Creating A Permeable Driveway For Your Jacksonville Home
Do you have a driveway, sidewalk, patio area, or garden walkway that is in need of repair? Maybe your Jacksonville property is missing all of the above, and you’re interested in improving both the function and beauty of your home by adding these hardscaping features.
C&L Landscaping is your local expert when it comes to creative projects that involve brick pavers, patio pavers, or other landscaping stones. We’ve worked with both residential and commercial customers to design various hardscaping features that have a positive impact on home values while also making it more enjoyable to enjoy the outdoor areas of the property. These projects range from small and typical to vast and nontraditional.
Today we’d like to talk about a new concept of working with brick pavers in a way that’s friendly toward the environment: permeable driveway and pathway.
Keep reading to learn more about this revolutionary practice of using landscaping stones and patio pavers in a way that mimics the natural process that occurs on the ground’s surface more closely. If you’re interested in installing a permeable outdoor surface on your own Jacksonville property, contact the experts at C&L Landscaping today.
What Is Permeable Pavement?
According to the Green Building Alliance, “Permeable pavement (also known as pervious or porous concrete) is a specific type of pavement with a high porosity that allows rainwater to pass through it into the ground below.”Surfaces that are paved with asphalt or landscaping stones in a traditional fashion cannot absorb water, which means that when it rains (as it does so often in Jacksonville) the water must have somewhere to go. This is why elaborate gutter, drainage, and sewer systems are necessary in the city. This leads to vital water being diverted away from the watershed and soil where it’s so desperately needed.
How Does Permeable Pavement Work?
There are several different ways to achieve a paved but permeable surface on your property. Permeable concrete can be used to cover the ground in a way that’s similar to traditional concrete, or brick pavers, strategically placed so that there are spaces between each landscaping stone. In this way, the overall effect is a smooth, paved surface, but when rain falls, it’s able to reach the ground.
Types Of Permeable Pavement Materials
- Porous Asphalt
- Single-Sized Aggregate (aka loose gravel)
- Plastic Grids (to reinforce gravel permeable driveway, parking lots, and fire lanes. Plastic grids can also be planted with grass to create a “natural” erosion-free permeable driveway or walkway)
- Porous Turf
- Sidewalk Contractors Permeable Pavement
- Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavers
- Permeable Clay Brick Pavers
- Resin-Bound Paving
- Bound Recycled Glass Porous Pavement
- Environmental Benefits Of Permeable Pavement
You might be wondering why you should go through all this trouble to use brick pavers in such a way that water can reach the ground below. There are several environmental and financial benefits to using permeable pavers on your property. According to the GBA, this type of pavement:
- Eliminates runoff
- Recharges groundwater
- Traps suspended solids and pollutants
- Reduces surface temperatures and, therefore, the heat island effect
- Eliminates the need for retention basins and water collection areas
- Requires much less salt or other de-icing products than traditional pavement types
- Lower installation costs (no underground piping, storm drains, or sloping/grading needed)
- Low life-cycle costs with an equal life expectancy to that of regular concrete: 20 to 40 years when correctly installed
Contact C&L Landscaping for more info and design assistance with all your brick paver landscaping projects!