Beautiful to look at, and made using the same cutting-edge manufacturing standards as other Unilock products, permeable pavers provide a modern solution for directing rainwater away from stormwater systems and exactly where you want it — in the natural ecosystem.
Permeable interlocking concrete pavers are an extremely versatile paving material for patios, walkways, and especially driveways. They are a popular alternative to asphalt or concrete in areas where homeowners need to decrease impervious space on their lot due to local code requirements, making other landscape features such as an in-ground pool once again possible. The durability and inherent beauty found in traditional pavers are available in their permeable counterparts.
What Are Permeable Pavers?
Permeable pavers are very similar in appearance to traditional pavers, but they are manufactured with bumpers — or a protruding pedestal — that creates a larger joint gap between each one. Because these joints are filled with clean gravel rather than polymeric sand, water is allowed to drain through the surface, effectively directing rainfall gradually back into the ground instead of overloading municipal wastewater systems.
Driveways made with permeable pavers, for example, enable rain and snowmelt to seep into the ground and support the normal water cycle. Impurities are naturally filtered out through the many layers of gravel.
Benefits of Permeable Pavers
Permeable pavers have several important advantages over traditional pavers, poured concrete, and asphalt:
- Safety: Icy driveways become a risk that is minimized with these slip-resistant pavers, since water does not pool on their surfaces and is more likely to have seeped through the pavers before it has time to freeze.
- Long-lasting: Quality permeable concrete pavers offer greater strength and durability than other driveway and patio materials, and they also require less maintenance (they’re resistant to salt, chlorine, and oil and gas spills).
- Breathability: Unilock permeable pavers help dissipate heat more quickly, making for a more comfortable walking surface on hot summer days.
- Versatility: Homeowners are not limited in their design options with these pavers. They also have the opportunity to install rainwater collection beneath the pavers for supplying water to a water feature or irrigation system.
- Drainage control: Permeable pavers can help direct water flow away from the house or other structures.
These benefits make permeable pavers very eco-friendly products that add exceptional beauty as well as hidden functionality to your backyard, driveway, or walkway.
Unilock Thornbury pavers make for a gorgeous permeable driveway while offering a skid-resistant surface on freezing-cold days, and permeability that allows stormwater to naturally enter the aquifer.
Reduction of Environmental Impact
Because permeable pavers allow rainwater to return to natural underground reserves, the impact on your landscape, as well as that of the greater environment, is reduced. Non-permeable hardscapes, particularly driveways, without their own sump and drainage systems direct stormwater runoff into public storm drains. These storm drains are often already over-taxed.
In addition, as the water flows toward these drains, it picks up litter and pollutants from the street that ultimately end up in natural water systems like streams and rivers. By investing in permeable pavers, you can help to reduce this effect. With more and more local municipalities limiting the amount of impervious surface space on a given lot, homeowners wishing to have large patios, pool decks, and driveways are welcoming permeable pavers as the only viable solution.
Unilock Permeable Paver Options
For more than 45 years, we have helped property owners curate landscape designs that reflect their style and preferences. This effort continues as more homeowners prioritize the environment as they research their options for building out their outdoor living spaces. Several of our permeable pavers are suitable for residential applications.
Town Hall: Town Hall is cast from molds taken from authentic brick street pavers and provides a timeworn, warm, and classic look. This paver’s dimensions are slightly larger than those of typical brick pavers, making for a statelier surface. Town Hall is manufactured to satisfy both conventional and permeable installation methods.
This long driveway and front entrance are constructed with Unilock Town Hall pavers that provide a stately and elegant look.
Tribeca Cobble: This permeable paver resembles beautiful imported granite cobblestones. Although the surface texture is natural and varied, Tribeca Cobble maintains an extremely high dimensional accuracy for easy installation.
Achieve this high-end look by using Unilock Tribeca Cobble permeable pavers that hold up to a lifetime of heavy use.
Eco-Priora: Eco-Priora offers both permeability and design flexibility. Available in a number of different colors and finishes, Eco-Priora can be used to complement a number of different styles, and is robust enough for use in commercial as well as residential projects.
This commercial project highlights the incredible potential of Eco-Priora, both to create a beautiful aesthetic and to limit the impact of construction in environmentally sensitive areas.
Eco-Optiloc: Eco-Optiloc features a patented L-shaped design that ensures a powerful interlock, making it suitable for even the heaviest commercial and residential vehicles. In addition to its superior strength, Eco-Optiloc can be customized in terms of color and finish to achieve the right aesthetic for the setting.
Eco-Optiloc features wide voids between pavers to allow for efficient drainage in a host of different environments, both commercial and residential.
Variety of Options
Properly installed, Unilock permeable pavers will last a lifetime. They are durable, resistant to harsh weather conditions, and they mature beautifully. To protect your investment, you will want to choose a Unilock Authorized Contractor who is extremely knowledgeable about Unilock pavers and offers the peace of mind that comes with a two-year guarantee that is backed by Unilock.
To begin the process of using permeable pavers for your next outdoor living project, check out the Unilock Design Idea Catalog.
