Go Green: Eco parking pads

By Susan Nerberg

No one really wants to pave paradise, but the reality is most of us need a spot at the cottage to park our cars. But instead of dumping asphalt—which traps summer heat and won’t let water through—on your designated driveway, why not opt for a greener parking pad?

Concrete examples

Not all pavers are created equal, but the common denominator for eco-alternatives is that they mimic nature by letting water and air pass through. They prevent compacting of soil and tree roots, filter pollutants, and allow rainwater to seep slowly into the soil below, keeping it from rushing unsifted into lakes and rivers. Permeable concrete blocks, available in a range of shapes and colours, come with attached spacers that interlock to give the overall surface its load-bearing strength. Some provide gaps between pavers to accommodate water-draining gravel or greenery. Open-cell units have spaces built into them for growing grass. Water-permeable concrete, made with pea gravel and less water than standard concrete, can be poured as a pavement. Most blends hold up to the freeze-thaw cycles of Canadian winters.

Plastic fantastic

Easy-to-install plastic paving grids are set into the ground and filled with gravel or soil that supports grass and other low-growing plants—not to -mention your car. Some can be rolled out over a surface, while others come as modular units that snap together. The grid structure also controls ground erosion

—Susan Nerberg

Photo courtesy of Green Innovations

Product info/sources

Green Innovations Modi (plastic paving grid)

Porous Parking

Belgard Hardscapes’ Turfstone

Hastings Architectural’s Checker Block

Hanover Architectural Products’ EcoGrid and AquaLoc  

EP Henry’s Eco I Paver and Turf Paver

PCI Systems (water-permeable and freeze/thaw-resistant concrete)

Stoney Creek Materials (pervious pavement with fly ash)

Invisible Structures’ Grasspave2

TerraFirm’s EcoGrid

GroundSolutions’ GS-OnTop and GS-Pro

Netlon Turf Sustems’ Netpave

See also Cottage Life's online Product Services Directory in the Building Products and Services category

Published in the June 2009 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2009 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.