Joondanna paving from Landsdale, about 12 km away
Joondanna is about 12 km from IBP Paving's base in Landsdale and sits within our regular area. Most paving work in the suburb is likely to be replacing the paving that came with a post-war house: driveways, side paths and back courtyards, plus new soakwells that meet the City of Stirling's rules. We bring over 20 years of Perth paving experience to every job and guarantee our workmanship for life.
Joondanna Heights, gazetted 1939
The suburb started life as Joondanna Heights, the first declared township in the Perth Road District, gazetted on 17 November 1939. The name was shortened to Joondanna in 1954. Between those dates the area filled fast: the City of Stirling records rapid subdivision and building in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and by 1958 there was little vacant land left.
Post-war houses and what their paving needs now
Because so much of Joondanna was built in a single decade, its driveways and paths tend to fail together. Typical signs are concrete that has cracked into slabs, early pavers worn smooth or broken, and sand washed out from under edges that were never restrained. For most of these homes the right answer is a full paving replacement, taking the old surface out, building a compacted limestone base and laying a new driveway to the existing levels.
Out the back, a small paved courtyard often replaces a patchy lawn or a cracked slab. A basketweave pattern in a red or charcoal brick suits the scale and age of these houses. Infill is another source of work. Where an older lot has been subdivided, the new dwellings need driveways, paths and drainage laid from scratch, and the original house usually needs its front reworked at the same time.
A new crossover for a subdivided lot goes through the City first. An approved Crossover Installation Application is needed before work starts, and the City pays half the cost of a standard 3 m grey concrete crossover when it is the first one to the property and the claim arrives within 12 months of completion.
Source: City of Stirling, Crossover Policy.
Soakwell minimums and where they can sit
Post-war lots with a side driveway can leave limited room for drainage, so the City of Stirling's placement rules matter more here than on a big modern block. The City requires all rain falling on the lot to be kept on site by soakwells or another approved system.
The minimum roof water soakwell is 900 mm in diameter by 600 mm deep, set at least 1 m from structures and boundaries. Soakwells under driveways, carports or garages must be trafficable and sit on an approved base, and roof water and paved area runoff are infiltrated separately. Standard lots are sized for at least a 1 in 1 year, 60 minute storm: impervious area in m2 multiplied by 0.015 gives the storage in m3.
On a Joondanna block with 160 m2 of roof and 60 m2 of driveway, the rule gives 3.3 m3 in total, split between a roof water system and a separate one for the paving. With the house close to one boundary and a driveway along the other, the paving soakwell often ends up under the driveway, so we fit trafficable lids and a compacted base beneath the liner. Unit sizes and costs are on our soakwell cost page, and the City of Stirling soakwell requirements page covers the rest.
Source: City of Stirling, On Site Stormwater Drainage Criteria (June 2024).
Karrakatta sand under the base
Joondanna usually sits on yellow Spearwood sand of the Karrakatta type. It is free draining, there is no wetland named in the suburb and the water table is generally several metres down, which suits soakwells. The coast is roughly 8 km west, too far for salt to trouble pavers. What the sand does demand is good compaction: it holds a base well when it is wetted and compacted in layers, and it slumps under a driveway when it is not. Dips in old Joondanna driveways usually trace back to a thin base on loose sand rather than the pavers themselves.
Mount Hawthorn, Tuart Hill and the suburbs around Joondanna
Joondanna sits between Tuart Hill to the north and Mount Hawthorn to the south, with Yokine, Coolbinia, Osborne Park and North Perth close by. We service each of them from Landsdale; see areas we service.
