Save Hours of Paving Research in Just 8 Minutes

How? Learn from marine engineer research – watch the 8-minute video below.

As a diligent engineer, Matt has done his homework! Fully researching some of the more detailed concerns with pavement resurfacing options, all addressed in the video below;

• What can become issues with rigid (cement-based) paving?
• How can I see how well StoneSet holds up over time?
• How expensive is StoneSet compared with exposed aggregate?
• What are the hidden hassles with demolition and repaving?

Bound for Botany Bay

When the first fleet landed in Australia, the early settlers went about building their own ‘little Britain’ naming the new land to best resemble the homeland (and in honour of various state governors such as Lachlan Macquarie) as was the fashion in colonial times!

Originally named ‘New Wales’, the brave new outpost of Botany bay was constructed with significant amount of Sydney Sandstone, quarried from the immediate surrounds of the colony (mostly from Pyrmont)

As such, the highest quality, most decorative, easily carved sandstone was used first, to build most of the building foundations of ‘the Rocks’ which still stand today.

As the Sydney colony grew, more and more sandstone was quarried to meet the demands of rapid development. Sandstone was gradually sourced from new quarries in Randwick, Paddington and eventually as far as the Hawkesbury river area. The quarry was close-by and the sandstone carried a highly decorative yellow streak from oxidised iron minerals, unique to what would be later termed ‘Hawkesbury Sandstone’

Crazy Paving.. It’s Everywhere!

A comment from as late as 1915 tell us even then, sandstone was called ‘Freestone’ as it was still plentiful, cheap, and used in almost every building application at the time;

“in Sydney sandstone was so plentiful and so easily worked that no one thought of going afield to explore for something better, and even today [1915] freestone, as the sandstone is often called, is nearly everywhere employed by architects and builders”

As a result, and a testament to the ideal paving properties of Sandstone – durability, workability, porosity and non-slip surface. Crazy Paving is ubiquitous across Sydney on patios, pathways and even driveways.

Below some examples of decades-old sandstone ‘crazy paving’ we have resurfaced for pool surrounds and pathways across Australia.

Resurfacing Crazy Paving

Sometimes over 100 years old, many homeowners have found they have had enough of their Crazy paving.

Cracked, patched, stained and outdated – Crazy paving shows its age and can pose a trip hazard. Often the stained, old sandstone is not in keeping with new houses or the colours used for modern building materials.

Accordingly StoneSet are frequently called upon to apply a 16mm ‘overlay’ of our resin bound stone to resurface crazy paving

We speak with Matt (who has engineering experience in Naval architecture) about his choice in StoneSet, particularly due to the flexible nature of resins. Having worked in ship building where flexible fibreglass resins are common, Matt has an advanced understanding of resin and the suitability for applications where non rigid paving is required.

What happens when you have cracked, patched and tired sandstone pavers with a young family and two dogs?

What are the issues when resurfacing crazy paving?

• Levelling – Crazy paving is seldom a smooth, flat surface – with lumps and dips, often in the concrete grout lines.
• Cracking – As individual sandstone blocks, moment in the subgrade is immediately transmitted to movement in the sandstone blocks
• Remedial repairs – New sandstone looks very different to 50 year old sandstone. As such ‘patch repairs’ are quite obvious and not aesthetically pleasing.
• Hassle – Demolition, removal, concreters, pavers and landscapers. These are all the trades that can become involved in a project like this.
• Mess – Living in the house through a renovation can be a nightmare – with small children and two dogs, this family was not interested in the elaborate hassle involved with pulling out the old sandstone and repaving.

How does StoneSet overcome these issues?

• Levelling – Stoneset can level even the most uneven surfaces, it can be applied anywhere from 12-25mm thick, providing you with a brand new, smooth surface.
• Cracking – Short of soft fall rubber, StoneSet’s polyurethane resin is one of the most flexible paving options available on the market.
• Remedial repairs -StoneSet has over 30 standard ‘colours’ of stone. The colours are not synthetic pigments, but the ‘natural’ colour occurring from the oxidised mineral of quartz and granite that is quarried in a sustainable way in Australia. With a practically unlimited number of blends we can create from these 30 ‘standard’ stone colours, we seldom find an old stone colour we can not match.