Busy Summer for Green Driveways with Ecogrid

Wow, what a busy summer!
And what did i Miss this morning???!

Was there a meniton of EcoGrid or something on CANADA AM today? hopefully! How exciting .. maybe it can be possible - getting rid of asphault and putting in GREEN! Its great if Canada AM mentioned our EcoGrid!

Alas, I slept through it if so.
Still.. tis the Busy Season starting now...

We've suddenly been swamped with calls from Ontario, people saying they heard about ECOGRID - or about permeable paving - and green driveways! I'm guessing it was green driveways - but really I also had 2 calls today from landscapers who were looking at erosion control. Well, its great to know our product is getting out there - getting found... and is going to be used to build some new green driveways around the GTA too.

This time - late August through Sept and October is probably one of the best times for people to put in a green driveway. The cool nights are just optimal for putting in grass.

I had to personally do two deliveries around the GTA last week - and had a fellow come and pick up some EcoGrid permeable paving at my Dad's house in Etobicoke. We had stashed a hundred or so square feet of the stuff - since dad was going to re-do the wet, muddy spot in the back yard. We're likely going to put in some gravel pathways too = Instead a guy really needed it ASAP - and picked it up.

I didn't realize how busy it was going to get for the last month plus - but likely, because of the rain we've been getting - there is a lot of interest in permeable paving here in Toronto - actually all throughout Ontario - for our EcoGrid. I don't know if that has been the primary reason or if it is just a general interest in people building green driveways?

One of the more intersting deliveries was to a fellow who is going to be putting in coloured gravel - a red gravel. He's so keen on installing it, we ended up talking about his plans for an hour. I can't wait to share some of the photos with you all. Not that I think anyone reads this blog.. lol.

This past month here in Ontario we've had some of the worst thunderstorms I've seen in a while - and lots and lots of rain. My father - who lives in Etobicoke - has always had problems with the back yard. Every spring we'd get a bit of flooding - and it would take about an hour or more to soak into the ground. In the spring - when there's ice and melt - it takes even longer. We've now got the solution and it really didn't take long to see the results. We put down a small layer of gravel, some soil and then the EcoGrid - and filled it in. Dad said that 2 wks ago when there were those massive thunderstorms and tornado warnings - he went out after and inspected it. He was incredibly happy to see - NO Water! lol. basically, for the first time that section of the back yard wasn't a muddy mess for 3-4 hrs. He did say it was a bit spongy - but not with that pool of water we used to get.

City Parking lots - why asphalt?

Flying over a city gives you an overview of how our land is being used. Of course there are miles of asphalt in the streets and the thousands of cars. If you live in a large urban center then you see the towering buildings, the condos and houses. If you are looking for green spaces your eyes search out the parks. Sometimes you can pick out some tree lined streets. Google Earth of course means you can see it all from the comfort of your chair.

Now just imagine for a second that all the stretches of parking lots were green. That every parking lot you drove into was either gravel or .. gasp ... grass. Take an image like this:

View Larger Map and just imagine what it would look like if it was green.

Personally, I think there should be more legislation in place to offer incentives for companies to build greener. Generally, once you factor in the costs of putting in asphalt - the drains needed, the curbing, the gutters, the very deep base needed (6-10 inches sometimes of gravel) - you're not looking at a cost savings. Then consider the repairs.

A lot of US states and local bylaws are requiring changes with parking lots. In the image you see above part of the lots just aren't being used. They sit there waiting for Christmas or Thanksgiving rush. You can see those sections - far off in the distance. They are often called overflow parking. 90% of the time they are empty.
Thousands of miles of empty parking just waiting for a small time frame for use.

Why not make those grassy places? it would mean that there are hundreds of square feet per parking lot that would DIRECLY help the environment.

I think that's what I love about the EcoGrid. Its simple. There's no need for huge drainage systems. The grid goes down, the water flows through. Plant grass. Plant seedums. Mow it or use a low maintenance grass - and all those Big box parking lots suddenly aren't ugly. They are directly impacting the environment - but this time in a positive way.

Mud Control for Horses - oh those muddy paddocks!

<----BEFORE

Behold - the MUDDY Horse Gate

You know what's rather funny? I'm so allergic to horses I can't get within about 10 feet of them... but then I'm not the horse expert. I leave that to the pro - JX.

JX's the horse guy... and if you think of the word, "cowboy", and imagine someone from those old Marlboro Ads (sans the cig) - then you're probably thinking of JX. Just tuck a blackberry in his pocket and give him a couple of Catahoula Leopard Hound mutts... and there he is. When he's not cowboying he's probably working with grid.

And this guy knows more about horses and mud control then probably anyone in North America. When we get a call about someone with muddy paddocks, someone looking to fix up their farm or ranch, someone who wants to talk to a horse expert - they'll get probably end up talking to JX. Last week it was a fella designing a show ring and a woman who was building stalls.

