What no fines concrete is, and why Permcon isn't it
Same idea. Different product. No fines concrete leaves the sand out of the mix so water passes straight through it: an old recipe, low in strength, built for jobs where drainage was the whole point. Permcon takes that same open structure and engineers it to carry traffic. Confuse the two on a job and the wrong one ends up under a car.
The truck-driver's name for it
Leave the sand out. The mix sets with gaps running all through it. That's no fines concrete, and it's an old recipe, older than most of the crews pouring it today.
On site, the name gets used loosely. Ask three builders and you'll get three different answers, because half the trade calls anything porous "no fines" the moment it comes off the truck. Fair enough. It's often the first version of the idea anyone hears about.
Where it earns its keep: behind a retaining wall, letting groundwater find the drain. Under a garden bed, as a free-draining layer nobody ever sees again. Those jobs need a detail that holds its shape and lets water through. Nothing more. Nobody parks a car on them. The basic mix was never made to be driven on.
The engineering underneath
Same starting point: fines left out, water gets through. From there, Permcon gets engineered into a pavement. A proprietary admixture holds the voids at 20 to 25 per cent and gets the strength to 25+ MPa regardless of the job. 8,000 to 10,000 mm/hr still gets through the surface, without the strength being traded away for it.
One continuous slab, no joints. P4 slip rating underfoot. A 10-year structural warranty stands behind the pour: fails structurally, we assess it, pull it out, replace it. Thickness does the rest, 125 mm for a driveway, thicker again under a truck. The base beneath carries its share too; the full picture is on our permeable concrete page.
Why the swap matters on a driveway or car park
A driveway takes one car, turning on the same few square metres every morning. Multiply that by a car park: hundreds of turns a day, plus a truck backing in to unload stock. Drainage that works doesn't help if the slab underneath can't take the weight.
A driveway only gets poured once in most people's lives. Get the product wrong and the fix is a jackhammer, a truck to cart away the spoil, and starting again from the ground up. We pour 125 mm of Permcon as standard for a driveway. Car parks and lanes with heavier vehicles get thicker again, on the same mix, at the same strength.
How to tell what you're being quoted
"No fines." "Porous." "Pervious." None of those words on their own tell you what you're getting. Ask for two figures in writing instead: compressive strength in MPa, and the length of the structural warranty. Ours run to 25+ MPa and 10 years. A pavement engineered for traffic answers both without hesitating; a vague reply usually means someone's quoting the basic mix.
Forward the quote to us before you sign anything, through our enquiry page, or pull the numbers worth specifying off our pervious concrete page.
No fines concrete questions
No fines concrete, permeable concrete: same thing?+
One idea, shared: leave out the fines, let water through. Past that, they part ways. No fines concrete is the basic, lower-strength version, mostly reached for when drainage is the entire job. Permcon is engineered as a pavement instead, with a strength figure and a warranty standing behind it.
A driveway, poured in no fines concrete?+
We'd say no. A driveway needs a surface that holds under turning tyres, and that's precisely the trade-off the basic mix makes to get its drainage. Go with a permeable concrete built for traffic, and get the strength and the warranty in writing first.
Builders still say no-fines. Why?+
Habit, mostly. It's the term the trade learned first, and Permcon does leave the fines out, so nobody's exactly lying. What's changed sits underneath: the admixture, a void range held steady, and the strength behind it.
Quoted no fines for the driveway?
Send the quote through, or the address alone works. We'll walk the site, say what needs to go down, how thick, and what warranty stands behind it.
Check if permeable concrete suits your site
A few quick questions about your site. You get a straight answer about whether permeable concrete is the right call, including when it isn't, before anyone asks for your details.
What is the project?
Tell us about your project
Tell us where the site is and what you're planning. An estimator from your state team will call you back, look at the site with you and give you a real figure, from a single driveway to a council car park.
Permcon on the ground
