Resin bound or bonded? - Which is most suitable?

[juliobee]

I have just laid 30sq m of concrete as a base for my patio. It has a good quality trowelled finish approx 100mm deep. I would like to use a bonded aggregate for a decorative finish but am unsure as to which type to use. Resin Bound or Bonded. I have no experience with either system.

I understand that with a trowelled finish an edging strip will have to be used to retain the mix. Is this required with a scatter coat ?

The patio is irregular in shape and there is a 200mm gap from the edge of the slab and the neighbours boundaries.

Having read some threads that the Ronadeck system is not for competent DIY'ers and it's all to easy to make a pig's ear of it. I am obviously keen to avoid this. Is the Sureset system easier to apply?

Your thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated.

[seanandruby]

go to the main index the answers are there

[slimdotjim]

You can temporarily use wood around the edge to retain resin then remove when the resin is setting not to early and not to late or the resin will bond with the wood . If your laying in all one colour resin bonded would be your best bet , but don’t miss out on an opportunity to create something truly unique with the resin bound system you can create any design you can think of, either by using alloy strips supplied by sureset and others or use mdf to create a stencil . In my experience the resin bound is easy to use
Not unlike rice crispy’s mixed with golden syrup, but not as sticky. It floats out easily but you need to move at a good pace as it sets quite quickly. Use a cheap or old float and throw away after, unless you enjoy spending months cleaning tools. When mixing resin bound measure the quantities of resin accurately to avoid areas looking milky when to much resin is added. With either product I would strongly recommend using a vapour mask unless you enjoy altered reality, gloves are also essential.
The main draw back with these products is cost, for resin bound your looking at about £75.00 per M2 probably a bit cheaper for resin bonded, ( you could have seriously nice stone for that money) you can source the resin yourself http://www.resin-supplies.co.uk for example, and find your own gravel, This may work out cheaper
I cant see why you couldn’t mix the two, main area in resin bonded with a motif in resin bound whether its your coat of arms or a picture of the mother in law!, the possibilities are endless.
slimdotjim

[Tony McC]

Resin BONDED is, by quite some way, the easier to install, and it's *much* easier to use Ronadeck or similar than one of the bound systems such as SureSet, not least because of the need for a mixer that will have to be cleaned and decent towelling/floating skills.

[juliobee]

Resin BONDED is, by quite some way, the easier to install, and it's *much* easier to use Ronadeck or similar than one of the bound systems such as SureSet, not least because of the need for a mixer that will have to be cleaned and decent towelling/floating skills.

Thanks for your suggestions chaps although I am still unclear as to the best system to use for my requirements. Slim suggests that Sureset is the easiest to use but Tony McC recommends Ronadeck. Perhaps there is no easy answer except on price.

I don't think using battens as temporary edge supports is going to work as I cannot fix or wedge them in place securely due to the gap between the slab and its boundaries.

I have plenty of experience using concrete renders and plaster so I guess I can say my trowelling and floating skills are up to scratch. Although I have no experience trowelling with Sureset.

I have a quote from Sureset for approximately £120 for materials. This sounds a bit cheap to me considering what I have read. I think they have only quoted me for the aggregate and not the resin. I will have to check this because If it is going to cost a lot more then I am going to flag it with York stone or similar.

Any other thoughts are gratefully accepted.

Much obliged to you all.

[Tony McC]

If you're confident with trowelling and floating to an accurate finish, and you have a clean mixer to prep the resin-and-gravel, and you have the wherewithal to clean out the mixer and the hand tools afterwards, then a resin bound system such as SureSet will be fine. However, DIYers and those not overly familiar with the ways of the float usually find a simple scattercoat system, such as RonaDeck is much easier.

It's impossible to say that one is better than the other: it's not comparing like with like. They are both good systems, but it depends on the style of finish you wish to achieve and the skill level of the operative.

[simeonronacrete]

There's a lot of truth in what's been said here. The resin bonded systems like Ronadeck Fast Grip are thin bonded coatings of a few mm applied to good quality smooth finish non-porous concrete or tarmacadam. These are laid as a wet resin adhesive with a full blinding scatter of quality hard aggregate, swept off after a few hours, optionally clear coat sealed, and then used.

The resin bound systems like the Ronadeck Resin Bound Surfacing System - clever us, we do both! - are 12-15mm thick or thicker, trowelled onto a quality surface as above, then allowed to cure before using.

Although the Resin Bound is actually harder to do in that it needs trowelling/screeding techniques and skills, it is less prone to error.

Sureset must, I believe, be installed by one of their specialists, or by Sureset themselves. The Ronadeck Resin Bound System can be applied by anyone (within reason). i.e. you don't have to hold a license. However as with many threads I have posted on this subject, if you haven't done it before, beware the learning curve. As with my previous post on this page, we can put you in contact with applicators who for a not unreasonable fee will train you on your job.

If you want to call us for information we'd be delighted to hear from you.

Regards and good luck

Simeon

p.s. The Ronadeck Resin Bound System also conforms to the new SuDS regulations, allowing water to drain through into the ground below.



Edited By simeonronacrete on 1235349464