Resin Bound 1m2 Kit (UV Stable Resin & Stones) (Athena)

I love this product and have used it in a few smaller parts of my garden as an alternative to paving, where drainage is important. As a DIYer this is easy to install - I mixed one 1m2 kit at a time in a flexible plastic tub using an SDS drill with a paddle mixer attachment - you then just need a trowel and a flooring float to spread out and level the mix. I was worried that the working time would be short but found that the mixed product is flexible for plenty of time to allow you to level it properly and smooth out the finished area. I think it looks brilliant, the colour is vibrant, and it seems to wear well having been applied late last summer and surviving the winter. The kit does genuinely cover the 1 square metre advertised at the suggested depth and cures within 24 hours depending on the temperature. Do be careful about getting the resin mix on anything and cleaning your tools as it is very sticky as you would expect - I found that acetone works well for cleaning tools afterwards. At face value, this seems expensive per square metre, but compared to the cost of porcelain paving when adding-on the cost of mortar materials and the additional time to install, I do feel that it is actually reasonable value. The product does seem to be holding-up well. One of these areas is my dog's 'toilet' and it drains perfectly and the urine does not seem to affected the durability of the resin. I regularly hose it down with disinfectant and it does not seem to hold any bad smells. I do occasionally find the odd small weed has taken root in the tiny gaps between the stone particles but these are easy to pluck out and if kept on top of will not cause any problems.

Why did you choose this product over others?: Well I have to say this product is amazing. So easy to put together. You do think you won't have enough resin and setting agent to cover that bag of stones but it spreads well over the stones.. I did use half the stones and mixture to bond fisrt which is a better idea so the stones get well covered. I'm in my 50s and I found this easy to lay and it looks amazing around my drive area. Will defo buy again this deserves a massive 6 stars from me 😊. Just take your time and and don't rush the mixing process. Value for money: Great price Dries quickly: In this heat drys withing a few hrs or less Fit: Slides into gaps well

Why did you choose this product over others?: Reasonable value compared to other options for buying a single square metre. Very easy to use. Using a kitchen balance, I was able to make up the mix in 1/2 and 1/4 sg. metre portions which suited the fiddle area I was using it over. Cured in a few hours and look really nice. Just need to se how it fares over the winter now. Arrived quickly. Value for money: Not bad compared to similar amounts from other vendors.

Great product. Got 40l flexi bucket and paint paddle in dewalt drill. Mixed resin and hardener in another smaller bucket, there is less hardener, mix goes white when mixed then pour over stones and mix thoroughly. Go slowly, press it down and smooth with a clean trowel. For small gaps between slabs I finished with pressing down and sliding a piece of wood , clean off spills as you go. After 2hours it starts to get a bit stringy as it is starting to set a bit. Found it an enjoyable experience , cleaned with white spirits

Bought two packs of these to fill an area between a newly laid patio and the house. There's 3 elements in each pack, the two liquids which need mixing to form the resin, plus the pack of stones. Because I hadn't used this before and I didn't know how long it would take for the resin to 'go off' i.e. to set, I mixed half the bag of stones with half of each of the liquids - you mix the liquids from the bottles prior to pouring over the stones. Doing it this way, in half measures, also made the mixing easier, whether doing it by hand (it's perfectly possible to mix by hand) or using a mixer paddle attached to a drill. Just make sure all the stone is coated before you start laying it. It's important to mask off any surrounding slabs from a patio, path etc as the resin will 'stain' them if accidentally dripped. It leaves the stones looking like they're permanently wet. We used masking tape and cut up lengths of the cardboard box in which the two bottles of resin mix were delivered. If you do have an accident, we had a slight seepage under one piece of masking tape, if you let it dry for a day or so you can use a wire brush (either manually or as a drill attachment) to grind off the resin stain. Also, before you start, make sure you have a firm base to lay this on. We put down around 4-5cm of compacted hardcore - crushed, broken up bricks etc. The resin can then be laid about 15mm deep and it's more economical that way. The mix goes down very easily, but use a clean trowel, one of the large rectangular ones is best, to flatten and smooth out the resin. It starts setting, on a hot day, within a few hours, but takes probably until the next day to go fully solid, so do watch the weather forecast before you begin. Also, choose your colours carefully. The finished product probably looks lighter and brighter than what you imagine because when the resin has set it has a shiny surface and catches the sun. You will also need to clean up any tools (trowels etc) pretty soon after finishing as otherwise it will set solid on the tool and is really difficult to remove. White spirit should do the trick. If you take your time, this works really well - although I would never attempt to do a large area like a pool surround or a whole patio like in some of the photos. That would work out horrendously expensive and be back-breaking work! If you're doing a big area, there's alternatives where you can simply lay a bed of gravel etc and pour the resin over it and leave to set. But, for smaller areas this is really convenient and works well.

Great value for money - we built some steps at the front and back door to our house and left an infill - the VUBA resin bound gravel was then used to fill the 'hole' - easy to use (according to my husband!), dried quickly and looks lovely. Extremely pleased with this product