Stamped Concrete Resurfacing in Glenwood NSW

Here at StoneSet we love seeing resin bound stone being troweled out into picture perfect porous paving. We’re particularly excited to share the homeowners joy when high-value transformations come to life, like this little decorative masterpiece.

Such was the case this week in the north-western Sydney suburb of Glenwood. There was an obvious need to either remediate the stained and aged stamped concrete driveway, or in this case, resurface it completely!

What is Stamped Concrete?

Stamped or ‘Stenciled’ concrete is a popular and cost-effective method of creating the appearance of decorative paving. Primarily applied to improve aesthetic appeal, stamped concrete can also be used to improve anti-slip properties and act as a sealing coat which protects the underlying, typically newly poured structural concrete layer.

Installation of the old stencil seen here would have first involved stripping back the concrete base before putting in position an impervious film/stencil pre-formed to a decorative pattern, before rolling over multiple ‘hardening’ layers of the pigmented stencil material.

With a broad range of applications both residential and commercial, the technology is most prolific as residential driveways resurfacing.

Exposed Aggregate Resurfacing

The owners were looking for a way to brighten the dulled yellows and avoid simply repeating dirt accumulation by temporarily cleaning the aged surface. Moving away from the rigid lines of segmental paving, only resurfacing in StoneSet offered that authentic, natural exposed aggregate look,

Looking to create something special with the 1970s era brick home façade, the central golden hues of Sienna Yellow stone were flanked by the two rich reds of Glensanda calca granites. All up, applying StoneSet to this Driveway was a 1 day install, covering 100 square meters of two tones of resin bound stone at an average depth of 16mm.

Straight-edge framing a driveway like we see here (using darker colour stone) is creative and cost effective way in which to transform any aged and worn surface.

In keeping with a complete refresh of the homes facade, the Sienna Yellow was extended to on the paths into the landscaped areas – round the side of the house and to the front entrance.

Driveway Resurfacing Options

Stability of your sub-base and the structural condition of the concrete is one of the first issues you must address before considering driveway-resurfacing options in Sydney, Melbourne (or any major Australia city).

The geology of eastern state capitals see homes resting on either clay or rock subsoils. Clay particularly is prone to water ingress causing swelling, and repeated expansion and contraction. Over decades the movement can manifest as cracking in concrete

Of course any new concrete installed correctly to specification is perfectly ready for the application of decorative paving. For old concrete, as a general rule if there is some hairline cracking but otherwise the entire surface is perfectly flat with little movement, then it is typically ‘structurally sound’.

Thankfully for this homeowner, the concrete structure was sound and ready for decorative driveway resurfacing.

If however, your cracked concrete has a number of trip hazards, due to sections lifting, or cracked areas of the slab separating and falling away, then the structural integrity of the concrete is deemed to have failed.

The extremes of failed concrete can be seen in some driveways in commercially zoned streets, where years of frequent usage by heavy freight vehicles have completely fragmented concrete, and water ingress and erosion has seen the broken segments pummeled into the ground.

Unfortunately this stage requires much more involved remedial measure – essentially ripping it all out and staring again. This significant expense explains why most cracked driveways remain in their condition today.

Learn More About Concrete Resurfacing