Pattern Imprinted Concrete. No good? Even the installer says it's not worth the cost

lancslass2008

Hi all

Hoping someone can help me here.

Was thinking of getting pattern imprinted concrete outside our house, so we rang a family friend who has a brilliant reputation in this area for Block Paving, Paving etc. That's his business! So, I spoke to him and told him we were getting 5 quotes for Pattern Imprinted Concrete. As I expected, he was very honest and said he knew some of the other firms we would price with and he couldn't match their price. He told me he takes longer and does a better job etc, etc. Judging by his reputation I can understand that is true. However, what surprised me is when he told us

"This stuff is not as good and hard wearing as some companies would have you believe. No matter who the installer is we can't really guarantee it won't chip or flake 100%. He said "Just try dropping a tin of Beans on it. It will chip. It just isn't as durable as people say"

I thought this was very honest of him and he didn't even try to persuade us to employ him to go for an alternative (Slabs, Block Paving etc).

I've had a look around the Internet and can't seem to find loads of bad reports.

Can somebody tell us of any possible/potential problems and pitfalls with this stuff?

Thanks

sharkie

I would have thought that a concrete floor is much cheaper than a blocked path one, as the preparation, skill and more equipment is used.

Concrete slabs are poured, then they put rubber mats on top with the desired imprint on them to give an effect

I have had concrete floor, and they have to be thick enough and done in sections because if they are too large they tend to crack.

With bricks and tiles I have seen some great work, but more often then not the company has skimped on the hardcore base and after 6+ months there is a rut of sinking stones where the car travells, and the edge stones are loose

knowloads

Imprinted systems can also cause ground drying where water hes been allowed to drain through for years.
In clay areas this can cause problems with shrinkage and then cracking. Its also very slippy in winter, and frankly always looks like Faux stone.

Tucker

I'm not a fan of it.

It needs re-sealing on a regular basis and the colour fades where it gets driven over alot.

Worst of all it's slippy as hell when wet.

DVardysShadow

lancslass2008 wrote: »

... So, I spoke to him and told him we were getting 5 quotes for Pattern Imprinted Concrete. ....

I thought this was very honest of him and he didn't even try to persuade us to employ him to go for an alternative (Slabs, Block Paving etc).

If he was one of 5 quotes, I can imagine him not being all that bothered

olias

Don't forget you have to get planning permission for it these days.

Olias

MX5huggy

http://www.pavingexpert.com/pic01.htm

Just about covers it al depend son the skill of the installers

sunshinetours

We have it and ours has cracked. Clay soil and slopey driveway probably don't help.
As others have said slippery as anything when wet

Also things get trapped in the fake mortar gaps. In fairness we also haven't really looked after it or had it sealed

It looks OK as a drive aside from the cracks but i would only have it done (it was already done when we moved in) if it was considerably cheaper than block paving or a gravel based drive

Limara

My front drive was done years and years ago they will lie to you during the sell and then dont want to know if things go wrong!
One concern was my husband used to park a works van on it, this side he parked on the old drive did have a crack in it but that was due to the entire concrete being about 2.5 inches thick which was not adequate for that weight!

We were told its 10 x harder than concrete and its a special stuff funny isnt it how it was delivered in a ordinary ready mix lorry!
Also a big sell was it will never let weeds through like concrete and will never crack! my other half hated block paving because of the weeds.
Within 3 weeks of it being completed I had larger cracks all over the drive than i did on the 20 year old drive it replaced! and they were all on the side where the lighter car was parked that never had any cracks on the old drive.
Weeds never coming through thats a joke again more weeds than on the previous drive, but I guess thats becuase there are more cracks for them to spring through.
We were supposed to be a show home living on a main bus route and that never happened we should have made our own board up telling people NOT TO DO IT!

I have a handicapped child, only way into both front and back of the house is through the front drive, we live on a main road and our only place to park was our drive so again concerns about how long it is before you can get back into the drive. We were told 3 days start to finish again another joke it ended up being almost like 3 weeks and at one stage when the final top coat is done you cant walk over it at all untill its totally dry, ( 2 days) one night my neighbours had to dismantle part of a brick wall so we could have access to our own house and get my daughter into it!.

Many complaints the guy that sold it contracted it out and of course one blamed the other, and neither would do anything about it. They had recently moved to our area and the trading standards office from the other area had a catalogue of complaints.

Even if this had been a perfect job NEVER AGAIN for the following reasons, I do really like the look of it when its perfect but its so impractible.

1, Its REALLY REALLY SLIPPERY when its wet, we never recoated ours because it was so slippery, there hasnt been any coating on it for years but its still far more slippery than a regular concrete drive.

2, Think ahead if you are ever likely to need to have your drive up for any reason ( if your services go under the drive its possible you would need to )you will never ever patch this in! i know you would always see any channel thats been repaired in concrete but it wont be anything like a concrete channel in the middle of the imprinted concrete!

3, The imprinting is literally stamping the pattern in, the grooves are quite deep and are really terrible to clean they fill with dust and brushing them out is a real challenge because of the way the pattern goes. the easiest way is to hose this but I am on a hill I would think even hosing would be hard on a flat surface.

4, Even a simple job like positioning steps to clean the windows can be a challenge because of the surface being so uneven

I want cable broad band, under the drive is not the only way in but the best way in would be under ground on the old drive it would have been done around half way on the drive, thats impossible with this drive! and to be surface mounted I would have to have cable go accross the drive at one point for entry to the house so stuck on this terrible connection I have!

Doozergirl

Even when they lay them in smaller sections they crack. There is no tolerance so if the ground changes, which it may well do, it cracks.

I just don't see the point of it. If you have block paving, if the ground moves, nothing cracks because there are so many bricks, there is plenty of tolerance. If you do get any movement then you can just lift and relay the affected sections. Seems like a much better long term solution to me.