anyone with experience using geocell pavers for grass driveway?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Has anyone got real life experience using Truegrid / Standartpark or other 'milk crate' style permeable paver grids for a grass driveway / parking pad?

How has it held up? What type of grass/groundcover did you use? Any problems?

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cleo

2 years ago

I just used the 2 inch deep standarkpark for my pea gravel patio (trying to not bother a nearby tree with bigger pavers). It is a great product. Easy to put together. The pea gravel is incredibly stable and hard. The shipping was fast and they were very helpful on the phone. I have a few extra and am going to put in a grass parking strip near my driveway to allow a third car when i seed in a few weeks but have not done it yet.

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Comments (15)

Jj J
2 years ago
Following- I think this concept is great.
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
I think it looks like a great idea for sure better than ashphalt or concrete for sure .Sorry I don't have any first hand info but I hate all the ashphalt paving in our town IMO that should be outlawed . We have a large parking pad but just gravel I would have done this material in heart beat if I had known about it.
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Thanks for all the great comments. What I've been leaning from my work in water quality, from you here, and from landscapers is that base prep; particularily with permeable, is the most important step. Design standards for a permeable surface require deep (15"+) of excavation. While the various permeable pavers, gravel etc are permeable, they will not truly function without a deep gravel reservoir below to fill and use to infiltrate with; i.e. gravel base prep. We'll connect the downspouts and I think install a dry river stone swale connected along side it to infiltrate and runoff move along it's existing course between yards. Plumbing it into the driveway base will provide additional infiltration. So, we'll likely choose aquastorm or similar (haven't decided between that and turfstone, but leanind towards turfstone) as it's durable, permeable and a good balance between convenience of concrete driveway, positive environmental qualities, and ease of maintenance rather than plain gravel. We have snow here, but not that much. I've been told by the landscaper that it stays warmer than concrete slab and will melt quicker. Not holding my breath on that claim, but one can hope. We'll be not be using salt as it's bad for the watershed. Due to the huge amount of run off on the sidewalk we've used salt in the past; it was a necessity for the dog walkers in the hood. My wife doesn't wear high heels! So, that's easy :)
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Thank you all for your comments! We do have a pretty good gravel base, swales and culverts installed a couple years ago when the land was first cleared. We do get a fair amount of rain and even the crude driveway has held up very well, it’s been somewhat trashed mostly due to cement and large trucks going up and down the driveway. We were looking for an environmental as well as practical option for us. This property is going to be vacation site for a few years and then our retirement place. My hubby did the math on the driveway with the at pavers, he’s pretty smart so I trust his estimate on the materials cost. I don’t think cement is financially practical but we are doing a cement pad under and around the port cochere. We were debating between asphalt and an eco paver. Was hoping someone with personal experience would share their thoughts. Thanks again everyone!
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@ GGal - You do recognize my screen name right? [g] Yes, I’m aware that you have been here for 25 years. I’ve been here since 2002, so that’s 22 years. It may have been an ongoing issue to you, but it hasn’t been for me. I’m happy to see old threads resurrected. And either it is of interest to me or it isn’t and I ignore it and find something else to read. I’ve resurrected old threads plenty of times intentionally and unintentionally. I don’t see a problem with that at all. So we basically just disagree on the subject. That is inevitable on a public forum. I’m not following you GGal, about the confusion issue. What is the issue about confusion? The only confusion I see, is when someone clicks on a link that Houzz has intentionally put adjacent to a new thread that they have not noticed is an old thread. Why does Houzz place them in that way? Because they think that all their “old” content is valuable to them as a garden discussion website, I would assume. You evidently don’t agree with them. And going by my own experiences with old threads, once you have commented on an old thread unintentionally a couple of times, you figure it out and only post to old threads intentionally after that. It seems a problem that takes care of itself. And I am happy to hear that anything that was perceived as disrespectful was not intentional. I certainly post pretty direct and strong worded comments some of the time and do my best to communicate in a way that is respectful but you don’t always know how something you say is going to be received, all you can do is remind yourself once in awhile to do your best. As for the different forums…. Landscape design forum - I would assume gardeners and professionals gravitate to that forum and try to offer advice. That doesn’t limit the input you get to professionals. And are you referring to all gardeners who do not garden for a living as ‘hobby’ gardeners? [g] Anyway - to me it’s simple. You want advice on landscaping your yard, you go to the Landscape forum and you get all kinds of ideas from all kinds of gardeners and you thank them and consider what appeals to you and go away happy. Whoever started this thread chose to post it in both the Landscape Design forum and the Home Decorating and Design Dilemma forums. I think the OP would soon figure out what kind of advice they would get from each forum.
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Turf blocks or turf stone were never intended to be used for patios. They were designed to be a semi-permeable option to solid concrete driveways and parking areas. That's all I have ever seen them used as and what I have spec'd for design clients. They are also reported to be effective at slope stabilization and erosion control. I guess you could use them for a patio but they wouldn't be my first choice.....for the reasons outlined above. Even the manufacturer and other landscape professionals discourage that usage : For patios, a solid surface may be preferable. Grass block pavers are better for parking vehicles than for party guests. Tufts of grass don’t make a good surface for lounging, entertaining or loitering with a drink in your hand. “A chair wouldn’t sit level on it,” says Richard Risner, principal at Grounded, a landscape architecture firm in Solana Beach, Calif. “Walk on it in heels, and you’ll sink.”
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K. G.
Original Author
2 years ago
Seems to be most popular in the UK, Australia. Maybe out west too...here in the southeast the landscaper looked baffled when I tried to explain what I wanted. Here's a good video of the process. This Old House - Roger Cook grass driveway
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years ago
They are used with some frequency here and they work great! The biggest installation I have encountered is at a suburban "mall" (for lack of a better word) that consists of a collection of older recycled, relocated houses connected by planted areas and turfblock parking areas. At least 25 years old and with zero maintenance required. Car and foot traffic keep vegetation low.

