Pervious concrete driveway

[midnightz]

Thinking of pervious concete for a driveway. Anyone has contact for a contractor in the Seattle area who could lay pervious concrete?

Thanks.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I had to look up just what pervious concrete is....for the benefit of others there is some information here: http://www.concretenetwork.com/pervious/

"Essentially, pervious concrete is a structural concrete pavement with a large volume (15 to 35 percent) of interconnected voids. Like conventional concrete, its made from a mixture of cement, coarse aggregates, and water. However, it contains little or no sand, which results in a porous open-cell structure that water passes through readily."

Edited to add: the website mentioned above has a link to Glacier Northwest in Seattle, who handles pervious concrete: http://www.glaciernw.com/ Glacier Northwest brochure on pervious concrete: https://resources.myeporia.com/company_111/No-FinesConcreteBrochure.pdf

 

[rsanter]

if its an area that you will drive across but not be parking on (other than occasionally) then you could do grasspavers (look up tufftrack at NDSPRO.com).
you can have the look of a grass area and still drive on it without a problem.
these are a structural honeycomb type product that the grass will grow in but when you drive on it you will not kill the grass or compact the soils...cool stuff

bob

 

[WolverineCoatings]

I'm just curious... what are the advantages/disadvantages?

 

[bluesman2a]

I'm just curious... what are the advantages/disadvantages?

Based on my admittedly LIMITED understanding... It's about water.

This type of concrete lets water through, so you don't have lots of run-off. It alleviates large streams collected over big expanses of concrete.

Also some areas have limitations on any non-permeable (i.e. concrete/paving) surfaces, because it causes issues with water absorbtion issues. One of the members here (I think TwoStory) had to BUY credits from his neighbor to put in his driveway on his land. I *BELIEVE* this type of concrete gets around that type of issue.

Of course if it's permeable DOWN, then one must assume that moisture can rise through it as well. So if you have red clay under it that's constantly wet, then I would assume you will have a red-clay stained concrete driveway if it's wet a lot.

 

[rsanter]

it is about water and runoff. many comunities have gone to laws that require the land owner to retain and deal with all the water that falls on their property. comercial properties will often just have a ponding basin on site but other areas where land is big bucks will not want to dedicate that amount of land money to a unusable piece of land. larger shopping centers will actually install holding basins under the parking lots that feed into leaching systems that are also located under the parking lots.

for residential properties, most comunities have laws that specify a maximum precentage of the property that can be covered by hardscape (house, garage, concrete, asphault) so going to alternative surfaces is a way to get around that.

bob

 

[Franz©]

Sounds like a perfect aplication for steel runway matting.

 

[dreamingmuscle]

if its an area that you will drive across but not be parking on (other than occasionally) then you could do grasspavers (look up tufftrack at NDSPRO.com).
you can have the look of a grass area and still drive on it without a problem.
these are a structural honeycomb type product that the grass will grow in but when you drive on it you will not kill the grass or compact the soils...cool stuff

bob

You can do this with concrete blocks also. Properly prepared they will handle heavy loads.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/porous_pavingop.php

http://www.countymaterials.com/f_products/landscaping/muni_grassPavers.shtml

________
Rz350

 

[midnightz]

the website mentioned above has a link to Glacier Northwest in Seattle, who handles pervious concrete: http://www.glaciernw.com/

Thanks for the info. I'll look contact Glacier and see if they have a list of contractors.

I am wanting to use pervious concrete for:

double as a sports court
pervious vs impervious ratio code
better run-off

I am thinking that if the driveway doesn't need to have a slope to a drain, it could be flat enough (and size it) for a sports court.

 

[twostory]

Also some areas have limitations on any non-permeable (i.e. concrete/paving) surfaces, because it causes issues with water absorbtion issues. One of the members here (I think TwoStory) had to BUY credits from his neighbor to put in his driveway on his land. I *BELIEVE* this type of concrete gets around that type of issue.

Yes, I am the one who had to buy impervious credits from my neighbor's emtpy lot.

Unfortunately, the state of GA does not give you any credit for using "pervious" concrete. They count is as a solid surface.

I did look into this, found a local installer and a Home Depot near me has a 20x100 ft area of their parking lots done with this stuff.

Basically it acts as a big sponge and absorbs the rain fall. Then it slowly leaks the water back into the soil around it. It cost 2x or 3x what normal concrete driveway would cost and you must find an experienced concrete company to install it. (else you get a big mess)

I gave up and turned my driveway into two skinny strips, just big enough to drive my car across.

 

[Powerband]

I would presume this type of concrete would only be suitable in an area never subject to freezing?. Wouldn/t the voids simply provide hydraulic fracture points during freezing temps?.

PB

 

[twostory]

Apparently freeze thaw it okay if you have a deep base of big rock under the pervious concrete. That way the concrete does not hold water, it just transmits the water to the rock base.

Here is a web site for those who are interested in finding out more.

http://www.perviouspavement.org/

 

[rsanter]

yes you can use the concrete block type. however in my experience they do not look as good because its hard to keep the grass covering the blocks and if you live in a sunny area the sun heats the concrete and burns the grass,

bob

 

[Franz©]

Things I learned reading this http://www.perviouspavement.org/engineering properties.htm

1) it apears to not be recommended for roadways, only sidewalks & paths
2) freeze/thaw information was developed in the Carolinas
3) snow plowing seems to be a no no, let it melt
4) pervious concrete seems to not be friendly to cars & trucks driving over it

 

[Blackbird03]

I know that there have been studies done on this product but it seems to me that this product should not be used in northern climates, on grades, or anywhere someone might spill something toxic.

After several years providing services in concrete repairs, erosion seems to be the number one culprit for concrete settlement ahead of poor compaction. I can't imagine that during a rain event, where water falls at a rate of greater than an inch an hour for a prolonged period of time, that there wouldn't be some pretty substantial erosion under this type of concrete and subsequently unsupported areas which can no longer bear "as designed" load.

Regarding freeze thaw . . . Should the ground freeze under this material and you have an unseasonably warm day . . . where does the water go?

 

[tdkkart]

Regarding freeze thaw . . . Should the ground freeze under this material and you have an unseasonably warm day . . . where does the water go?

Even a not so warm day on a south facing drive would cause liquid to back up in the concrete, on top of the frozen earth undernieth.
Later that evening you could stand in your front yard and watch your driveway explode right in front of your eyes.

 

[Nuccio]

It is used in NJ. It is not as simple as regular concrete small prep and pour. You have a lot more excavation, proper subbase material with geo textiles and then you pour the concrete and the finishing is completly difrent. Also there is maintance involved ervey couples years it needs to be power washed and vacumed to keep it free flowing.

 

[B.Posselt]

Have you considered using a flexible porous pavement, something like Porous Lane's permeable pavement?

This might mitigate the issues with freezing.

 

[racecougar]

Have you considered using a flexible porous pavement, something like Porous Lane's permeable pavement?

This might mitigate the issues with freezing.

The OP probably figured something out, or died, by now. This thread is from 2008.