All About Grass Block Pavers

The turf stone represents an ecological variant of soil stabilization, it stabilizes green areas without sealing them. The respective area is protected from silting up and in many cases it is also made usable for vehicles. Some animal lovers even place their horses on this useful surface to protect certain areas of the ground from their heavy hooves. Turf pavers are usually made of either concrete or plastic – the different materials open up different possibilities for use.

When is it suitable to lay grass pavers?

Laying grass pavers combines stability with greenery. They are always useful when a firm, robust path is to be created. Unlike paving stones, grass pavers should not be driven on too often. For example, if you use the stones as a garage driveway and drive on them two or three times a day, this will not be a problem. However, you should refrain from using grass pavers if there is a higher volume of traffic.

However, before laying grass pavers, remember that you can not use road salt on this surface during frost.

Concrete pavers with grass: advantages and disadvantages

The classic variant of concrete grass pavers is suitable for anyone who wants to pave the driveway or parking lot, for example. Unlike the plastic alternative, the stones withstand significantly greater loads without sagging or moving. Even after long use, you will hardly find any signs of use or wear here.

Those who hire an appropriate service when laying the stones or are not afraid of physical labor, can find the concrete blocks with eight chambers in almost any hardware store. Laying is also no problem with the right preparatory work and due to the adapted shapes of the stones.

Therefore, those who can arrange with the laying of heavy stones, concrete lawn pavers can enjoy the following advantages:

• less expensive than continuous paving
• very loadable (even by cars)
• durable
• can be bought in any hardware store
• easy to lay by yourself

Even if the concrete lawn pavers offer many advantages, in some places you have to sacrifice:

• partly unpleasant walking feeling
• less green area & large concrete walkways
• higher weight

Concrete grass pavers are used primarily for parking lots and areas subject to traffic, as they are very resilient. Nevertheless, with this variant, you should make sure that the soil in the gaps does not sag after prolonged use. Otherwise, when walking, you easily get stuck on the hard stones, which makes it unpleasant to walk on these surfaces in the long run.

Lawn pavers made of plastic: advantages and disadvantages

When people talk about plastic lawn stones, they rarely mean the exact counterparts to the stones made of concrete. Although these plastic stones with the eyelet-click system are also available for purchase, they usually refer to lawn honeycombs. These are usually larger than individual grass pavers and can also be easily connected to each other.

Although plastic grass pavers cannot withstand particularly heavy loads and are thus more suitable for sidewalks and bicycle paths than for frequently and heavily trafficked roads or parking lots, they also withstand long periods of use here.

The following advantages also arise from the use of grass pavers made of plastic or grass honeycomb:

• Low weight, easier to install
• A lot of greenery, few intermediate areas
• Earth does not dry out, because no concrete is laid
• Easy to adapt to your needs

The disadvantages of grass pavers made of plastic:

• Higher acquisition costs
• Partially less subject to high loads

So that you can use the plastic stones in the same way as the concrete lawn pavers, you should find out about the width, load-bearing capacity and material before buying.

Step by step: laying grass pavers correctly

Regardless of whether you choose plastic or concrete, some preliminary work is required before laying grass pavers. Of course, factors such as local conditions and individual requirements also play a role, which is why the process can vary somewhat.

Basically, however, the laying of grass pavers takes place in the following steps:

• Excavation: First, the area must be limited and excavated accordingly. As a rule of thumb, the depth should be three times the height of the stone.
• Consolidating: A vibrating machine consolidates the subsoil and ensures that the lawn edging stones do not lie crooked later.
• Lay lawn edging stones: These are located around the area and give the lawn grid stability as well as shape.
• Pour gravel: If the subsoil is firm, a layer of gravel (grain size 16/32) about 7.9 inches high is placed on top. This is not poured as a whole, but at least in two layers, each of which is consolidated with a vibratory plate.
• Verlegeschicht errichten: Nun braucht es eine Schicht aus Sand, Splitt und Mutterboden. Sie muss ebenfalls aufgeschüttet und abgerüttelt werden.
• Rasengittersteine verlegen: In diesem Schritt gelangen die Rasengittersteine auf den vorbereiteten Untergrund.
• Kammern füllen: Die Waben müssen mit Mutterboden gefüllt und die Fläche abgekehrt werden. Stampfen Sie die Erde zum Beispiel mit einem Holzstück fest – die Aussparungen sollten etwa zu einem Dreiviertel gefüllt sein. Kehren Sie danach lockere Erde in die Kammern, bis der Inhalt mit der Steinkante abschliesst.
• Vibration: Use a vibratory plate to re-consolidate the surface.
• Seeding the lawn: Before sowing seeds, you should wait a few weeks. During this time, the soil will still settle somewhat. Pour the honeycombs again so that they are filled up to just before the upper edge of the stone – now you can sow! For this purpose, you should rely on special parking lot turf, since the sub-layer allows significantly more water to seep through than is the case with a conventional subsoil.

Laying grass pavers is not a simple matter. Especially with heavy concrete stones, many people reach their limits. Every step determines whether you will benefit from a robust, visually appealing and long-lasting surface afterwards. If you want to do it yourself, you need to be a skilled craftsman.