Long driveway upgrade - Suitability of r-pave and the like

[bigmac]

I need to upgrade my driveway, currently 250M of road scalpings plus a 450M2 yard at the house.

I suggested to a local contractor using R-Pave, properly installed, filling with grass for the driveway and gravel for the yard area.

An engineer was conulsted and feedback as extremely negative. Can anyone who has used R-Pave advise on its suitability?

Comments from Engineer:

previous works (Scotland) complete fiascos, despite hugely expensive installation works.

requires very special and expensively formulated soilmix, with pre-mixed fertiliser, for the grass to grow properly. It is enormously manpower-intensive to hand-work the premix soil into the plastic cells to the right density of compaction.

In second season, grass rapidly turns to moss. Wet moss on wet plastic is unbelievably slippery. Quite lethal to walk on, never mind trying to drive motor vehicles. especially with tight radius bends and even the slightest slope.

The cell size of 40mm is far too small for North European grass species to grow and to knit together in our climate. For the plastic cell system to work in the Scottish environment the cell-size would need to be at least 150mm and even then there would be formidable maintenance problems.

Not near trees. Trees produce leaves and unless you immediately whisk away every leaf the instant it falls, you will have a slippery goo on the plastic in no time.

specifying gravel in such plastic is not a good idea. Ladies (high) heels instantly get stuck in that stuff. Putting just one heel onto/into the gravelled plastic cells results in discomfort (or worse) for any lady who makes that mistake and gets her foot stuck in the plastic mesh.

Specifying gravel will cause the plastic matting to 'lift' no matter how many hold-down pegs you insert.

Thanks,

Ken McIntosh

[GB_Groundworks]

they use the concrete version in the high peak, for off the road parking, seems to work ok for heavy traffic but the concrete one is better than the plastic, but it doesnt look like grass you can see the concrete through it. i'll take a pic now as im heading out th at way.

we have done many times a well consolidated and well layed mot lane then over years the grass builds up on it but these are generally used as horse paths, a drive will obviosly not build up grass in the wheel track.

post photo later

[Tony McC]

The only place I've seen this type of paving work well in Scotland is the car park at Stirling Castle and I'm convinced that's because it's on top of a bloody big hill with excellent drainage.

I documented a case study in Doncaster where grass paving worked well, and continues to work well, but great attention was paid to getting proper drainage and using a good quality, free-draining soil. Where gravel is used, the results are usually better as long as the cells were properly installed. In every case where I've assessed a failure, it's come down to incorrect installation rather than a poor product.

[bigmac]

Thanks for your comments. I want to use local contractor(s) where possible and, as usual, lower budget for the job. With the two responses received, it would not seem appropriate to use a local contractor who has not previously undertaken this sort of work in boggy, clay soil, West Lothian! Seems I'd be asking for trouble. Thanks for saving me from apotentially costly mistake!

[ringi]

I have seen this sort of paving work on a “overflow car park� at a church, “fire roads�, and some “roads� at university that were only allowed to be used at the start and end of term to transport luggage.

In all cases, the grass and soil were installed by the gardening staff not by the paving contractors or builders and the areas did not have much usage. The areas were also fenced off while the grass seed was establishing.

However most times they are used the grass just fails to grow and you get patches of mad in the “cells�.

[local patios and driveway]

Have the yard concreted, if budget is an issue do it in sections. Im tempted to say pave the lot but i think thats just bias for my love of block paving

[GB_Groundworks]

normal mot parking area pot holed

concrete grass section

[GB_Groundworks]

Have the yard concreted, if budget is an issue do it in sections. Im tempted to say pave the lot but i think thats just bias for my love of block paving

block paving is ok for most drives but when you are talking long country side tracks and yards the cost plus the type of weather and traffic prohibit them.

we have setts and run 16 ton tracked diggers, 40 ton trucks and tractors etc over them, but for 250m farm tracks its gotta be something like concrete strips or tarmac on a good base, or plainings/mot with good edge restraint and drainage