The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Wed Dec 07, 2016 6:09 am**

Hi all,
First of all I wanted to say I have been visiting this web site for many years and it amazes me how comprehensive it is on the subject of paving.
Nevertheless I could not find the answer to my question hence posting here. Forgive me if this is actually addressed properly already but it is such a vast site I thought I would probably get a quicker answer posting the question.

I have decided to go for the option of permeable resin bound surface for my 31sqm front patio/garden and got a surprisingly affordable quote for LONDON from a BALI registered landscaper (half the price of other quotes so a bit too good to be true !).
Looking at the details the contractor is offering to lay the resin bound materials over compacted cold tarmac that come in 25Kg bags itself coming above a proper permeable sub-base of say 100 to 150mm thick.

My question is about the reliability and suitably of cold tarmac over a proper sub-base to cater for a resign bound surface. Is it good enough or is the contractor cutting corners here (hence the price)?

FYI I will be driving a 160Kg+ scooter over the surface twice a day 250 days a year or so and the last thing I need is subsidence or cracks because of the weight.

Thank you in advance for any advice you would be happy to share with me on the subject,
Regards,
Frederic

Posted: **Wed Dec 07, 2016 6:17 am**

Bags of cold lay are for repairing holes etc: i needs to have a proper tarmac base regulated to a fine tolerence so you bound surface is uniform. Your contractor needs to get on his horse and rise out of town. Dave L will give best advice on tarmac.

Posted: **Wed Dec 07, 2016 6:25 am**

Thx Sean, that cold tarmac thing got me thinking indeed...

I was not comfortable with it in the first place and now it is a no-go for me.
I guess you always get what you pay for unfortunately!!!

Posted: **Wed Dec 07, 2016 5:48 pm**

He would need about 175 bags of cold tar for that = Â£1500.00 roughly

The equivalent material cost for Tarmacadam would be about = Â£350.00 roughly + haulage

Posted: **Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:38 pm**

no disrespect to BALI but landscaper should not be doing civil engineering,same as I wouldnt dream of designing softscapes

chalk and cheese

sure he means well but that cold tarmac is pure rubbish

LLL

Posted: **Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:54 pm**

Alarm bells are ringing......he should be laying 65mm or so of 10mm open texture material properly compacted over a proper permeable sub base. Anything less and you'll be having problems.

Posted: **Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:40 pm**

Thx to all of you,
I have received another quote (twice the price unfortunately at +8K) from a different contractor for resign bound as option 1 and also for laying natural stone setts paving instead as option 2 (slightly more affordable at 7K) and the more I think about it the more I believe the resign bound option at half the price is probably a very adventurous option I am going to regret...

Fixing a stone setts patio is one thing, fixing a resign bound one following cracking is not an option.

At the end of the day 7k+VAT for procuring and laying 31sqm of expensive natural stone setts with borders in London may be justified after all. Sounded like an expensive offer but the much cheaper cold tarmac contractor does not reassure me at all.

Posted: **Thu Dec 08, 2016 11:08 pm**

I would charge around Â£3500 for that job.

So 8k for London, is probably reasonable.

Good luck.

The Brew Cabin

Resin bound quotation