Paving Marangaroo's 1980s and 1990s homes
Marangaroo is about 3.6 km south west of our Landsdale base, and it is a suburb we know by its driveways: brick and tile homes from the 1980s and 1990s, each with a clay paved drive that has been quietly settling for three decades. IBP Paving relays those driveways, repairs sunken sections, paves verges and paths, and installs the soakwells that stop the sinking from coming back. Over 20 years of experience in Perth's northern suburbs, and a lifetime workmanship warranty on every job.
Verge paving in Marangaroo: the City of Wanneroo's nature strip rules
Verge paving comes up more in Marangaroo than in the newer suburbs, partly because the lots are wider and partly because 1980s verges with worn lawn and a single tree are ripe for a tidy up. The City of Wanneroo permits it, with conditions set out in its nature strip treatment guidelines.
"In residential areas, brick paving or concrete may be laid on the nature strip." The guidelines refer to the City's standard drawing TS 07-9 for the layout, and require the nature strip to be kept at a positive 2 per cent gradient from the back of the kerb to the front property boundary.
Source: City of Wanneroo, Nature Strip (Verge) Treatment Guidelines.
Three other conditions matter when we plan one. Gravel, crushed bricks and loose stones are not allowed on the nature strip, and neither are fencing, rocks or walls. A strip at least 2 metres back from the kerb line has to stay clear of landscaping, and any planting near crossovers or intersections must stay under 600 mm at maturity. The City recommends submitting a nature strip landscape proposal before you build, which we can prepare with the quote. Note that the guidelines do not state a maximum percentage of verge that can be paved, so we do not quote one.
If pavers or sand need to sit on the verge during the job, the City treats that as a verge licence matter under its Public Places and Local Government Property Local Law 2015, charged at $1.10 per square metre per month, and it requires a tree protection zone around any street tree. We keep materials on the driveway where we can to avoid it.
Source: City of Wanneroo, Information Sheet, Verge Licence (correct as of December 2020).
Soakwells on a Marangaroo lot
Any new paving adds to the water your lot has to absorb, and the City of Wanneroo's stormwater sheet is explicit that owners must confine runoff within their boundaries. On Marangaroo's sand that is easily met with concrete soakwells sized from the City's table and set back from footings by at least their own width. Where a 1980s driveway has an old unwrapped soakwell alongside, replacing it is part of the relay, not an extra. The City's rules are summarised on our City of Wanneroo soakwell requirements page.
Deep grey sand and the golf course
Marangaroo sits on Bassendean sand over the Gnangara Mound, with Marangaroo Golf Course taking up a large slice of the suburb. The sand is deep, grey and fast draining; there is no wetland chain inside the suburb and no limestone caprock, so excavation is quick and soakwells perform as designed. The coast is roughly 9 km west, outside the zone where salt wind weathers pavers, and the suburb has no bushland interface that would call for a particular paving choice.
The practical consequence is that paving failure in Marangaroo is almost always a compaction problem. Sand that was laid loose in 1988 has been consolidating ever since, and water from a silted soakwell has been carrying fines away beneath the pavers. Both are fixed from below.
Mid-life relays: the job we do most here
A typical Marangaroo project is a driveway relay. We lift the original clay pavers, stack them, dig out and recompact the sand in wetted layers, add a crushed limestone base where the cars run, and relay with new edge restraints. Pavers too far gone are replaced from stock in the nearest match. The same approach handles a sunken section beside a soakwell lid without touching the rest of the driveway.
Around the house, 1980s concrete paths get replaced with brick or limestone, and freshly relaid clay paving is often cleaned and sealed so it reads as new. Koondoola, the small suburb on Marangaroo's southern boundary, has the same era of housing and we cover it from this page.
Next door suburbs
Marangaroo adjoins Girrawheen to the south west, Alexander Heights to the east, Darch to the north east and Madeley to the north, with Koondoola to the south. Every one of them is a short run from Landsdale; see areas we service.
