Paving ideas! When it next rains, take a look at your paving around your property. Do you need to replace it?
The majority of the rainwater washes down into the storm drains. With this, it carries grease, oil and car residue, which is full of chemicals and could affect your laying Paving.
Paving which is impermeable allows the water to run off. This in turn can cause flooding, erosion and contaminate the public waterways. But there is an answer.
Permeable paving ideas are used for driveways and patios
It allows the rainwater to soak through the material into the earth, where naturally found bacteria break down the contaminated water.
The pavement, called porous or pervious, keep the water underground clean. They help roots to breathe and reduce some of the flash floodings. They also absorb the water, reduce the effect of known as urban heat-island, where because the water is absorbed into the ecosystem. This prevents it from reflecting back into the environment.
When rain falls in an urban area, two thirds will fall on a paved surface, so many local councils encourage that pervious to be used to improve the groundwater.
Existing driveway?
If there is already paving in place at your property, it doesn’t make sense to take it up and replace it with porous or block work – especially if it’s in good shape. However, if it is due to be redone, or you are building a new property, it may be worth looking into a pervious system for your Leeds driveway.
Soakaways when constructing your driveway
However, there are surfaces which allow seepage. The cheapest and simplest way to let rain water run through your Leeds paving or driveway is to construct it with gravel or otherwise known as aggregate. The small stones, which are single sized create a driveway which allows as much as 40% space in-between the stones, allowing almost all of the rain to soak through.
A more costly solution, which can be more attractive, is to use ceramic or concrete paving which is permeable. There is also interlocking pavement which is concrete, called PICP. The blocks fit in a basketweave, herringbone pattern or other patterns which leaves space between the blocks. The voids contain the gravel, which allows the water to drain through.
Interlocking paving
They will also soak up very heavy rainfall. The interlocking permeable does cost about 25% more than the conventional ones and they do require a bit of maintenance, like clearing leaves from them to avoid the cracks from filling with water.
Another alternative is porous asphalt, otherwise known as blacktop. It essentially looks identical to everyday driveways but allows the water to soak through. These versions are like the traditional ones, except they are made without using fine sand.
The mixes allow nearly 5 gallons of rainwater a minute for each square foot. They can have a slightly rougher finish than their counterparts, but it’s hard to tell from a distance.
Please contact MD Paving for further paving ideas, or to discuss your block paving needs!
