Residential Driveway
And nothing speaks louder than Bay Area Pervious Concrete’s first multi-layer decorative installation with radiant heating at a massive residential project in Lake Tahoe. The project began this summer after two years of cross-collaboration between the architect, engineer, general contractor, and Bay Area Pervious Concrete.
Read MoreWant to know how much base rock you need under your pervious concrete pavement? We've done all the calculations for you! Designed with low infiltration soils, like Class C & D, in mind these design tables allow you to quickly size the infiltration bed underneath your pervious concrete. Tables feature calculations for infiltration rates as low as 0.025 inches per hour!
Read MoreIt's April, so it's the perfect time for some spring cleaning! Time to clean out those dusty pervious concrete specifications and design details you have laying around, and replace them with something new and fresh. We have released new updates on all the favorites!
Visit our Resources Section and you can download the latest the industry has to offer
Specifications
Typical Design details
Performance Data Sheet
Have you considered using pervious concrete on your project, then wished it came in a more appealing color or texture? At Bay Area Pervious Concrete it does! We have developed a wide array of finish options to choose from. Finish options can even be combined to create a truly customized look that will complement your chic, modern design, or something classic and timeless.
Read MoreBay Area Pervious Concrete created a multi-generational and multi-functional driveway for the Tah Mah Lah Residence, the "greenest house in America". Held to a high environmental impact standard, the driveway performs beyond typical requirements, providing regeneration of groundwater resources and representing a 64% savings in embodied carbon. It also features BAPC's latest finish option, Portola!
Read MoreAre you looking for a natural-looking, low-impact hardscape material? BAPC would like to introduce our latest new finish option - Portola™!
Our Portola Pervious Concrete™ provides a similar aesthetic to Decomposed Granite (DG), while providing the same durability, permeability and low-maintenance as the rest of our pervious concrete. All without the mess and maintenance challenges of DG.
You can never make another first impression. So why waste it? These homes in Portola Valley took full advantage of our Polished Pervious Concrete to cement a grand first impression upon all their visitors.
Read MoreThe last time that the category of El Niño was considered Very Stong was the winter of 1997-1998, where many California communities suffered from mudslides and flooding. This year's El Niño is showing signs that it could be even stronger. There is a strong chance that the Bay Area could see as much as twice the annual precipitation, maybe above 40 inches of rain. This could greatly impact the state by damaging homes, disrupting transportation systems, schools, and businesses - potentially costing state residents billions of dollars. Many cities are preparing for the additional rainfall by cleaning out their waterways and storm systems. California officials are warning people to prepare for potential flooding conditions. You may be asking, "What can I do to reduce the risk of flooding for my home or business?"
One thing you can do is by replacing sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, patios, and roads with pervious concrete. Luckily, installing pervious concrete is one type of El Niño preparation you may be able to receive a rebate for. Saving you money upfront and in the long run!
The internet has been calling this pervious concrete "Super permeable" and Magical." If you agree, you don't have to travel to the UK to see it or have it! Bay Area Pervious Concrete has been installing super pervious concrete management systems for nearly a decade. This viral video, from the UK firm Lafarge Tarmac, is a great representative of how fast pervious concrete can infiltrate water, but how does pervious concrete handle longer water events - like heavy rain storms? A real life test of pervious concrete. In our Stormwater Sleuthing video David compares two driveways after at least 12 hours of steady rainfall.
Read MorePervious concrete helped this residential development meet the Provision C.3 in the Municipal Regional Permit - which require site designs for new developments and redevelopments to minimize the area of new roofs and impervious paving. Concord, among many other bay area cities, have restrictions on how impervious a development can be. Pervious concrete when incorporated into the stormwater control plan allows you to combine your hardscape with your stormwater management system - reducing costs and environmental impact, while increasing development space. Win-Win-Win!
Read MoreWe just finished another residential driveway, this time in the faculty housing area of Stanford University’s campus. This mix features an integral concrete color called ‘Sandstone’ and a modern landscaping. What do you think?
The view from the front steps:
The view, heading to the street:
When we came up with Polished Pervious™ our Research and Development crew immediately saw the great possibility of using integral color with polished pervious concrete. Getting it installed on a project proved to take a bit longer - but now it is here and it looks STUNNING!
Well, see for yourself-
What do you think? Do you like this look?
Have you ever found yourself in a pinch, not getting material to the farthest corner of a pour? Have a backhoe handy? Exactly! See how we did it on a residential pervious pour in the hills of Palo Alto.
Perhaps it wasn’t the most efficient installation technique.....
A new residence has installed a pervious concrete driveway - but what is special is the size of the aggregate! It is a 1/8 inch aggregate that polishes up beautifully! You can see this incredibly smooth and polished look starting at the gates and sweeping up to the front of the house. Pervious concrete is also featured around the parking pad in the back and there is a wonderful view of the valley below. All the photos in the gallery below!
Read MoreDavid Liguori is back in the field, this time comparing a long sloped asphalt driveway with a neighboring long and sloped pervious concrete driveway during a rainstorm last year.
Here Dave compares 2 sloped driveways in a rainstorm - one asphalt, and one pervious concrete. It is the great runoff comparison!
