell you plainly whether resin is right. If block paving or porous tarmac would suit better, we lay those too.
Bound or bonded
Resin bound or resin bonded: know which you are being quoted
Resin bound is stone and resin mixed together, then spread and trowelled into a smooth layer. Every stone is coated and locked to the next, with tiny gaps that let water through. No loose stone, and easy under a pushchair or a wheelchair.
Resin bonded is resin rolled onto a solid base with loose stone scattered into it. It looks like fixed gravel, drops some stone, and water cannot pass through it.
It matters for planning. Surfacing more than five square metres of a house's front garden is permitted development only if the surface is permeable or the water runs to a lawn, border or soakaway on your land. Resin bound on a porous base passes. Resin bonded over old tarmac or concrete does not, so it needs a drainage route or a planning application.
One catch: resin bound over solid concrete lets rain through the resin, then the concrete stops it. That drive still needs a fall to a border, a soakaway or a gully.
What goes under it
The base under a resin drive, layer by layer
- Excavation to the finished levels, with the spoil straight into a skip or grab lorry.
- Formation. Soft spots and roots dug out and refilled, then the ground compacted.
- Geotextile membrane over the soil, so the stone above does not sink into it.
- Open graded sub-base, a clean crushed stone such as Type 3, compacted in layers to store rain while it soaks away.
- Porous asphalt, an open graded macadam binder course, rolled and left to cool.
- The resin bound layer, at the depth the resin maker specifies for cars.
The sub-base is where cheap drives go wrong. Ordinary Type 1 is full of sand and silt, and the government guidance on permeable front gardens points out that it stops water passing through. Parts of Poole sit on clay, where water leaves the sub-base slowly, so we test how the ground drains first and give the sub-base an outfall to a soakaway or drain where it is slow.
Laying over the old drive. Sound concrete or tarmac can often stay and save you the dig. It has to be flat and solid, with no rocking slabs, no heave and no crack still moving, because a moving crack comes straight back up through the resin. It must already fall away from the house, with room for the new layer at the doors. An overlay on a sound drive is often two or three days, and a full dig takes longer. A failed resin drive is usually a base problem too: resin laid too thin, a base that moved, or no edge.
Edges and levels
Edging, thresholds and falls
Resin has no strength at a raw edge, so every drive gets a fixed edge restraint: an aluminium or steel edging strip fixed to the base, or a block or kerb border haunched in concrete. The border, more than the stone colour, is what makes a drive look finished.
At the house, the surface must sit at least 150mm below the damp proof course, the level Approved Document C works to. Where a door is too low for that, a channel drain goes across the threshold. The fall away from the house is set in the base, never made up with extra resin. At the pavement, BCP Council can refuse a dropped kerb where a drive cannot be made level with the back of the footway, so we take that level on the first visit.
The lay
Mixing, laying and choosing the stone
Resin bound is mixed on site in a forced action mixer, one full kit at a time: kiln dried stone and resin in set amounts, mixed for the time the maker gives. No part bags, because a weak mix is how loose stones start. It is then barrowed, spread and hand trowelled closed.
We use a UV-stable resin, the aliphatic type. Cheaper aromatic resins yellow in sunlight, which shows badly on pale stone. Ask any installer which one they are pricing.
Rain, heavy dew, a damp base or a cold morning stop a pour, because resin laid then can go cloudy or fail to cure. We give you a date, and if the weather turns we move it and say why.
The stone. Drive mixes are graded 1-3mm, 2-5mm or 3-6mm, alone or blended, from silver granite and buff quartz to darker slate blends. We bring samples to hold against your brick in daylight.
After the lay. We tell you on the day when you can walk and drive on it. For the first few weeks, do not turn the wheel with the car standing still.
The honest part
The downsides of resin, and when we would talk you out of it
- Over a base that moves it cracks, and a weak or thin mix sheds loose stone.
- Under trees the gaps clog with moss and silt, so it needs a sweep and an occasional gentle wash.
- Oil marks need cleaning off quickly, and tyres can scuff a new surface.
- A repair is hard to hide, because new resin rarely matches weathered resin.
We would steer you away from resin on a shared or sloping drive with no route for the water, where heavy vans turn every day, or under pines that drop needles and sap all year. Block paving or porous tarmac serves better there, and we lay both.
| Surface | Resin bound | Block paving | Tarmac | Gravel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainwater | Soaks through on a porous base | Through the joints if built permeable | Runs off unless porous | Drains freely |
| Weeds | Few if the base is right | Can seed in joints | Few | Need weeding |
| Repairs | Patches show | Lift and relay, easiest | Patches show | Top up and rake |
| Look | Smooth, many colours | Patterns and borders | Plain | Informal |
| Upkeep | Sweep and wash | Re-sanding joints | Very little | Raking |
How long it lasts comes down to the base, a UV-stable resin, fixed edges and a little cleaning. For every surface, see driveways in Poole and the resin driveways guide.
