El Niño brought us a gift this winter, some much needed rain! The most recent storm allowed us to finally bring you another in our Stormwater Sleuthing Video series. This episode features a real-life demonstration of the performance of pervious concrete at our recently completed project at El Camino Park in Palo Alto, as compared to traditional asphalt and concrete.
Read MoreA big portion of our efforts at BAPC is in education. We love those days when we get to leave the office and engage with others to build more understanding around pervious concrete. We always look forward to meeting new people, having great conversations, and exhibiting the benefits of pervious concrete. The more people we meet the more love for pervious concrete is spread. Check out some of the events we will be at this year!
Read MoreThe Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is a non-profit organization that protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. It was very important that their office's renovation represented their commitment to their environmental mission. Working with their designer Steve Kikuchi, from Kikuchi + Kankel Design Group, they decided to use pervious concrete for their new parking lot.
Integral color and decorative accent borders of conventional concrete were utilized in order for the parking lot to complement the building's design. So this does not look like any other parking lot you've ever seen.
The City of Pleasanton is trying to solve two issues they are having along their Arroyo Mocho Trail, flooding and maintenance costs. The project represents a testing site for the city to study and compare surface performance and maintenance costs of asphalt, decomposed granite and pervious concrete. Pervious concrete was specifically installed in an area that is prone to flooding. We, at BAPC, are pretty confident they will find similar results that other cities have when it comes to the high performance and low maintenance costs of pervious concrete.
Read MoreAnother Bay Area city has endorsed pervious concrete. The City of Palo Alto utilized pervious concrete at the newly renovated El Camino Park. What's better than that? They also offer pervious concrete rebates!
Read MoreYou 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!
Over the past few weeks we have seen the internet explode with interest over the recently announced Topmix Permeable concrete from Tarmac Lafarge in the UK. People are marveling over concrete that allows water to not only go through it, and back into the ground, but at an incredible rate. The video we featured on our last blog post is impressive and demonstrated just how fast. We were excited to see so much interest in pervious concrete by so many different people. However, we did notice some discrepancies in the way that pervious concrete was discussed in some of the media outlets, and we wanted to take some time to clarify a couple things.
Some of the media outlets portrayed pervious concrete as a new product that was not available in the United States - which is false. Pervious concrete has been used for stormwater management throughout the US for over 40 years. What's different, or innovative, about Tarmac's Topmix Permeable concrete is it boasts a whopping 35% air void space, which is why it infiltrates at such a high rate. Tarmac representatives have stated in interviews that the product has some limitations on where, and when, it should be used. They are not recommending Topmix Permeable for high-traffic areas, in places where vehicles make lots of tight turns, or in places with freeze-thaw cycles, as it will eventually start breaking up the surface layer. Some media corespondents have portrayed that all pervious concrete had these limitations - which is also false. While Topmix Permeable may have these limitations, more traditional pervious concrete does not share the same limitations. In the US, mix designs have evolved and have already solved the issues of heavy traffic, weight loads, turning vehicle traffic, and freeze/thaw cycles.
Through trial and error the pervious concrete industry has discovered that 20% air void space provides the proper balance between strength, durability, and high infiltration rates. The additional bonds provided by only having 20% air voids, allows for a stronger, longer-lasting material, with just as much infiltration capacity to mitigate all of a site's stormwater.
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 MoreWhen most people think of road pavement, they think of asphalt. The new East Dunne Ave housing development in Morgan Hill, CA decided to do something different. They had Bay Area Pervious Concrete install pervious concrete from curb to curb for the new Seville Drive. Pervious concrete works great for roadways. Pervious concrete roadways have a lifespan of 30-50 years before it may need to be replaced. They are largely maintenance free for their entire lifespan. The extra benefit of pervious concrete is that it is a stormwater management system that doubles as a pavement.
