Benefits of Using Permeable Pavers
Categorized: home, outdoors | No comments
The use of Eco-Venetian pavers and Villa Stone pavers is approximately 4300 and 3200 square feet respectively. These were used in the revamping of the building, pavements and main driveways at the Ignatius House in Sandy Springs GA.
Ignatius House, located in the midst of beautiful trees and hills is a non-profit non-denominational center with an aim to help people sustain their sense of spiritual well-being.
Its location helps to promote the sense of harmony and tranquility to its participants who are on a spiritual retreat as it is surrounded with lush green acreage and a tributary which flows in to the Chattahoochee River. Owners of the Ignatius House not only have an interest in its participants but they also want to contribute to the environment.
Therefore when the Ignatius House was in need of renovation it was decided that only Eco-Venetian permeable pavers and Villa stone pavers would be used. The reason behind choosing permeable pavers is their porous nature as it allows the rainwater to filter through them.
A bios wale was built to collect the filtered rain water before it drains back into the river. Water is accumulated through expanded joints into the area west of the Chapel.
With the help of the permeable paver’s filtration abilities, the parking lots, footpaths and retaining wall blocks were built to eradicate the pollution caused by the impact of the rainwater and the tributaries that lead to the Chattahoochee River.
Hardscape Choices
No matter how unimpressive it sounds when equated with the environmental impact of pouring new concrete, permeable pavers are a better choice not only being more practical but also artistically pleasing.
Apart from being porous in nature, the permeable pavers also have solar reflectance index (SRI) because of this technology it reflects heat rather than absorbing it reducing the heat-island effect unlike the dark coloured asphalt or concrete pavers. The heat-island effect can produce meteorological effects such as changes in the wind patterns, fogs, humidity. The solar reflectance index will help in reducing the discomfort caused in summers along with this it will help in decreasing future energy costs.
Dan Kalar, a representative of the Pavestone Company worked in association with the Benning construction and GP hardscape to design and build new parking lots and driveway pavers, he raised the issue regarding pouring new, nonporous concrete as parking lots and driveway pavers built by using these would be an perfect surface to wash pollutions into the river when it rains.
Permeable pavers were chosen because of their ability of reducing the heat-island effect and rainwater run-off in to the river.
The permeable pavers were chosen as they reduce rainwater run-off into the river because run-off’s from normal concretes can wash hydrocarbons, concrete and any other pollutant into nearby rivers harming the growth of aquatic plants, fish and contaminate drinking water for land animals and people.
Water Management
With all these points in minds Dan Kalar worked together with the Benning Construction and owners of the Ignatius House to design a method through which the water is directed towards the west of the Ignatius house chapel. They accomplished this by building a drainage system underneath through which the rainwater is collected with the help of expanded joints in the pavers. The water is collected into the pavers and then directed towards the west of the chapel, where a bios wale is located which filters and collects the water before it drains back into the river.
This not only restricts the collection of rain water but also the draining of pollution back into the river as most of the pollutants present in the water is filtered by the bios wale. Kalar says that the water with this method is made purer than it was found. This makes the pathways and driveways environment friendly apart from this it not only beautifies the Ignatius house but also enhances the beauty of its surroundings.
Tagged with: driveway pavers, retaining wall blocks
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