Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:46 am
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
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
