- Ely, Cambridgeshire
- championconstruction85@gmail.com
- Mon - Sat : 07.00-18.00
Built for Fenland Ground and Lasting Kerb Appeal
Resin bound driveways in Ely from Champion Construction. Built on a fully prepared sub-base with proper drainage falls. Holds up to Fenland clay and wet winters, no joints, no loose stone. Free quote on 07443 843 610
Most of the people who contact us about resin bound driveways have actually given block paving, tarmac or gravel a fair crack of the whip. They often keep coming back to resin bound. Why is that?
Gravel shifts around. We have seen countless Ely homes where gravel has found its way out on to the pavement, especially on properties on or near Broad Street, or where the roads head out towards Stretham, where cars have come in and pushed the loose gravel all over the pavement or left bare spots around the front of the house. Resin bound won’t suffer that as each stone is bonded together. No loose bits to rake out at the weekends.
Tarmac does a job, but it looks tarmacy. Block paving is a great choice for some driveways, but the spaces between the blocks will begin to collect weeds if you don’t give it enough attention. Resin bound is a solid finish with no spaces between the stones.
Drainage, too, is important, more so than many people realise locally. The clay soils we have across the Fenland hold water. If your driveway is solid, all the rainwater from the roof of your house and from the driveway itself will drain into the road, or will stand there by the side of your house. Resin bound is porous, which means that water runs through the material into the sub-base beneath your driveway. This means that it is SuDS compliant, and, in most cases, won’t need special permissions for the drainage system. The British Resin Flooring Association say that a correct resin bound installation will allow drainage at a rate of up to 850 litres per square metre per hour.
The look, though, sells most people. You choose the aggregate colour, we mix it with the resin resin bound on site and spread it as one continuous layer. You might opt for natural stone colours to blend in with older Ely properties, or maybe a richer, warmer tone, suitable for a new property in Littleport or Soham. You get what you like.
Champion Construction is a family firm, run by Danny and his son. There’s no call centres, and no middle men. So, we will give you the straight answer about whether you should have resin bound or whether another surface material might be better.
If you’d like to compare all our driveway options first, you can view our other driveway services.
We’re frequently asked this question. Often people in Ely haven’t realised there is a difference until we explain it to them. The two words are very similar. In some cases, the surfaces will look similar in pictures. They are two very different products and if you choose the wrong one you can end up with problems.
Here’s the short of it: Resin Bound is a product that involves mixing together your stones and the resin, before spreading them out onto the prepared surface. The stones are fully coated, the whole mixture lays down smoothly, and you get a flat, permeable finish. Rainwater drains through it. It’s this one we fit. Resin bonded is different. It involves laying down a coat of resin on the surface, and then scattering loose aggregates onto the resin so they stick like sparkles on sticky tape. It looks OK at the beginning, but the stones sit proud of the surface, and within a few years the aggregates are dislodged, particularly in areas of heavy traffic and during a harsh Fenland winter. You’re left with bald patches and aggregate debris in your garden or on the pavement.
Resin bound is permeable. Resin bonded isn’t Permeability is critical when you’re laying a driveway in Stretham and the rest of the low-lying parts of Cambridgeshire, where water logging can cause serious issues.
Resin bound results in a flat, uniform surface. Resin bonded creates a rough and uneven one.
Resin bound is more durable, because the stones are bound in the resin, rather than perched on top.
The Resin Bound Surfacing Association says a professionally installed resin bound surface will last 15+ years with no real maintenance, longer than resin bonded which starts falling apart within a few years. Most of the time when a customer says “resin driveway disintegrating”, they have had a resin bonded driveway fitted. Not a resin bound one. We don’t fit anything else but bound because bonded falls apart over time, and we don’t want to be doing repairs. We don’t have call centres or middlemen to deal with. If you’re unsure if you’ve been quoted for bound or bonded, give us a call and we’ll talk you through the difference. It only takes two minutes.
This is where most resin bound driveway installations go wrong. Not with the resin, not with the stone, with the base. We encounter it far more often than you might expect in Ely. Some of our customers have had resin bound laid on a questionable base, and it’s cracked or lifted in the eighteen months since. The surface looked fantastic on day one, but the groundwork was poor. The nature of the local soil in this part of the world means that it’s tricky to prepare a base: heavy clay in some areas, and a high water table in others. You can’t just lay resin on top without checking it first. When a new resin bound driveway installation is due, we’ll take a few minutes to check the following things on-site:
We’ll look at the existing ground: is it clay, peat or tarmac? Each requires a slightly different preparation method.
