Guarantee and aftercare
What the written guarantee covers, what it does not, and the small amount of looking-after a new surface needs.
The written workmanship guarantee
A workmanship guarantee is issued in writing with every quote, so you can read the terms before you accept the price rather than after the job. It covers the work we carried out and the way we built it up:
- The dig out and the compacted sub-base
- The falls, so water runs away from the house and off the surface
- Edge restraints and haunching
- Laying: the resin trowelling, the block laying and jointing, the tarmac courses, the mortar bed under slabs
- Drainage we installed as part of the job
Manufacturers offer their own separate cover on the materials themselves. Where that applies, the paperwork is handed over at the end of the job with the guarantee.
What a guarantee cannot cover
Being straight about the limits is more useful than a long list of promises. A workmanship guarantee does not cover:
- Damage from vehicles heavier than the drive was built for, including skips, cement lorries and plant
- Ground movement caused by trees, subsidence, or a leaking drain that was not part of our work
- Staining from oil, fuel, paint, rust or plant pots
- Frost damage from rock salt on resin or stone
- Damage from a pressure washer used too close or with a narrow lance
- Fading of coloured tarmac or pigmented concrete over the years, which is normal weathering
- Anything altered or dug up by somebody else afterwards
Settlement in the first year
A small amount of settlement in the first winter is normal on any surface laid over ground that has been dug out, especially where the weather has been wet. Joint sand dropping in block paving is not a fault, it is the joints doing their job. Top the sand up. Anything that ponds water, rocks underfoot, or opens a gap you can get a finger into is a different matter, and we want to hear about it.
Aftercare by surface
Resin bound
Brush it, and rinse it down two or three times a year. Wide fan on a pressure washer, held well back and kept moving. Never a narrow lance close in, and never a rotating turbo nozzle. No rock salt: use a grit or a resin-safe de-icer. Mop oil drips before they soak in.
Block paving
Top the kiln dried joint sand up after the first year, then every few years. Pull weeds while they are small. Wash with a hose or a wide fan, then re-sand anything you have washed out the same day. Rock salt is fine on concrete blocks but avoid piling it up.
Tarmac
Keep it clear for the first day or two while it hardens. In the first hot summer, put a board under caravan jockey wheels, motorcycle stands and axle stands, because they will press in. Do not turn the steering wheel while stationary. Wipe up petrol and diesel quickly, since both dissolve bitumen.
Patios and paths
Sweep, and wash down two or three times a year, more where the patio is shaded and algae takes hold. Porcelain and granite take a pressure washer well; sandstone wants a gentler touch and the joints want leaving alone. Sandstone can be sealed once it is thoroughly dry, which slows staining but needs redoing every few years. Get autumn leaves off before they mark the stone.
If something goes wrong
Ring the number on this site or email us, with a photograph if you can take one. We come and look. If it is our workmanship, we put it right under the guarantee at no cost to you. If it is not, we will tell you what it actually is and what it would cost to fix, and you are free to get somebody else to do that.
Questions about the cover?
Ask before you commit, not after. We will send the guarantee wording with the quote.