Unlike pervious concrete roads, asphalt roadways have short lifespans, and require regular maintenance. Asphalt roads must be replaced, or resealed, every 10-15 years. This increases the maintenance necessary and inconvenience for residents. Typical asphalt roads also do not provide any stormwater management services. In fact they can actually contribute to poor stormwater management by concentrating pollutants that collect on the surface and rapidly shedding them into local waterways.
Last week, in the heart of Half Moon Bay, CA the community was celebrating the re-grand opening of Mac Dutra Plaza. Curving throughout the plaza is Bay Area Pervious Concrete's signature Colored Polished Pervious Concrete. A combination of pervious concrete and pavers were used to aid in stormwater management for the plaza.
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 MoreDavid Liguori will again be attending the Bunyan Springs Pervious Concrete Roast in Nevada in early October. The Roast features industry leaders providing informational talks and demonstrations in the many areas of Pervious Concrete, promoting the latest research and product developments.
Read MoreWhat do you do when you love to entertain in your backyard, but every time it rains your backyard gets flooded with puddles? That was the problem one of our clients was trying to solve when they discovered pervious concrete. The only problem was that many of the examples they saw online were mostly rectangular, solid color, installations - something that would not provide a unique show-piece for their backyard. They wanted something that was a talking point for their guests, a patio that stood out from the rest. Luckily, they contacted Bay Area Pervious Concrete. Working with them we developed this custom designed curvaceous patio.
The patio was designed to flow around the backyard, to provide enough room for entertaining, while still leaving room for the owner's gardening projects. Best of all, the pervious concrete put an end to the flooding and puddling issues that sometimes put a damper their party plans.
To create the visual interest that the owner desired colored borders were tooled in by our NRMCA Certified Installers and Technicians. A Polished Pervious finish was also applied to the large center section, while the colored border was left in the Classic Pervious Concrete finish. The terra cotta color was chosen for the border to compliment existing walkways along the sides of the house. We achieved this unique look using only one concrete pour, rather than the standard two pours that most borders tend to require. This allowed us to pass along some savings, in time and money, to the owners, while still achieving a hand-crafted result.
When our clients request something unique Bay Area Pervious Concrete delivers! Let us know what you think. If you have a unique pervious concrete project you want to discuss, please Contact Us.
The Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program (SCVURPPP) announced that the San Jose Environmental Innovation Center (SJEIC) was among the winners of the 2015 Site Design for Protecting Water Quality.
Read MoreIf you haven't been lucky enough to experience the renovated Arana Gulch Trail in Santa Cruz yet, you are in luck! Thanks to a video shot by Greg McPheeters, of People Power, you can ride the trail from anywhere.
We are so happy that people are excited about the new trail and are sharing their experiences of it. If you have your own Arana Gulch trail photos to share we would love to see them.
Renovated Heart of Soquel Park in Santa Cruz, CA features colored pervious concrete in the plaza and parking lot, installed by Bay Area Pervious Concrete.
Read MorePark 20 apartments chose colored and Polished pervious concrete for their emergency vehicle access road, installed by Bay area Pervious Concrete.
Read MoreThis just in:
A backyard greenhouse with a pervious concrete floor that lets in the sunshine and lets out the water! Check out the video below:
The backyard greenhouse will function as much as a plant habitat as a personal retreat. I understand a chair, and a reading light will go in there, so that the owners can enjoy the plants and sunshine even in the chillier winter months. That sure looks cozy! What do you think?
The Grand Opening of Boeddeker Park is on December 10, 2014 from 1-4pm. The park is located in the Tenderloin at 246 Eddy Street in San Francisco. Why are we so excited about this park? Because most of the hardscape is our Fine Grain Pervious Concrete and it looks gorgeous!
We hope you swing by to check it out, either on the 10th or sometime after. It has exercise equipment for adults, play equipment for children and seating and grass for general playing. It is a lovely open oasis in the middle of the Tenderloin. For more information about this park click here to visit San Francisco’s Recreation & Parks page.
