This is a follow up to my original post - my original link is below
porous pavement decking questions
Some of you wanted more info on this stuff so here is my report:
Our 40+ year old concrete pool deck was tired, discolored, cracked, and had serious repair patches. After searching around we decided to try a relatively new product. Basically the covering is made of chipped up old tires (should make "greenies" happy) and epoxy. Several colors are available. We chose a half and half mixture of blue and gray. It's applied like concrete paving - Bags of chips and epoxy are mixed in a mortar mixer, wheelbarrowed to the location and spread, toweled and bull floated. The covering is 1" +/- thick.
The prep job was mine - I had to raise the skimmer access plate 1" (required busting out the old one and replacing with a new one), also had to devise longer attachments for my winter cover - which turned out to be a simple replacement of the existing brass screw anchors. In my case, I substituted a 9/15-12 x 2" cap screw for the anchor and adjusted slightly so that the head of the screw was 1" off the deck. They toweled the product so that the head was flush. I plan to use a 13/16' socket to unscrew the cap screws slightly to install the cover.
I also had some 8 year old solid vinyl ground level decking that I was NOT happy with. The stuff had warped, cupped and distorted (in spite of the original claims otherwise) and it was just ugly. The paving product was applied right over it. Apparently it provided enough support. However, they told me that the product should not be applied over bare ground.
The surface sets up in 6 hours or so. It feels rough on bare feet until you get accustomed to it but it's actually resilient and should be safer for children. I think you could drop a beer bottle on it without breaking (haven't tried that yet). It's similiar the the tracks one sees around football fields but a bit softer.
One yet-unsolved problem is the sweeping/cleaning of the surface. In the past I used a battery powered blower to merely blow dirt and leaves under my fence. Well, the new paving almost eliminated my gap under the fence plus the ground-up tires don't "blow" well - I think it's a friction thing between the rubber and the debris. I have lots of debris from surrounding pine trees and the needles like to stick to the surface. Time may improve this situation but in the meantime, we sprung for an indoor/outdoor vacuum cleaner.
I have photos but I keep getting a message that they exceed my kb allotment
Here's a photobucket link
hal49090's Library | Photobucket
porous pavement decking questions
Some of you wanted more info on this stuff so here is my report:
Our 40+ year old concrete pool deck was tired, discolored, cracked, and had serious repair patches. After searching around we decided to try a relatively new product. Basically the covering is made of chipped up old tires (should make "greenies" happy) and epoxy. Several colors are available. We chose a half and half mixture of blue and gray. It's applied like concrete paving - Bags of chips and epoxy are mixed in a mortar mixer, wheelbarrowed to the location and spread, toweled and bull floated. The covering is 1" +/- thick.
The prep job was mine - I had to raise the skimmer access plate 1" (required busting out the old one and replacing with a new one), also had to devise longer attachments for my winter cover - which turned out to be a simple replacement of the existing brass screw anchors. In my case, I substituted a 9/15-12 x 2" cap screw for the anchor and adjusted slightly so that the head of the screw was 1" off the deck. They toweled the product so that the head was flush. I plan to use a 13/16' socket to unscrew the cap screws slightly to install the cover.
I also had some 8 year old solid vinyl ground level decking that I was NOT happy with. The stuff had warped, cupped and distorted (in spite of the original claims otherwise) and it was just ugly. The paving product was applied right over it. Apparently it provided enough support. However, they told me that the product should not be applied over bare ground.
The surface sets up in 6 hours or so. It feels rough on bare feet until you get accustomed to it but it's actually resilient and should be safer for children. I think you could drop a beer bottle on it without breaking (haven't tried that yet). It's similiar the the tracks one sees around football fields but a bit softer.
One yet-unsolved problem is the sweeping/cleaning of the surface. In the past I used a battery powered blower to merely blow dirt and leaves under my fence. Well, the new paving almost eliminated my gap under the fence plus the ground-up tires don't "blow" well - I think it's a friction thing between the rubber and the debris. I have lots of debris from surrounding pine trees and the needles like to stick to the surface. Time may improve this situation but in the meantime, we sprung for an indoor/outdoor vacuum cleaner.
I have photos but I keep getting a message that they exceed my kb allotment
Here's a photobucket link
hal49090's Library | Photobucket
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