Silver Resin Bound Driveway

Resin bound has become the surface people ask for when they want a driveway that looks finished the day it is laid and stays that way. This one is a smooth silver aggregate with a charcoal block border, and it gives the front of a family home a clean, modern line.

The brief

The owners wanted a smooth, seamless surface with no loose stone to walk into the house and no puddles after rain. Resin bound answers both. The silver tone was chosen to sit cleanly against the house, with a charcoal block-paved border to frame it and hold the edge.

Why resin bound

A resin bound surface is natural aggregate mixed with a clear resin and trowelled to a smooth, seamless finish. Because it is laid as one continuous surface, there are no joints to weed and no loose stone to scatter. It is also fully permeable, so rainwater drains straight through the surface into the ground rather than running off to the road, which meets the drainage rules that now apply to most new front-garden paving. It holds its colour, resists moss and cleans with a brush and water.

The finish

The silver aggregate is laid in a clean sweep up to the house, framed by a charcoal block-paved border that draws a crisp line around the whole driveway and steps it neatly away from the lawn. The contrast between the light resin and the dark block edge is what gives the finish its definition.

Why the base matters

Resin bound is only as good as the base it is trowelled onto. It is laid over a solid, well-drained sub-base, because a resin surface laid on ground that moves will crack and lift no matter how good the finish looks on the day. It is the same principle Paul Delaney applies to every surface the crew lays.

"The base is everything. If the sub-base is wrong, the whole thing fails inside three years."

Paul Delaney, Delaney Tarmac

Laid on a proper base, a resin bound driveway holds its smooth, seamless finish for years, which is exactly what people are paying for when they choose it.