DIY Porous Driveway using Turfgrid
For homeowners, the home is typically your biggest investment. Particularly when building the dream home from scratch, unforeseen requirements such as a porous driveway can make costs mount quickly throughout the planning and construction phases.
Such was the case for this beautiful new modern build in Nelson Bay. Many councils now require new, large homes to be built with a porous driveway, as part of being granted residential development approval.
We have explained the rationale for this many times over – as building technologies evolve, then so too does the expectations of building and town planners as to the standards and requirements of all new developments.
The various types of water porous surfaces abound – grass, soil, wood chip, gravel, natural stone exposed aggregate… the list of ‘soft scape’ surfaces goes on. However, when it comes to a ‘vehicular traffic’ porous paving application, the ability to become permeable complicates all the above options very quickly.
Infilling porous paving blocks voids with resin bound stone is a perfect way to reduced costs whilst retaining high permeability rates for a porous driveway.
Cars typically weigh at least 1 tonne and trucks three to four times that. A driveway must be able to withstand this weight at the time it is constructed.. So builders will always call upon a reputable contractor to undertake the various skilled works during construction.
This presents a conundrum – How can a hard paved surface withstand 4-5 tonne vehicles regularly, yet allow almost all water to drain freely into the base, without eventually becoming cracked, brittle and destroyed. The answer is modern chemistry and fabrication methods that give rise to modern building products like StoneSet
This is why – for landscaping there are dozens and dozens of soft scape porous surfaces you can choose, but for driveways, the choice of reliable porous paving technologies are actually relatively limited.
StoneSet have been installing porous driveways with an industry leading 10 year guarantee nationwide! Whether it be driveways, tree surrounds, large scale commercial paving applications and even highly specialized decorative glass paved artworks.
For homeowners building your dream home, the natural inclination is to bring down building costs. Especially in the cases a development application has necessitated previous unforeseen cost increases such as a porous driveway.
Whilst most of the construction work is fixed, it is very much possible to take a DIY approach to some aspects of construction, particularly in the landscaping areas outside of the home.
In planning construction of this modern coastal home in Nelson Bay on NSW’s mid north coast, the homeowner was looking for something completely unique to complement natural tones and native landscaping that framed this beautiful coastal masterpiece.
Thinking outside of the square – the creative application of combining two porous paving products – StoneSet’s Tan DIY kits of resin-bound decorative stone and Adelaide Brightons Turf-Grid Porous paving blocks, gave rise to this completely unique and fully porous DIY driveway.
With one of the most incredible aspects of Nelson bay, the home enjoyed a generous aspect, at an elevation with a panorama that spanned as far as Newcastle and simultaneously to the west out on the mountain boundary, right up to north-west at Soldiers Point.
Looking to match many of the builds native colours and features, particularly the large earthy brown aluminum clad garage door – there was drive to invent something equally novel, creative and unique to make something special of the coastal home.
Leaving in multiple feature sandstone pieces during the excavation works, the paved solution had to be adaptable and work in with these features. Rather than the alternative of one large single, uniform block of paving, mondo grass was cultivated around the outcrops of sandstone and the tops were ground down, so as to bring all surfaces up to a single level.
First, installing the turf grid porous blocks to the base course specified for this product. This was a compacted crushed rock graded to take the tonnage required by modern driveways.
Next, instead of infilling the voids with soil and lining the surface with turf, the voids were infilled with a lower cost, larger size free draining gravel, which was vibratory compacted to specification.
Finally, the StoneSet DIY resin bound stone kits were hand mixed by our very willing and able homeowners. Given the size of the project, the manual approach of hand mixing was quite arduous but none the less very much possible and indeed saved the costs of machinery hire and site labour.
The result is an incredibly special, native themed fully porous driveway. With feature sandstone outcrops and an incredible story of innovation, hard work and success!
We are constantly impressed by the incredible novel application of StoneSet resin-bound stone and are always more than happy to discuss your particular situation, budget and the options of which you are looking to achieve. So contact us today and let’s get your unique project moving!
Modern home design constantly evolves, with homeowners and architects searching for innovative solutions that blend aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability. As urban spaces become more premium,
Crafting playgrounds that tick all the boxes for safety, fun, and eco-friendliness is at the heart of what landscape architects, playground designers, school administrators, and
For many homeowners, the pathway leading to their home is more than just a functional track; it’s a first impression. Living proof of this is
