Porcelain Paving

Porcelain paving slabs are incredibly stylish tile with various colour palettes and stone-effect surfaces – perfect for creating a contemporary space without losing 100% of the natural feel of an outdoor area.

Yes, provided it is laid for the load. The porcelain slabs on this page are the same 20mm tiles we sell for patios, and 20mm porcelain will carry family cars when every slab is bedded on a full wet mortar bed, primed on the back, over a properly compacted sub-base. It will not cope with vans, skips or delivery lorries, and it is weakest where wheels turn on the spot. If your drive takes anything heavier than a car, a different surface is safer to buy.

Our porcelain slabs from around £22 per m² plus VAT for the 90 x 60cm budget ranges such as Cathedral Grey Porcelain, rising to roughly £38 per m² for 90 x 90cm formats. The slabs are usually the smaller part of the bill: a driveway also needs excavation, 150mm of compacted sub-base, a full mortar bed, slurry primer, diamond cutting and jointing, so installed costs typically run several times the slab price. Delivery is priced by postcode and pallet count at checkout.

For cars, yes; for anything heavier, no. porcelain is far stronger than its thickness suggests, but a 20mm slab has no give, so it only performs if it is fully supported underneath. Any void under the slab becomes a crack the first time a wheel stops on it. That means a full bed rather than dot-and-dab or spots, a primer so the slab actually bonds to the bed, and no slab laid on sand or gravel alone. We do not stock a thicker driveway-grade porcelain, so if you cannot guarantee a full bed, look at our other driveway paving options instead.

At least 150mm of compacted MOT Type 1, laid in two layers and whacker-plated between them, on firm, dug-out ground. On top of that goes a full wet bed of sharp sand and cement, around 30mm to 50mm deep, with the back of each slab primed so it bonds. A patio can get away with 100mm of sub-base; a driveway cannot, because the load is concentrated under four small tyre patches rather than spread across feet. Edge restraints, such as a concrete haunch or kerb, stop the whole thing creeping sideways.

Rarely, and not permanently. Porcelain is fired dense enough that oil, diesel and break dust sit on the surface rather than soaking in, so a drip wiped up with hot water and detergent leaves no mark. Black tyre scuffs are rubber left on the textured anti-slip face; they come off with a stiff brush and a degreaser. The joints are the weak point, since the jointing compound is more porous than the slab. A few budget ranges, including Cathedral Grey, are more absorbent than most porcelain, which is why we recommend sealing those after laying.

A rigid, cement-based or two-part slurry grout, not a brush-in compound. Porcelain joints are narrow, usually 3mm to 5mm, and on a driveway they take the shear from turning tyres, so the joint needs to be as hard as the bed beneath it. Joint-It brush-in jointing compound is excellent on porcelain patios and paths, where it is permeable, weed-resistant finish is an advantage, but it is not designed for vehicle loads. Whichever product you choose, leave the slabs at least 3mm apart so the grout can get in, and wash the surface down before it cures.

Usually not once it is laid. The slabs themselves can cost about the same as mid-range blocks, but porcelain needs more beneath and around it: a full mortar bed instead of a screeded sand bed, primer on every slab, diamond cutting and rigid grouting, all of which add labour. Block paving is quicker to lay, easier to lift and relay if a service needs digging up, and tolerates heavier vehicles. Porcelain wins on looks, on resistance to staining and moss, and on matching a porcelain patio, so the choice is about finish rather than saving money.

Over sound concrete, yes; over tarmac, no. a concrete drive that is solid, free of movement cracks and falling away from the house makes a good base: prime it, bed the slabs on a 20mm to 30mm bed of exterior tile adhesive or slurry-bonded mortar, and the finished level rises by around 50mm. Check that it still leaves 150mm below your damp-proof course that does not trap water against the house. Tarmac flexes and softens in heat, so slabs laid on it will crack; it has to come up and be replaced with a compacted sub-base.