Water- and air-permeable structure

Hello everyone,

the following passage is stated in the development plan:

Non-built-up land areas for driveways and walkways, terraces, and parking spaces must be constructed with water- and air-permeable structures for both the surfaces and the base layers.

What exactly does that mean? Is this a common and current regulation?

I hear about air-permeable for the first time, but water-permeable is now almost standard. There are various options for this, from just gravelled to paving with wider joints (and grit instead of sand as joint material) to slabs in drainage mortar. And where water gets through, air will surely get through too ;)

Eco-paving, grass grid stones, stuff like that. Usually, no one really sticks to it. For the terrace, wood with a gravel foundation will probably best meet the requirements.

Usually, no one follows it.

Good morning and thank you very much for the feedback. In our residential area, some people have already paved their yards and laid paths. I am not an expert, but I noticed that people paved just like my father did 30 years ago: first frost protection, then a thin layer of chippings, and on top standard paving stones for 16.00 euros/m² from the hardware store. Since the development plan is valid for everyone in the residential area, it can only mean that the requirements regarding water permeability were not followed, either out of ignorance or cost reasons. I don’t want to address the people in our residential area directly about this to avoid coming across as a know-it-all. But it probably is really the case that many do not comply.

Even the standard paving can be permeable. A 5mm joint is completely sufficient. The important thing is that there are no zero fractions in the gravel. So 1-3mm for jointing (instead of sand 0-1mm) and gravel 2-5mm as bedding.

So, here I am again. Yesterday I looked at the paving stones in 2 exhibitions. In the permeable area, the smallest joint is 5 mm. To be honest, I like the completely normal paving stones 10 x 20 cm best, also because of the relatively small joint of < 2 mm. What happens if I lay normal, non-permeable paving? Is it checked by the municipality or the district office, do you have to submit the invoice of the paving stones to the municipality as proof of permeability? I have a driveway to the garage with an area of 11 x 6 m, with a slope of 1 m over 11 m. At the bottom I want to install an Aco channel (6 m), where the rainwater will definitely flow in.