Tapping paving, about 11.9 km north of Landsdale
Tapping is about 11.9 km from IBP Paving's base in Landsdale, up Wanneroo Road past the town centre. It is a 1990s and 2000s estate suburb, carved out of Wanneroo from the early 1990s and given its own name in 1997, which means its driveways and patios are now 20 to 30 years old and its street trees have grown into something the City protects. We relay sunken driveways, repair paving pushed up by roots, lay new alfresco areas and rebuild paving on fire affected properties, with a lifetime workmanship warranty on every job and over 20 years of experience behind it.
The City of Wanneroo's tree policy and your crossover
The council fact that most shapes paving in Tapping is the City Tree Policy, approved in December 2024. Crossovers must be located at least 1.5 metres from a City tree; a 0.5 metre reduction may be considered depending on alternatives, species, sight lines and traffic safety. Any new or altered crossover that would need a City tree removed, or that sits within 1.0 metre of one, is assessed by the City, and a tree being in the way of a non essential crossover or verge paving is specifically listed as not sufficient reason to remove it. Where removal is approved, the tree comes out at the applicant's expense and the City plants a replacement, also at the applicant's expense. Damaging or removing a City tree without a licence is prohibited under the Public Places and Local Government Property Local Law 2015.
The policy also covers roots. The City will consider root pruning, exploratory trenching or root barriers where a tree is damaging infrastructure, and may repair small areas of paving at its discretion, but it will not repair walls, fences, large concrete areas or dwellings, and it removes a tree only if no arboricultural or engineering solution can be found.
Source: City of Wanneroo, City Tree Policy (approved 10 December 2024, AS06-12/24).
Behind the verge the usual Wanneroo rules apply: runoff stays on the lot, soakwells sit at least their own width from buildings and boundaries, and a brick paved crossover uses 60 mm heavy duty pavers on a 100 mm crushed limestone base. Our City of Wanneroo soakwell requirements page has the size table and the full crossover specification.
Bassendean sand, the Gnangara Mound and a fire history
The City of Wanneroo lists Tapping by name as a Bassendean sand suburb. That is the pale grey, deep, free draining sand of the older dune system, sitting on the Gnangara Mound, and it is close to ideal for soakwells: the water table is generally several metres down, infiltration is quick and there is no limestone caprock to break through. Lake Joondalup and the Yellagonga wetlands lie to the south west, far enough that only the lowest lots on that side need a groundwater check before a soakwell goes in. The ocean is about 10 km away, so salt is not a concern for pavers.
What Tapping does have is bushfire exposure. The suburb was seriously affected by the Wanneroo bushfire of November 2023, and it sat on the advice list during the 2021 Wooroloo fire. For paving that has two consequences. Properties being rebuilt need their damaged paving stripped and relaid, and properties on the bushland side benefit from a non combustible surface such as brick, concrete or stone paving between the house and the vegetation, which is also a low maintenance surface that does not need mowing or mulching in summer.
Thirty year old driveways and the first alfresco upgrade
Tapping's housing is single and two storey brick and tile from the 1990s and 2000s, so the suburb is at the mid-life stage. The most common call is a driveway that has sunk along the wheel tracks, which is a relay on a compacted base when the pavers are sound, or a sunken section repair when only the strip over a failed soakwell has dropped. Where a verge tree has grown through the thirty years, lifted pavers from tree roots along the path and crossover are the second most common, and the City's policy above decides what can be done about the root rather than the paving.
Families who bought in the 1990s are now replacing the original paved patio with a larger alfresco, usually in a honed limestone or a large format concrete paver, and adding the soakwell the extra paved area needs. Carramar, the Peet estate on Tapping's northern boundary, shares its sand and its vintage, and we cover it from this page and from Banksia Grove.
Rebuilding after the 2023 fire
Some Tapping properties lost fences, retaining, sheds and in a few cases the house in the November 2023 fire, and paving on those lots has to be redone as part of the rebuild. Fire does not harm the sand beneath, but it cracks and spalls pavers, burns the jointing sand out, warps plastic soakwell connections and leaves ash and debris in the base. We strip to clean sand, recompact, check every soakwell with a camera or by opening the lid, and lay new paving as the last trade on site so it is not damaged by the builders. On the bushland facing sides we recommend a paved apron that runs right to the wall, with no mulch or timber edging between the house and the vegetation.
Suburbs near Tapping
From Tapping we also service Wanneroo to the south, Banksia Grove to the north east, Hocking further south, and Carramar and Ashby in between. All of them appear on our areas we service page.