I am also working on a small landscape design project for a client that lives in a tight cul de sac of townhomes. Most share a turfblock supplemental parking area between them for visitors as there is no available street parking (too narrow). I'm not sure if these were ever intentionally planted and the cells are filled with a assortment of 'stuff', but again car and foot traffic keep things looking pretty neat and tidy
D M PNW
2 years ago
The Museum of Flight has a large area of this that looks fantastic. I don't think they have had any trouble with it. They sometimes park airplanes on it.
shaxhome (Frog Rock, Australia 9b)
2 years ago
I used it for a couple of acres of car-park space on a project in Bhutan. The grass seed (a local fescue) was just shooting when I left, but now I can't return to check its progress because covid. Must get someone to send me current pics...
K. G.
Original Author
2 years ago
DM PNW - which Museum of Flight (what city)?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years ago
Seattle. Located at Boeing Field. It is the largest aerospace museum in the country.
paltmaie
2 years ago
I really want to do this, but have received a VERY high quote from the first installer I have contacted - wanted 14K to remove my asphalt, and 25-35K to put down the green driveway. My driveway is about 2500 sq ft. Can anyone here give me some idea of what the cost should be?
dchall_san_antonio
2 years ago
paltmaie, get two or three more estimates.
Jj J
last year
It’s such a great idea. I wanted a sloped path between driveway and back yard done in geocell pavers, but ended up using wood chips instead. Still weed free and semipermeable. And the price was right!
mojome007
last year
We used TrueGrid to put in an additional parking space beside the driveway. My husband & I did it ourselves. We dug out the area, put down 2" of concrete (leveling) sand, the TrueGrid then filled the Truegrid with pea gravel. It is solid. Not the typical give you'd feel in pea gravel alone. It was very easy to install, snaps together, cuts to size, tad expensive but no where near the estimates I had gotten for poured concrete. And I'd say just be careful about not installing it upside down. We almost did. Remember the open side of the cups goes up so you can fill them with the gravel.
rod1estateatty
last year
last modified: last year
We used BaseCore geocell and like some others here, started with one project and man.. ended up installing it all over. We started with a horse paddock to stop the mud, then moved over to the arena, then did a base for a shed, then a driveway and well.. this summer I think we are going to tackle a horse bridal path. Highly recommend BaseCore HD product line as their material, service and quality has been absolutely incredible.

Oh and we planted grass in the paddock . We used the 3" BaseCOre HD product there. Used their 2" BaseCore HD for the shed and bridal path. Ended up using the taller BaseCore 4" for the driveway as we have some 18 wheelers come through. I certainly wouldnt use pea gravel like some said. You want an angular rock with some fines in it.

For a visual reference, here is a video of the driveway install https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d0_PQT6poc and I ordered ours through Performance Footing and I think they are the manufacturer or related to the manufacturer of BaseCore
mtvhike
11 months ago
How does this stand up under snowplows? My current, all-gravel driveway suffers from the commercial snow plowers gouging into the gravel and depositing it on my lawn.

anyone with experience using geocell pavers for grass driveway?

cleo

Comments (15)

Jj J

Patricia Colwell Consulting

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anyone with experience using geocell pavers for grass driveway?

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