What did you think? Do you have a Stormwater Sleuthing location (in the Bay Area) that you would like David to investigate the next time it rains? Let us know in the comments below or contact us here. Thanks!
David Liguori went out into the field, during the last rain, to see what the stormwater runoff situation looked like in Woodside, California. Watch the video below to see what did and didn't run off!
Come with David Liguori of Bay Area Pervious Concrete as he goes into the field, in the rain, to see first hand the issue of stormwater runoff - or lack there of - on pervious concrete versus other impervious hardscapes!
What did you think? Do you have a Stormwater Sleuthing location (in the Bay Area) that you would like David to investigate the next time it rains? Let us know in the comments below or contact us here. Thanks!
25 objects in just under 3 minutes -> How sharp are your eyes?
We have created an ISPY video on the World's Longest Driveway! Can you find all of the items listed below? Feel free to send this link to the keenest eyes you know. Use the full screen option, to catch all the great details! It took me 3 tries to catch everything - how many did it take you? A list of the items is below the video.
Items to spy below. We recommend you increase the resolution to 720, otherwise, it is hard to see the details. How many did you catch the first time? How many times did it take for you to find them all? We recommend full screen to catch all the details!
Egg carton, Buzz Lightyear toy, V8 bottle, Clipboard, Rubber rat, Hammer, Talking lizards, Santa hat, Manila envelope, Wall-E figurine, Hackeysack, Tennis shoe, Hardshell glasses case, Blonde doll in a pink dress (polly pocket), Rubber chicken, Stack of CDs, Newspaper, Pliers, Roll of tape, Magnifying glass, Padlock and key, The Lost World paperback book, Stuffed animal monkey, Spray bottle & Bar Simpson doll
How many objects did you catch the first time?
How close can you pave to a tree?
Normally, it is inadvisable to pave inside the drip line of a tree. Depending on the size and age of a tree that can be a fairly sizable area. This can be problematic when traffic or use requires paving close to the tree. When traditional impervious pavements are installed near older established trees, it can spell the end of the tree. Is that true of pervious concrete?
It turns out there are two students at Texas A&M are doing this very research! Their recent work reveals pervious concrete does, in fact, enhance the growing conditions of established trees relative to traditional concrete. They poured traditional concrete around a few established trees, pervious concrete around a few established trees and left a few trees with no cover for the control, and measured tree health for a little over a year. The results: the trees surrounded by the pervious concrete had more trunk growth during the year then the trees surrounded by the traditional concrete!
What does this mean for you? The good news is that you can integrate pervious concrete paving into plant friendly parking lots and hardscape design, knowing that you are not compromising tree health. This also may open previously impossible parking or other paving possibilities due to the ability to extend the pervious concrete closer to the tree, well within the drip line. Yes, it can make installation tricky, but it can be done!
The takeaway is that pervious concrete is great for protecting mature trees. As you can see above, our clients think so too!
You can read more about pervious concrete effect on trees and their growth by reading the Texas A&M research paper listed on our Resources page.
The Greenest Mix we have ever devised!
Guest post, written by David Liguori
I wanted to give you a quick update on one of the more significant developments we’ve achieved lately.
In our continuing quest to further improve the performance of pervious concrete we have developed an “ultra-green” mix design for which we have recently received test data. The mix contains only 245 lbs. of cement, vs. 5-600 lbs. for regular concrete, and 245 lbs. of supplementary cementitious materials (scm). The scm consists of a combination of fly ash and slag, both industrial waste products.
We used this mix this past January on a 2,000 ft. long (by 10’ wide) driveway in Palo Alto(photo above) and 3 months ago on a 5,000 sqft. driveway in Los Altos Hills (photo below). They are both performing quite impressively. Absolutely no surface raveling, all of which typically takes place in the first month or two if it’s going to happen, water infiltration rates of 700-1,200” per hour and compressive strengths above 3,000 psi.
As I am sure you know the addition of the scm’s slows down the rate of early strength gains but ultimately results in higher overall strength. In the case of the ultra-green mix our 28 day numbers are in the 2,600 – 2,900 psi range and to our delight the recent 90 day test came in at an outstanding 3,520psi. These type of results and data continue to increase our confidence in pervious concrete as viable long term stormwater management solution.
If you would like more details, contact us here and we will get in touch!
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This is the video from the longest (and greenest) pervious concrete driveway in the world!
This residential driveway is the world's longest pervious concrete driveway measuring half a mile long! It was designed and installed by Bay Area Pervious Concrete. If you would like to know more about pervious concrete and how it can absorb the puddles in your driveway, visit us at http://www.bayareaperviousconcrete.com.
The Situation:
The client had flooding in the back and front of the house due to an uneven grade of the lot and excessive roof runoff.
Driveway before- 'pervious pavers' that had settled and were not performing the way the homeowner had hoped.
Sideyard before- muddy, and not very useful.
Why Pervious Concrete?
He initially wanted a pervious concrete driveway because of impervious ground cover limitations in his city.
The Solution:
We designed a pervious concrete driveway and side yard that is also the retention pond for all of the roof and yard runoff.The pervious concrete water retention system captures 100% of their runoff from the roof AND the lot. They now have a dry front yard, back yard and they can grill just off the kitchen without puddles!
Sideyard after- Now this space can be used for laundry and garbage bin storage.