Before any stone is mixed
The dropped kerb and the rules in Poole
If the drive means crossing the pavement, the kerb comes first. You cannot drive over a footway that has not been dropped, and in Poole BCP Council quotes for and builds the crossing:
- a space of at least 5.5m by 2.6m if the car faces the road, or 2.8m by 6.5m side on
- no crossing within 1m of a street light, sign or tree, or within 10m of a junction or pedestrian crossing
- planning permission usually needed on a classified road, or at a flat, maisonette or listed building
Poole also has conservation areas, Ashley Cross, Poole Park and Branksome Park among them, so check the council list first. We measure the space against all of this on the first visit.
How we work
How a resin drive runs with us
You deal with one person from the first call to the last barrow. Thomas visits, measures and takes the levels himself, and the site visit is free.
You get a free written quote, itemised: the dig and muck away, the sub-base, the porous asphalt, the edging, the drainage, the resin and stone, and any kerb work, each on its own line. Anything we cannot know until the ground is open, such as an old soakaway, is marked provisional.
Nothing is dug and left open overnight without barriers, the pavement is swept every day, and the waste leaves with us. If we find something extra, we photograph it and price it, and it goes ahead only when you agree. Scheduled work runs Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. See how we price a job.
What decides the price
What decides the price of a resin drive
We do not publish prices, because two drives the same size can cost very different amounts. These move it:
- the area and shape, and how many curves the edges need
- how deep the dig is and how much muck has to go away
- whether the old concrete or tarmac can stay
- the sub-base and binder course the ground needs
- the length and type of edging, and any block border
- the drainage: a soakaway, a channel drain or a rain garden
- steps, slopes and thresholds
- access for the mixer and barrows, and where the skip or grab lorry can stand
- the dropped kerb, which the council prices and builds
Comparing quotes? Ask each installer: what base, and how deep? Bound or bonded? Is the resin UV-stable? What edging? Who deals with the kerb? Is it itemised? A quote that cannot answer those is a guess.
Before it gets worse
A resin drive that is cracking, lifting or ponding
A cracked, lifting or sunken patch gets worse the more it is driven on. If yours is shedding stone or water is pooling at the door, keep cars off the loose area, sweep up the stone so it is not trodden indoors, and photograph it. Water standing against the house wall comes first.
The first visit is about the base: we open a small area to see whether the fault is in the resin, the edge or the ground, because that decides whether a repair will hold. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring 07435 839745, and if we miss you we call back.
Flats and maisonettes
Resin at a flat, a maisonette or a shared drive
About a third of the homes around Poole town centre are flats, and that changes what you do first. The front garden rule belongs to houses. Flats and maisonettes have no householder permitted development under Part 1 of the planning order, so a new resin drive or dropped kerb at a flat usually needs planning permission from BCP Council.
A shared drive at a block usually belongs to the freeholder or the management company, so a leaseholder cannot order the work alone, and even a ground floor maisonette with its own front garden may need the landlord's consent under the lease. If the service charge pays and one leaseholder's share passes the legal limit, the landlord must consult first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Settle who instructs, and whether permission is needed, before asking for prices. More for landlords and managing agents.
Who you are dealing with
The company laying your drive
Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, company number 15471719, registered in England and Wales and run by its owner, Thomas Hannen, from Boscombe, BH7. We lay drives across the BCP Council area, from Poole town through Parkstone, Hamworthy and Oakdale. Our one verified Checkatrade review is a 10 out of 10. The site visit and the written itemised quote are free. For everything else in the town, see our Poole page.
Questions
Questions about resin drives in Poole
Does water really go through a resin drive?
Through resin bound, yes: rain soaks through the gaps between the coated stones into a porous base. Over solid concrete it runs across the old slab instead, so that drive needs a fall to a border or drain. Resin bonded lets no water through.
Can you lay resin over my old concrete or tarmac?
Often, if it is flat, solid, has no moving cracks, already falls away from the house and leaves room below the damp proof course. If not, it comes out and a new base goes down.
Do I need planning permission or a dropped kerb in Poole?
You need a dropped kerb from BCP Council to cross the pavement. A house's front garden needs no planning permission if the surface is permeable or drains to your own garden. Flats, maisonettes, listed buildings and classified roads usually do.
Can resin go on the communal drive at our flats?
Yes, but the freeholder or management company instructs it, not a single leaseholder, and they may need to consult leaseholders if the service charge pays. A block of flats usually needs planning permission too.
Nearby, and next door
Drives near Poole, and our other work in the town
Drives next door to Poole, and related work in the town.
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Free quote
Thinking about resin for your drive?
Tell us what is there now and where the water goes when it rains. We will come and look, check the base and the kerb, and send you a free itemised written quote.