Gravel stabilization mats/honeycomb grids

Hello,

we want to cover our courtyard with gravel and are considering whether to lay it loose on the subbase, loose on filter fleece, or on those stabilization honeycomb grid mats.

I looked at the honeycomb grids at a building materials store and it is naturally a nicer thing when no marks are left in the gravel by the bicycle, the garbage bin, the stroller, etc., and there is no longer a difference between the area where the cars are driven and the pure foot area...

The only question is, since it costs 13 euros per sqm, whether it is really worth it compared to the other options. The fact is that it will be a long-term thing with the gravel, as for several reasons we do not want to pave.

Does anyone know how it is with weeds compared to loose laying? I have noticed that especially where the layer thickness decreases, e.g. through driving on it or by thin application in certain places, weeds tend to grow more compared to the thicker layered areas.

We looked into it and planned it as well. However, our garden landscaper advised us against it.

In hindsight, I’m glad: I don’t want to lay plastic on my garden or driveway surfaces (I also avoid the now so popular weed fleece in the beds). Besides, a weed fleece has to be laid additionally – that costs money!

Yes, you probably don’t see any tire tracks, but if a child were to play there, I guarantee you that little by little more and more plastic will come to light because the gravel can shift – of course, this depends on the thickness of the gravel layer and its strength. That wouldn’t be very nice either – in my opinion, I’d rather have tire tracks than visible plastic honeycombs.
I wouldn’t use fine gravel anyway: it gets into the tread and thus into the house or everywhere you don’t want it. Also, with fine sizes, the probability of sinking is higher, so you end up with deeper tracks.
The honeycomb grids aren’t meant for coarse sizes anyway, because they’re not needed: tire tracks are hardly visible, the surface is just a bit flatter where cars drive.

You can use a fleece against weeds, but seed and soil also collect in the surfaces/gaps of the gravel, so sooner or later quite a bit will grow in there.

Regards Yvonne

Hello Illo,

how do the costs look? Are they acceptable?

Regards Yvonne

It's like with everything, what is something worth to you?

The gravel itself barely costs anything and the preliminary work/installation and maintenance are relatively inexpensive compared to paving or asphalting...

The GroundGrid costs 11 euros/sqm (calculated for 100 sqm at the building materials store) plus a filter fleece for 1 euro/sqm, but you need more gravel material.
The Nidagravel is 15 euros/sqm without additional fleece and requires less gravel.

Cheap paving is at the same price, but the installation is much more expensive, and if you have the substructure done according to DIN standards, it gets even more expensive... plus drainage for rainwater, corresponding fees because of sealed surface area unless you let it infiltrate in a soakaway system (which also costs money).

For a long-term gravel solution, definitely an investment that I think is worth it... If someone only wants a simple quick driveway stabilization for a few years after completing their new building, this is of course nothing for them...
What I also find nice is that if work needs to be done on the surface, for example to access a pipeline, patch work on the surface due to oil damage from a car, etc., with gravel (even with the mats) it is much easier and cheaper, and you don’t see it afterwards.

Long-term experience to follow

Small addendum: We will probably "only" lay down the actual driving lane and lay fleece on the left/right sides that will only be walked on... Since the panels are 1.20x2.40 m wide, this allows for the driving lane to be laid well... This halves the costs...

One more addition... We have found another supplier, the company Securatek, which offers the ds Secu K3 in their range, which in my opinion represents the optimum in this segment. Because having a fleece underneath has a clear disadvantage: a fleece eventually clogs up over time and the pores, no matter how coarse or fine, get blocked and the water can no longer seep through, but it also cannot run off to the sides because the honeycombs are tight.

The K3 consists of a plastic grid at the bottom, sized 5mm, similar to a geogrid (used for example in road construction but with correspondingly larger grids); here clogging of the filter layer is excluded. We had a sample panel sent to us, very satisfactory, especially since the water can also run off sideways...

For example, we received unwashed gravel and the fleece would or did clog up after the first rain showers that washed the gravel... Of course, this doesn’t happen with washed gravel, but what settles there from the air, shoes, cars/car tires (especially now towards winter from the dirty snow clumps on the car), or from work on the property causes the fleece to eventually clog up...