Bunyan Pervious Roast 2012 - Hot days in the desert!

Bunyan Pervious Roast 2012 - Just outside Las Vegas

Out in the Nevada desert, outside of the Vegas we know is a far dustier affair known as the Pervious Roast. Dave Mitchell and team put together a spectacular 3+ days of speakers, pervious pours and food, which by all accounts was very informative and fun.

Our own David Liguori spoke at an un-scheduled moment to go over what goods and the not-so-good installations look and sound like. The video will be posted in an upcoming blog post. There were also presentations from Scott Erickson of Evolution Paving, and Jereme Montgomery.

BAPC's Rob Estrada was able to snag a picture with Matt Offenberg, of bell-ringing fame. You can see how glad they are to head into the (air conditioned) NRMCA meeting.

~ Update: Lauren Wray
- Photo Credits: Robert Estrada, David Liguori, Lauren Wray

RC Ready Mix - Sample Slab with Decorative Pervious

We teamed up with RC Ready Mix to do a sample pour over in their yard, with their aggregate. They wanted to see how it went down, and we wanted to see how our mix design would work with their rocks.  Not only did the installation turn out REALLY WELL, but Rob Estrada was able to really show us all a few MORE possibilities for decorative pervious concrete!

The first question is always ‘how well does it drain?’ Check out the video below to watch the front end loader dump a bucketful of water on the slab!

We agree with the driver, thumbs up! A few days later, Rob went over there to try some designs to see how they could look.  We are well known for our Polished Pervious™, which you can see below, next to the Classic Pervious Concrete.

To get a closer look at the great texture, we took a close up. You can see the Polished Pervious Concrete ™, and then set into the pervious a pattern that was added well after the plastic was pulled up.

And here is where Rob really let loose!  As Rob added these layers of color and texture to the Pervious Concrete, you can see the window that RC Ready Mix installed when they were framing. That allows one to see the water going through the layers of the Pervious Concrete System.

Here is most of the slab - you can see the suns and the moon and the gorgeous colors that were used!

If you would like to see this in person, it will only be in the yard for a limited time. Contact us for more information.

Pervious in Paradise 2012 - a recap!

The NPCPA’s First Annual Conference

Bay Area Pervious Concrete went to the US Virgin Islands for the Pervious in Paradise conference. David Liguori attended, because well, someone had to!

It was a great meeting with a small group with most of the attendees presenting content over the 2 days of speaker and 2 days of break outs. David presented on the Bay Are Pervious Concrete decorative finishes. We have a downloadable deck of our decorative finishes here.

The final day everyone gathered at a local school to pour a driveway with a local contractor. The concrete truck had to take a ferry to get to the island from the batch plant an island over. The mix was 2 hours old before it even arrived on the site! Fortunately, we had had many, many qualified folks to help offer guidance, work, shovel and supervise.

See you next time!

Tweet comments with @BayAreaPervious and @NPCPA  #PerviousinParadise

A new parking lot at the Beth Abraham Temple

Monday we poured pervious concrete in the parking lot of the Temple Beth Abraham. Below are the finished photos.

4 Layers for Stormwater Management

We at Bay Area Pervious Concrete have come  a long way towards developing the Pervious Concrete as a viable Stormwater Management System. Going through this diagram, you can see where the water goes -- one of our most frequently asked questions.

Starting at the bottom-SOIL
We do soil infiltration tests before our jobs so we can understand how fast the water will soak in, underneath the pervious concrete. Once we understand the infiltration rates and soil composition, we can engineer the appropriate depths to excavate for the next layer, the drain rock.

Before we lay the drain rock we sometimes will lay a layer of GEOTECH Fabric, which adds a helpful barrier against some less porous soil types. We determine the need for this during the soil composition and infiltration tests.

Now for the DRAIN ROCK!
Drain rock is laid several to many inches thick, depending on the rain event to be captured, the soil type below, and how much impervious surface is draining into this slab. It is a very specific type of drain rock, not the typical base used under concrete which is impervious - we want to maintain about  40% air space to both allow water to pass through and give it place to "hang out" if the soil has a slow infiltration rate.

Finally the PERVIOUS CONCRETE
The pervious concrete is then laid on top of the drain rock, screeded and rolled into place and covered in plastic, where it will cure for at least a week.

Redwood Avenue - Residential Installation

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.