We conserve water, segregate trash, and rely on glass bottles instead of plastic ones. We replace plastic bags with canvas bags, and we increasingly use solar panels to heat our homes. With the fashion for ecology, you can also go one step further, arranging your property using materials that support the ecosystem and additionally gain financial benefits. These include eco-friendly pavers and slabs.
Eco paving slabs and pavers, or...?
Ecological paving slabs and pavers form a paved ecological surface, which, in addition to its main task of creating a load-bearing surface, also enables proper drainage of rainwater. Its use is particularly important in hydrologically vulnerable areas, as eco materials do not destabilize the existing water balance in the area. However, this does not mean that the use of eco pavers and slabs is only justified in such areas!
Due to the favorable properties of the materials, investors are increasingly choosing eco pavers and slabs to designate ordinary driveways, sidewalks and garden paths on their own property. Then an important term is biologically active area, i.e. an area with an earth surface that allows natural vegetation of plants. Its size is determined by local zoning plans (MPZP) or, in the absence of such plans, by the conditions for development and land use (WZiZT).
Two types of Bruk-Bet products can be used to create eco pavement: HYDROfuga® and HYDROplus®. What makes them different? HYDROfuga® are openwork surfaces or paving elements with spacers, which are filled with a binder in the form of aggregate or grass. Their use does not so much support the ecosystem naturally, but – depending on the size of the biologically active area – makes it possible to reduce the amount of (or even avoid!) the fee for reducing land retention, commonly referred to as the rainwater tax. The category of these solutions includes the novelties in Bruk-Bet’s offer, namely Novator® Diagonal Eco and Novator® Linus Eco pavers.
The second type of solution, HYDROplus®, which includes water-permeable Visio®Eco and Novator® Piano Eco paving slabs, as well as Behaton Eco and Holland Eco pavers, produced from a specially developed concrete mix with high water permeability, which, despite the lack of wider joints between individual elements, guarantee natural water retention and its complete drainage into the ground – even in the case of very heavy rainfall. This property is of great importance in heavily urbanized zones, where concrete and asphalt pavements cover a large area and there is a high risk of sudden flooding during storm rainfall. They also make it possible to reduce the amount of precipitation going into storm drains and reduce rain tax fees.
What are the advantages of eco-friendly paving?
Eco-friendly paving blocks and water-permeable concrete slabs have many advantages. In addition to their beneficial effect on the ecosystem, they reduce the need for special linear drainage. In case of excessive precipitation, excess water is drained away, thereby eliminating the possibility of flooding of buildings or complete flooding. This type of pavement is also not frightened by intense sunlight. While ordinary concrete heats up excessively and intensifies the sensation of heat and leads to drying out of the soil, openwork variants allow the soil to “breathe” and reduce the phenomenon of overheating of concrete. Eco-friendly paving is also trending – and it’s not just the aspect of supporting the ecosystem, but an attractive architectural solution that will enhance the visual appeal of the arrangement. Until recently, such openwork pavements were associated with urban parking lots, but due to the wide range of colors and possibilities available, among others, in the offer of Bruk-Bet, there is no question of creating cliché realizations!
Asymmetry and geometry, the distinguishing features of Bruk-Bet Novator® Hexagon Eco solutions, can be a great counterbalance to typically modern buildings. Grass planted in the spacers or poured in colored grit will become a variety of the whole and a way to break the impression of monotony and sterility. A similar result will be provided by single Novator® Diagonal Eco slabs – being one of the novelties in the Bruk-Bet offer. Thanks to their regularity, they will introduce visual order and provide the effect of a modernistic grid, which will turn into a decoration of the property. In turn, a more atmospheric arrangement will allow the Promenada® Eco variant. These are rectangular pavers that will add a bit of a romantic look to the space – like in English or rustic gardens – and blend in perfectly with the green landscape around them. All thanks to the variegated Color-Mix® finish in shades of shell limestone or Devonian limestone. Their intermingling striped tones will dynamize the arrangement and complete the natural image of the whole.
What do you need to know before laying organic paving?
Ecological paving is easy to install. However, when installing it, it is worth remembering a few key rules for the sub-base and ballast. For the former, use coarse fractions with full permeability, such as ballast, gravel, coarse-fractional grit or naturally broken aggregate. For the ballast, it is best to use 2/8 mm fine grit or 2/6 mm broken aggregate. Only on the area prepared in this way are ecological pavers and slabs laid, and – in the case of openwork variants – their gaps are backfilled with the chosen filling; grass, earth, gravel or small stones.
Paving blocks and slabs can be eco-friendly too! It’s a safe and effective way to deal with lingering rainwater, plus it’s an interesting and practical alternative to create an attractive property – with plenty of benefits for users and the environment.
