There are many reasons why you might want to install a gravel parking lot for your business. It might be a temporary fix, a way to cut costs, or a precursor to a paved asphalt or concrete parking lot, but there are a few things you need to consider before you install a gravel parking lot.
In order to help you through the process as smoothly as possible, here are some things you need to take into consideration before laying a gravel parking lot.
Is It Temporary or Permanent?
First, you must decide whether your gravel parking lot is going to be temporary or permanent. A temporary gravel parking lot requires much less preparation and planning, typically being laid within a quickly excavated, shallow subgrade.
Temporary gravel-only parking lots are gravel sites not held in place by any type of pavers, and as such tend the gravel tends to rut and scatter quite easily. They can work as a temporary solution,but will be a constant headache due to mud, ruts and dust. This may not be appropriate for your business.
Permanent gravel parking lots can be vastly improved with just a little more preparation. If your goal is to stabilize the gravel, eliminate dust and mud, and all maintenance a plastic grid paver can be thrown down on top of compacted gravel and filled with gravel to create an inexpensive temporary or permanent gravel solution. Most cities code gravel-only as impervious just like asphalt or concrete and require offsetting drainage and detention. With a permeable plastic grid system, you have choices. You can simply stabilize the gravel to stop the headaches. Or you can add a detention base under the grid surface to meet stormwater detention codes. The lot can be used for 60 years or 6 months. The plastic grid can be picked up and reused if the need for the temporary lot is done or the site is being repurposed.
In short, not only do permeable plastic grid pavers work great for a temporary parking lot, they are perfect for creating long-lasting, durable gravel parking lots that outperform even other materials like asphalt and concrete.
How to Build the Perfect Gravel Parking Lot
For gravel parking lot construction that can perform just as well as other common types of parking lots, you’ll want to find a high-quality paver company such as TRUEGRID. The pavers for gravel parking lots that TRUEGRID makes are of the highest quality and extremely durable. The patented system is designed specifically for commercial and industrial applications.
They are 100% permeable, meaning they provide built-in stormwater detention capacity and drainage directly into the soil below. Because these permeable pavers have a top layer of interlocking grids, the gravel cannot migrate elsewhere and the gravel on top is locked firmly into the pavers. This creates a solid, firm surface to drive and park on.
TRUEGRID has many different products available for creating the best gravel parking lot. Items such as the SuperSpot and SnowSpots act like permanent lot lines (but are easy to change) and come in a variety of colors. Reflectors, word plates for labeling parking spaces, and gravel-free, ADA compliant DECK grids are also available to add to your permeable paver parking lot.
Why Use a Gravel Parking Lot?
There are many reasons why you might want to use gravel parking lot construction instead of concrete or asphalt. First, gravel parking lots held in place with TRUEGRID pavers are for more inexpensive to install than concrete.
The installation time is much quicker as well, and TRUEGRID permeable paver parking lots are more durable than concrete and asphalt parking lots. They offer fewer maintenance headaches than gravel-only, asphalt, or concrete. They offer 100% land use by being pervious and eliminating the need for separate detention ponds or underground water storage.
There are also more style options, room for creativity with multiple types of gravel for use, as well as different types of lot lines. TRUEGRID is a leader in the field when it comes to eco-friendliness, and all of TRUEGRID’s grid products are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic.
The production, transportation, and installation is designed to be as energy-efficient and eco-friendly as possible, making TRUEGRID one of the premier companies in the permeable paving industry.
The Downsides of Temporary Gravel Lots
Although they can act as a quick fix, it’s easier to invest the time and effort into installing gravel-filled grid lot that can be either a temporary or permanent lot, rather than setting yourself up to deal with the myriad of problems that gravel-only lots can present.
Challenges such as potholes, wash-outs, dust clouds leading to scatter, and traffic-related gravel migration will all eventually happen if you install a gravel-only parking lot without pavers.
You might even need to worry about a drainage system as well, depending on what type of soil your gravel parking lot has directly beneath it in the subgrade. Gravel lots become compacted over time and are essentially impervious and are coded as such. Less permeable soil types like clay may require additional means to drain your parking lot when it rains., so that you don’t have to deal with large-scale flooding in your lot as well.
The Right Type of Gravel Lot Can Work for Your Business
Most people consider gravel parking lot construction to be low-rent, but what many are now understanding is that they can be extremely attractive depending on the gravel fill used for the grid system. The natural aesthetic combined with the drainage and permeability benefits not to mention cost advantage really makes this the best solution for most sites. Permeable pavers from TRUEGRID are the highest-performing for heavy traffic and heavy load gravel parking lot construction.
Not only do they outperform asphalt and concrete in terms of durability, stylistic variance, cost-effectiveness, ease-of-installation, and eco-friendliness, they can easily be pulled up and replaced with another type of material should you choose. This makes them the perfect product to experiment with for installing your first gravel parking lot. Those that have tested the system now use it as SOP for new lot construction. Let the experts at TRUEGRID assist with your gravel parking lot construction.
