Pavement serves a critical role in our society. It provides a sturdy, long-lasting place for us to park or drive our vehicles and other methods of transportation. But, while the popular pavement choices have served us well over the years, they are not without their own faults and have had some immense negative effects on our communities as well.
First and foremost is flooding due to the impervious nature of concrete and asphalt. Second is pollution from the toxic runoff to the manufacturing CO2 emissions.
Improvements have been made in pavement technology that have largely eliminated these negatives while maintaining and even improving upon the benefits of traditional pavement materials like asphalt and concrete. One of these innovations is grass pavement, with names such as driveable grass or the latest innovation TRUEGRID ROOT.
Grass pavers have changed the pavement industry and provided many more options for those looking to install driveways, parking lots, and other types of pavement that act, function and appear as nature intended. If you’re in a position where you need to install some form of pavement, you might want to give grass pavers some consideration. Let’s go over a few of the benefits of grass pavers:
1. Eco-Friendliness
Grass pavers are one of the most environmentally-friendly options available when it comes to pavement. TRUEGRID makes their pavers from 100% recycled plastic, a stark contrast to the fossil-fuel powered, dirty-burning process of making, transporting, installing, and maintaining other types of pavement like asphalt and concrete.
TRUEGRID works hard to ensure that every step of the way from production to installation of their products is as eco-friendly as possible. Beyond their pavement systems assist nature in filtering automobile pollutants from the environment for decades.
Grass pavers are also highly sustainable compared to impermeable pavement, as they allow the passage of stormwater directly through and into the soil beneath. This is preferable to stormwater being redirected into our waterways via drainage systems because it can be naturally and safely filtered back into the water table through the soil, Pollutants are removed via the bioremediation process where microbial action in the soil feeds on auto pollutants and essentially cleanses stormwater before it recharges aquifers that feed our water supply.
2. Ease of Installation
Grass pavers are incredibly easy to install. TRUEGRID has three types of pavers that can be used with grass. The easiest (and least expensive) is ROOT. To prepare the grass area simply wet the area to be stabilized, then ROOT pavers are pressed into the grass stabilizing the surface. It can be driven on immediately. No excavation needed. ROOT pavers are especially simple to lay out, and can be trimmed to fit around other features or highlights. The grass will grow in over a few weeks and be mostly invisible. You can now park on the ROOT grass area without rutting or sinking. TRUEGRID also offers the PRO LITE which calls for excavation, filling with soil and seeding or pressing a thin sod into the pavers. PRO PLUS is installed the same way but with a rock base and is great for heavy commercial applications such as fire lanes.
Real grass and artificial turf both work effortlessly with the TRUEGRID paver system.
3. Low Maintenance Needs
The maintenance you need to perform on grass pavement is the same as what you perform on regular grass or turf. Just water and mow it, that’s all. If the subgrade has been leveled properly, you won’t have any issues with your grass parking pavers, even with heavy, continual use.
4. Aesthetic Flexibility
Parking lots, driveways, and other concrete or asphalt roadways are bland and unappealing. With grass pavers, you can build pavement right into your lawn. The grass will be just as soft and is less likely to develop ruts or mudholes, since the pavers allow water to flow through instead of trapping it near the surface.
Other Things to Consider
When opting for grass pavement instead of concrete, you should take into consideration the cost-effectiveness of installing grass pavers. The pavers are incredibly inexpensive compared to more traditional paving materials such as concrete and asphalt. No added drainage systems are necessary. Because the installation is so simple and able to be completed in a day or less, this also drives down the overall cost of installing grass pavement.
Add the almost non-existent cost of maintenance over the long-term, and you can see why the cost-effectiveness of grass pavement is one of it’s most attractive benefits. Although the cost is far less than that of concrete or asphalt, grass parking pavers perform equal to, if not better than, the other more traditional materials.
Grass Paving Has a Wide Variety of Advantages Over Concrete
Whether you’re looking to install a parking lot, firelane, sidewalk, driveway, or any other type of paving, you should seriously consider grass pavement before deciding on traditional paving materials like concrete or asphalt.
Not only do grass parking pavers, like the kind made by TRUEGRID, outperform concrete and asphalt in terms of durability, they cost far less, are more eco-friendly, require less maintenance, and give you much more flexibility when it comes to stylistic creativity and aesthetic appeal.
The permeability of grass pavement is another huge benefit and one that can make or break some types of land that are prone to flooding. The high infiltration rates of stormwater and the detention base beneath the grass pavement allow your paved area to work in tandem with Mother Nature, rather than against her. All of these benefits make grass parking pavers a very wise and eco-friendly paving option in 2020 and beyond.
Contact a professional at TrueGrid to see how you can achieve superior permeability with grass pavers.