There was also a guy who wanted to put down grid around the barn and still be able to drive a tractor through the area. He was in North Carolina - and had a few horses, a bunch of dogs and a small "farm". I'm not sure what he was farming but we spent a while talking about the mud issues. Even small tractors can compact an area around a barn pretty well, and the pathways sounded like a disaster.

The problem with compaction is pretty simple. The soil gets harder and more compacted as we walk, drive, trample on it. A lot of people throw down gravel which works fine for a while.... but then that gets compacted. So they put down more gravel. And so on and so on...

That's what makes the permeable paving so brilliant... and so simple. Put down gravel. Put down some grid. Put down more gravel. Drive over it, walk on it, ride your horses over it... and stop worrying about it. For the guy I spoke he's getting the heaviest product - because he needs to back up the tractor - so he's going with the e50. He said he's going to put in some gravel in one area and put down a sand soil mix in the rest. Maybe plant some grass along the edges.. sounds like it will be clean and stable - and get rid of the mud problems too.

The grid product basically stops your walkway from becoming one muddy, mucky mess.

Anyway, it looks like the equestrian side of the grid business is really starting to catch on. Its great that people are looking for long-term enviromental paving solutions.

I guess I can show up a BEFORE and AFTER photo of one of the projects that JX did, because it really doesn't look like much - lol. It looks actually kind of boring - until you realize what it looked like before. And then you think about what it looks like years later - and then its more obvious. :D

<----AFTER

The rather Boring but much cleaner, unmuddied horse gate.

I think there might be some more photos and stuff over on the Equestrian Web site - Equestrian Solutions

Since i'm no horse expert - I'll leave that to the professionals.

Help! the Dogs are Digging up my Lawn..

So its something I'd not really considered... dog runs.
We had a lot of the usual calls this week about people wanting to put in their green driveways - actually more about them wanting green parking areas, so it was the week of discussing permeable paving solutions - talking for ages about green parking pads.

Then i got a call... quite funny really, "Can you help me? My dogs are digging in my lawn!" and her tel #. I pictured myself flying out with a big stick and protecting the lawn...
but then we got another dog call..

Then suddenly everyone's dog must have started digging up their lawns. Seriously! What's with the dogs? Maybe the muddy spots are nice and cool? Are the dogs as happy as I am about the summer?

I understand though - and we've used EcoGrid for dog yards before - and it makes sense. The people i spoke to had large dogs - one woman had 4 dogs! 4! and although they don't dig a lot - they keep running around and making a mess of her lawn. Anyway, she's going to put permeable grid down - mostly in the wet, mucky area - and then hope the dogs won't mess it up too much.

Her original solution - putting down a all-cement yard - makes me wince. I can only imagine what that would be like - its a small yard - but all cement? eep. Adding another 600sq/ft of cement into the world. Sure it might look okay for a while - until it cracks and gets stained - but it would be so bad for the environment. All that cement just holding the water, letting it sit there - and the heat? wow.

Unpaving paradise - taking out that parking lot - environmental driveways

Now here's the thing about working for a company that is committed to providing people with an alternative driveway solution = I don't drive! lol. :D I spend a lot of time working to provide people with a better enviromental solution to a driveway or parking lot. Or in some cases helping them solve their erosion problems. But like everyone - I know someone who drives - and almost every house has a blacktop driveway. I just don't need to drive so I don't own a car.

I've been a geek girl for 10 years - 8 years basically in Tech Support for a backbone provider in Toronto. Then I quit recently to go work for TerraFirm Enterprises - basically because I was burnt out of tech support and I have known about this company for years. The owner has been asking me to come work for him.. and now I am.

So what's with the driveway? I mean almost every house has one - even if you are like me and renting - and no one drives... there are still driveways and parking lots. Usually those blacktop stretches of deterioriating asphalt paving, with cracks running through the surface.

If I think of driveways I think of my dad's drive: busted along the edges, with some dips that form little pools of water. Basically it seemed to be asphalt, concrete or gravel. Those were the choices. At least with EcoGrid there's a choice.

I'd never really thought of Green Driveways - and my experience with gravel driveways wasn't better. They were those dirt drives with bits of gravel embedded into the surface with the larger pools of water after it rained. Blarg. Of course that was many years ago - and now a good gravel driveway is actually a sound environmental choice... as long as it doesn't compact. That is where the EcoGrid comes into play.

Anyway, seems like they've been using EcoGrid stuff in Europe for around 20 years. Hello? There's an eco-friendly alternative to asphalt and concrete surfaces? You mean you don't have to have end up dumping all the rainwater back into the storm sewer? really? Who'd a thought.

Well, I always felt sad when the paved paradise to put up a parking lot. At least now with the EcoGrid - maybe we can start digging up the parking lots and coming up with a green solution. It might take another twenty years but it would be nice to leave our children with a greener environmentally-friendly parking spot to put their non-gas cars on. :D