Hitchin

Resin Driveways in Hitchin

A smooth, free-draining resin bound drive, laid over a base built to hold it. Free survey, a fixed written price, and you only pay when you're happy with the work.

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Resin Driveways in Hitchin, explained

Two quite different surfaces get sold as resin, and the word on the quotation is often the only place the difference shows. Resin bonded is stone scattered over a tacky layer. Resin bound, which is what we lay, has the stone mixed right through the material and troweled flat, and only one of the two gives you a sealed surface that drains through itself.

Worth asking whoever else is pricing your drive. The cost, though, is decided underneath. Resin is a surface layer, so what matters is the state of the base below it and how much of that has to be rebuilt.

That is settled at the survey by digging rather than by eye, and the price that follows is fixed and in writing. Hitchin, SG4 and SG5, is inside our normal patch from Hatfield. No deposit is asked for and nothing is payable until the drive is complete.

We cover the SG4 and SG5 postcodes in Hitchin, and the rest of Hertfordshire.

What your quote covers

A free site survey, with stone samples to hold up against the house
One fixed price in writing, with no deposit and nothing to pay up front
Lifting the old surface and carting the spoil away
A permeable sub-base compacted in layers, and a binder course where the base needs one
Resin and stone mixed on site and hand troweled, with edges, thresholds and drainage detailed in
A full sweep up, and payment only once you have walked the finished drive with us

Choosing resin driveways in Hitchin

Two different surfaces get sold under the word resin, and on a lot of quotations the word is the only place the difference shows up. Resin bonded is stone scattered over a tacky layer and left proud, so the top of it is loose. Resin bound has the stone mixed right through the material and trowelled flat.

Only one of those gives you a sealed surface that drains through itself, and it is the one we lay. It is worth asking the question of everybody pricing your drive in Hitchin, because the two look similar in a photograph and behave quite differently underfoot and in the rain.

What neither version can do is fix the ground. Resin is a thin surface layer that takes the shape of its base, so a base that has started to move will show through whatever goes on top of it. We open it up at the survey to see which situation you are in, and the quotation says plainly which.

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From first visit to finished job

Step 1
Free Site Survey
We measure up, check the existing base and talk through stone colours and drainage.
Step 2
Written Quotation
You get a clear fixed price in writing before we begin.
Step 3
Groundwork
We excavate, remove the waste and build a permeable base that will hold the surface.
Step 4
Resin Laid
The stone and resin are mixed on site and troweled to a smooth, even finish.
Step 5
Cure and Sign-Off
The drive is usually walk-on ready the same day, and you settle up once you are happy.

What happens on site in Hitchin

Very little of the first few days involves resin. The existing surface is taken up and carted away, and the sub-base is rebuilt in compacted layers. The layering matters more than anything else that happens that week, because it is what stops the finished drive settling into ruts where the car stands.

A binder course of tarmac or concrete follows if the excavation shows one is needed, giving the resin a firm and level bed to be worked onto. Mixing happens on site in a forced-action mixer, batch by batch, with each batch trowelled out by hand before it begins to go off.

The resin itself waits for conditions. It needs a dry surface and reasonable temperatures to cure, so a wet day or a hard frost means we stop. We would rather explain a delay than hand over a drive that was laid in the wrong weather. Walkable that evening, drivable roughly a day later.

What affects the price in Hitchin

We do not publish a rate per square metre, because the number would be wrong for most properties. The survey is free and the price you get afterwards is fixed and in writing. These are the things that move it:

How much of the existing surface has to come out, and where the spoil goes
What we find underneath it: a sound base saves you a great deal, a failed one has to be rebuilt
The area, and how much of it is curves and cuts rather than straight runs
The stone blend you choose, because the aggregates are not all priced the same
Drainage, edgings, thresholds and any steps that form part of the job
Access, and in particular whether we can get a lorry and a mixer near the work

Looking after resin driveways

The upkeep list is short. Keep leaves off through autumn with a brush or a blower, because leaf litter left to rot is what moss needs to get established on a permeable surface.

Washing is a hose job most of the time. A pressure washer is fine on a wide fan setting held well back and kept moving, but a tight jet held close will damage the resin face. Keep de-icing salt light too, a scatter in a freeze is harmless, heavy yearly salting is not.

On a sound base, plan on 15 to 20 years. Because damage stays where it occurs, a marked or broken area can be cut out and re-laid as a patch instead of the whole drive being lifted.

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Around Hitchin

As well as Hitchin itself, we take on resin driveways work in Astwick, Barton-le-Clay, Hexton, Herring's Green and Steppingley, and across the rest of Hertfordshire. If you are just outside the towns listed here it is still worth a call, because we cover more ground than any list of names can sensibly show.

Resin Driveways in Hitchin: Common Questions

Do you lay resin in Hitchin?

Yes, SG4 and SG5 are both inside our working area. We operate from Hatfield, and the survey and written quote are free.

Is the survey chargeable?

No, neither the survey nor the quotation costs anything and there is nothing to sign. No deposit is taken and payment is due only once the drive is finished.

How far ahead are you booking?

It varies with the diary and the weather, since resin will not lay in rain or frost. We give you a window we can realistically hold to.

Is permission needed from the council?

Normally not. A permeable front-garden surface usually comes under permitted development, and resin bound is permeable. Listed buildings and conservation areas are the ones to check.

How long will the drive be off limits?

The groundwork is the slow part; the resin goes down quickly once the base is right. The quotation states the number of days to allow.

What is the difference between resin bound and resin bonded?

Bound has the stone mixed through the material and trowelled flat, giving a sealed, permeable surface. Bonded is stone scattered onto a tacky layer, so the top stays loose. We lay bound.

How is the cost arrived at?

Through the base. What is under the drive, and how much of it has to be dug out, decides the figure. We check at the free survey and then quote one fixed price in writing.

How long does it last?

Fifteen to twenty years on a base built to carry it, and the base is what determines most of that.

Will water drain through it?

Through a bound surface, yes. The water passes into the base below rather than running off, as long as that base is built to take it.

Is it slippery?

Generally not, because you are walking on aggregate and the water drains away instead of lying on the surface. Ice and wet leaves warrant the usual care.