We’ll check the fall and drainage of the area: although resin bound surfaces are permeable and allow water to drain through them, if you don’t have a sub-base that allows drainage, or the ground is sloping towards your house, this needs to be addressed first.
We’ll make sure that sufficient depth has been dug down to. Normally that’d mean 150 to 200mm for most domestic drives.
We lay the MOT type 1 sub-base in layers, compacting each layer. We don’t just tip it all out in one go.
Then we check levels to the damp proof course, any other kerb edges, drainage gullies and tie everything in.
Around Stretham and other lower parts of the Fens you may well have a high water table. This affects the sub-base.
So we might put a geotextile membrane underneath the sub-base to prevent any clay from moving up through into the top layers.
We’re owned and operated by Danny and son, which means you deal with the man on the job. The same man that checks levels will lay your resin bound driveway. There’s no guessing what’s under the surface, we’ll have a look.
Once you get it right the first time, the resin will last years. Once you don’t, you’ll find you’ll be calling us back in 2 winters. We’d rather do it right the first time!
Call now for a free estimate. Champion Construction Ltd is ready to help.
We get asked about the process frequently. Which is fair, it is your front drive you’re handing to us so you have a right to know what we’ll be doing. Here’s exactly what we do on every resin bound driveway we lay in Ely.
Site survey and prep. This starts with a visit to the site. We’ll measure, check the existing surface. If you have an old tarmac driveway that’s in good condition, then we can often just lay over. With a cracked concrete base or loose gravel it will first have to be ripped out.
Sub-base. We check the falls in drainage. In Ely the water table is very high, so you don’t want standing water. This is the stage that most home owners won’t see, but it’s. Dig and lay MOT type 1 sub-base, compacting it in layers. We go deeper around Stretham in heavy clay. So the surface is more likely to stay in place for many years.
Edging. Next up aluminium edging or block paving is installed. This is necessary to stop the resin bound driveway falling away. We often drive past driveways with no edging and they’ve crumbled at the edge within 12 months.
Mixing and laying resin. Natural aggregates are mixed with a UV stable resin. It’s then trowelled by hand, to a smooth surface. Temperature is key in this stage, if it’s too cold resin won’t cure, too hot it will set too quickly.
Curing. Generally the driveway is left for 4 to 6 hours before it can take light traffic. Full cure takes about 24 hours. We’ll let you know when the resin has set.
A typical job is about 2 to 3 days. Larger areas or a full dig-out will naturally take a little bit more time.
When we leave, we the site is in immaculate condition, all tools and waste bags are safely packed and removed, and the whole driveway is swept. Champion Construction is run by Danny and his son and they pride themselves on leaving a customer’s driveway in a presentable condition. It won’t be left in a messy state like a builder’s site.
If you’re not sure exactly what your drive requires, contact Champion Construction for a free quote by calling 07443 843610.
Now that the resin bound driveway has been installed, you’re probably to walk across it immediately and to drive on it right away, but there’s still a waiting period involved.
On average it can take 4 to 8 hours for a resin bound driveway to be walk-on after installation. For vehicle access, most driveways can tolerate the weight of a car at about 24 hours and sometimes up to 48 hours, depending on the weather conditions. In wet Ely winters, it can take a bit longer to cure, but we’re able to give you a specific time when your drive will be ready. We don’t guess or just tell you it’s good to go, we look at the forecast to weather is on our side when we start installing.
During the first few weeks of use, don’t drag heavy items across the surface and be careful not to lock or turn your steering wheel with the vehicle stationary, as this can put excessive pressure on a small area. Many homeowners don’t realise that this puts a significant amount of pressure on that particular spot in the driveway.
Don’t be surprised if your driveway doesn’t look quite right straight away; there can be slight differences to the resin in different lights during the first few weeks of installation. This is to be expected as the colour levels out and the resin settles as it cures further. By the 4-5 week mark, your driveway will have fully set and look how we promised it would.
In the longer term, the good news is that you only need to spend a little bit of maintenance time on your resin bound driveway each month, if at all. We advise Stretham, Soham and Ely residents to do the following:
Bonus points with a permeable resin bound driveway is that the water will not pool on the top of the driveway. This is very useful in Ely where the water table and heavy clay soils can mean standing water on a drive can become a problem. The water will drain down through the permeable surface into the sub-base underneath. This means no risk of water build-up and in winter there are no icy areas to drive over.
If the job is not finished, or looks wrong in some way, give us a call on 07443 843610 and we’ll come back and fix the problem.
A low-cost, traditional look that's quick to install.
A fast, hard-wearing, budget-friendly surface for everyday use.
A classic, durable finish with a huge range of colours and patterns.
Common questions about resin bound driveways services in Ely
