Local Home Services

Pattern Imprinted Concrete or Stamped Concrete has been around for a number of years now and is no longer a new untested and unproved product entering the market yet many sceptics still bad mouth the product online saying it will crack, warp, fade even peel but people who have had pattern imprinted concrete installed over the years know that compared to other driveway materials it is pretty robust.

These rumours of course were started by a few amateur contractors who preferred to lay block paving or basic tarmac products and simply didn’t want to entertain another product, especially a product that took skill and knowledge to lay correctly so they resisted and started to make false claims about pattern imprinted concrete warping, fading or peeling in a very short amount of time and when the product was new some people did believe them as there was little proof to say the contrary.

So why doesn’t Pattern Imprinted Concrete crack or warp?

The naysayers would always point out the word concrete insisting that concrete cracks and warps when laid in one solid piece which is basically true and the reason we still build with bricks and individual blocks, a method that dates back over 10 thousand years to the Egyptians and Mayans who could cast concrete but choose to use blocks in their buildings , but Pattern Imprinted Concrete is not standard concrete the Concrete used is a unique composite that’s a mixture or concrete, fibre mesh and special elastic resins allowing it to stretch, flex and warp without it cracking. It’s also non porous (water resistant) and has anti-slip properties too.

In fact Pattern Imprinted Concrete is a far superior product to block paving where the individual blocks tend to move and sink. You’ve will have seen it yourself when looking at a block paved driveway that’s been down a couple of years covered in weeds, moss and with uneven blocks while pattern imprinted concrete of the same age will still look new.

So with block paving you are susceptible to weeds growing through the gaps in the blocks which any gardener knows are a pain to completely remove and can return in a matter of days. Whereas Pattern Imprinted Concrete is weed free, moss free, durable, wear resistant, water resistant and virtually maintenance free making it by far the most superior paving and driveway system on the market today.

So how long does Pattern Imprinted Concrete actually last?

If it is laid correctly by a professional driveway installer such as Dimension Driveways near Warrington, a pattern imprinted concrete driveway, paths or patio can last for many, many years even decades.

Unfortunately there are a few amateur, cowboy contractors now offering cut priced pattern imprinted concrete installation all across Greater Manchester and Cheshire which may sound tempting to many people looking to save money and sometime the price difference can be quite a lot, however, it’s cheap for a reason, it’s not the genuine product and will be missing very important components such as the special resins, fibre mess and compounds that make the concrete flexible, hard wearing and non slip.

By the time you find out that they have not used the correct material – 3/6 months in the future when your driveway does start to crack, warp, peel and fade – the rogue driveway company will have changed their company name and phone number after spending many months scamming customers leaving you with a driveway that needs completely ripping up and doing again properly and this is the false economy of using amateur driveway installers.