Concrete imprint colours

jhe

Advice please not wanting to make an expensive mistake
i am in the middle of getting my drive and patio replaced with concrete imprint and now need to choose colours
i was set on getting black charcoal but the installers are telling me it will show marks more than say grey.
with having 3 dogs that run around the garden patio and drive  I might be better not choosing black charcoal but they do say the black charcoal will look nice
anyone else got these colours or install and can advise please

Doozergirl

I'd not choose imprinted concrete.  

Concrete is brittle and the ground always moves over time.  Even with expansion gaps, they're not going to follow the oath of least resistance.  

That said, I once rented a house with a (cracked) black imprinted drive and I didn't notice any issues with marking on it, although your guys are best placed to advise.  

stuart45

The old saying about concrete was that there are only 2 types of concrete.
Concrete that's cracked and concrete that's about to crack.
Nowadays really good concrete contractors understand more about the issues. Shrinkage cracks as it cures are the main cause and not having excess water in the mix helps. The addition of fibres and keeping the finished concrete damp also help as well as control joints.
A really good sub base helps with any ground movement problems. 
Reinforcement in concrete doesn't stop the cracks, but it does hold the cracked pieces together, so is needed more for suspended slabs or lintels.

NeverTooLate

We had the black charcoal for our patio in our last house, it looks great to start with but unless you re-seal it every year or so it starts to fade. So I would agree with your installers & go for grey if you're set on having it.

But as others have said - I wouldn't have it again, ours didn't crack too badly but it always looked a bit scruffy.

jhe

NeverTooLate said:

We had the black charcoal for our patio in our last house, it looks great to start with but unless you re-seal it every year or so it starts to fade. So I would agree with your installers & go for grey if you're set on having it.

But as others have said - I wouldn't have it again, ours didn't crack too badly but it always looked a bit scruffy.

Thanks 
i know it will need regular resealing .
did yours still look scruffy even when you resealed ? 

I was thinking the grey would show the tyre marks off the cars and show muddy paw prints more than the black 

GDB2222

There was an imprinted concrete driveway in this house when we moved in 25 years ago. It was quite old,  very faded, and a bit cracked. The good news is that, as it has weathered still further, it looks better than 25 years ago. 

Several neighbours have gone for resin bonded drives, which look terrible in my view. They show every speck of dirt, for a start. 

I like York stone, but it’s expensive.

jhe

GDB2222 said:

There was an imprinted concrete driveway in this house when we moved in 25 years ago. It was quite old,  very faded, and a bit cracked. The good news is that, as it has weathered still further, it looks better than 25 years ago. 

Several neighbours have gone for resin bonded drives, which look terrible in my view. They show every speck of dirt, for a start. 

I like York stone, but it’s expensive.

We were strongly advised not to get resin by someone who installs them
our existing concrete drive has been down 27 year, it has some cracks but if the new concrete imprint lasts that long it will probably last longer than me 😂
the work has started on the drive now but cannot decide on the colour 

NeverTooLate

jhe said:

NeverTooLate said:

We had the black charcoal for our patio in our last house, it looks great to start with but unless you re-seal it every year or so it starts to fade. So I would agree with your installers & go for grey if you're set on having it.

But as others have said - I wouldn't have it again, ours didn't crack too badly but it always looked a bit scruffy.

Thanks 
i know it will need regular resealing .
did yours still look scruffy even when you resealed ? 

I was thinking the grey would show the tyre marks off the cars and show muddy paw prints more than the black 

No,  after the reseal it looked great for about a month, until the dogs/kids/husband had been at it. And don't underestimate the cost of having it resealed. We bought the stuff and did it ourselves, it was hard work and expensive if you get someone else to do it.

On balance I just don't think you should have a driveway made of something that needs such a lot of maintenance.

When we came to do the front drive of the same house we used nice gravel on plastic grids bounded by paths of stone - looked fabulous, relatively cheap and virtually no maintenance other than a gravel top up every once in a blue moon.

jhe

NeverTooLate said:

jhe said:

NeverTooLate said:

We had the black charcoal for our patio in our last house, it looks great to start with but unless you re-seal it every year or so it starts to fade. So I would agree with your installers & go for grey if you're set on having it.

But as others have said - I wouldn't have it again, ours didn't crack too badly but it always looked a bit scruffy.

Thanks 
i know it will need regular resealing .
did yours still look scruffy even when you resealed ? 

I was thinking the grey would show the tyre marks off the cars and show muddy paw prints more than the black 

No,  after the reseal it looked great for about a month, until the dogs/kids/husband had been at it. And don't underestimate the cost of having it resealed. We bought the stuff and did it ourselves, it was hard work and expensive if you get someone else to do it.

On balance I just don't think you should have a driveway made of something that needs such a lot of maintenance.

When we came to do the front drive of the same house we used nice gravel on plastic grids bounded by paths of stone - looked fabulous, relatively cheap and virtually no maintenance other than a gravel top up every once in a blue moon.

Thanks appreciate your advice but the men are here now working on the drive and patio so all booked for concrete just need to choose the colour
we looked into alternatives but 
resin we were strongly advised not to get by someone who installs them.
Block paving needs maintaining and I notice quite a few around that have sunk.
we have another separate patio to the ongoing work in the garden that is paved and needs weeding,
I reckoned whatever I chose had pro’s and cons
The ongoing work is 147 square metres so need something to make life easier day to day 

GDB2222

This video shows a grey drive that looks pretty good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rDh3mj0gjz4

FreeBear

jhe said: Block paving needs maintaining and I notice quite a few around that have sunk.

If a block paved drive has sunk, that would be a clear indicator that the sub-base has not been prepared properly and is of insufficient depth. Done properly, block paving should not sink.