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Health & Fitness

Grass Driveways with Permeable Pavers

Why reduce the paved area around your home? Conventional pavement and roofs are called “impervious surfaces” because they don’t let the rain soak into the soil. Instead they collect rainfall, and funnel it to storm drains or combined storm/sanitary sewers (depending where you live). In big storms, excessive runoff can contribute to sewer overflows, local flooding, or stream erosion. You can help reduce these impacts by reducing the amount of paved area around your home, and by choosing permeable paving options (also called porous or pervious paving) that let the rain soak through into the soil for driveways, walks and patios.

Removing unnecessary pavement: Many of our homes have more pavement than we need or want to maintain. Turn paved area back into permeable soil with lawn or landscape beds or permeable paving where needed with Permeable Pavers: These are the most practical porous surface for home installation. A wide variety of paver blocks, bricks, and flagstones are available. When set over tamped sand and gravel they all allow rain water to flow into the gravel/rock base spaces, and then slowly filter into the soil.

Interlocking permeable pavers have tabs that space them ¼ to ½ inch apart (to allow water through the joints), and shapes that interlock to provide stability – essential for driveways or high-use patios and walks.*

SeattleGov.com

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