Eco-friendly, durable and beautiful: porous pavement grows in popularity
Since 2011, TAC Ottawa has specialized in installing specialty pavements made from crushed stone as a more durable and beautiful alternative to asphalt or gravel. Now, founders Taylor Davis and Kyle Pittman have developed a new product called PurePave, which extends the already impressive longevity of porous pavements, and makes it even easier to push creative boundaries in landscape design. They’ve essentially invented a new way to create jaw-droppingly beautiful driveways, walkways and patios that are practically immune to the cracking and buckling caused by our harsh Canadian winters.
Visually striking and long-lasting, PurePave layers natural crushed granite, quartz or marble with a specially formulated UVand salt-resistant resin on top of a flexible base stabilizer made of recycled plastic.
Tiny air pockets in the permeable pavement and base allow water to flow down 14 inches to drain naturally, instead of sitting on top or becoming trapped within hairline cracks. When deep winter hits, any freezing water has room to expand so the pavement remains undamaged. The flexible base provides another layer of stability, so even if the ground beneath shifts during a particularly vicious cycle of freeze and thaw, the surface holds steady and looks as good as ever.
According to Davis, it isn’t just the practicality of TAC Ottawa’s porous pavement that sells PurePave. It’s the stunning effects designers and landscape architects can achieve by blending different types and textures of stones.
The colour and texture of the porous pavement depends on the kind of stones selected. Buyers can choose subtle shades of cream or grey marble, spice it up with red and black granite — or even add some naturally luminescent glowstone to create an effect like a carpet of shining stars after the sunset.
“We have tons of colours and we can blend the aggregates to create almost any kind of texture,” said Davis. “One of my favourites is called smoky black granite. It’s primarily black but has charcoal colours with speckles of white and red, and the speckles shimmer in the light.”
Another popular option is to use stone pavers as a border or to create geometric designs within a driveway or patio.
The cost to install a PurePave system is comparable to higher-end materials like interlock pavers or stamped concrete, Davis said, and ranges in price depending on the choice of stone and surface size.
Studies on the longevity of porous pavements have found few if any cracking or pothole problems even after 20 years, and still don’t need to be repaved.
“We really dug into the research, and once it was revealed to us how strong and powerful this product was for our climate, we realized it was a perfect fit,” said Davis. ”It looks incredible, the majority of it is made of recycled materials, and with our patented spray system, it can last forever.”
For more information on PurePave, call 613-627-3833 or visit tarandchipottawa.com.