Geotech Fabric

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Do These Fabrics Drain Water?

Most drainage fabrics on the market claim to be permeable with a high water flow rate. Specification sheets show flow rate but it can be difficult to translate the testing numbers into a real world example.

View the video to the right for a demonstration of this fabric passing water.

SHIPPING

✔  All items ship for free

☏  Call: (800) 520-7731 for pricing and shipping questions.

This material ships from either California, Minnesota, New Jersey or Georgia. Orders typically ship same day (if placed before 12 PM EST)

Note: The day that the order ships does not count as a transit day. We are unable to expedite fabric shipments faster than what is displayed on the map below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Using Geotextile Landscaping Fabric For Your Next Project Is Important

For years landscape fabric has been playing a major role in most hardscape projects. This fabric is designed to separate, reinforce, and filter in order to provide good drainage and filtration. Not all fabrics are good choices for all projects, there are several differences that must be taken into consideration before choosing a fabric. Understanding the differences is important for developing a successful landscaping project.

Woven & Non-Woven Geotextile Fabric

Woven and non-woven have their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to making a decision on what should be used in a given project. Where one might excel, the other might fail. In this article we will go over their similarities and differences and where each one should be used in a successful landscaping project.

As geotextile offers separation, filtration, reinforcement, and drainage, as mentioned, above, it's critical where subgrade materials will remain saturated for a good portion of a year or will be present during multiple freeze-thaw cycles during the winter months.

It's critical that the separation of the subgrade from the base material will stop the movement of the soil. This is an upward movement of the soil subgrade into the base material caused by the load the pavement carries. As an example, a heavy object falls in the mud, the object is the load pushing down on the mud causing it to shift upwards and horizontally.

Shifting to geotextile, the stabilization or reinforcement of the base material when using geotextile will help to spread the load out over a greater distance because the geotextile is in tension and provides tensile strength to the base material. The filtration of geotextiles will allow water to spread out over a wider area and have greater control over the drainage of the water. When choosing the right geotextile for a project, there are a few factors to take into consideration, but first, you need to know about the two kinds of geotextile and their values.

Non-Woven Geotextile Landscape Fabric

Made of polypropylene fibers, the fibers in the non-woven fabric are connected through a system causing the fabric to feel similar to felt. The texture of the fabric feels like felt. The non-woven geotextile offers separation, filtration, and drainage when used. There are several variations to choose from and the strength of the fabric is around 50 to 90 lbs grab tensile strength and above that it's good for hardscape installation under interlock and retaining wall projects as well as other drainage projects. This fabric is considered a commercial-grade landscape fabric versus a weed barrier fabric.

The drainage and reinforcement characteristics of non-woven and woven geotextiles are greatly different. Non-woven geotextile fabric goes beyond woven geotextiles and has been the focus for areas that require the ability of good drainage. For projects that include drainage flow, low static loads, pedestrian traffic, hard subgrades, and low dynamic loads, non-woven geotextile fabric is the best choice.

It's important where separation is required while still being able to allow water to drain similar to that of French drains. In one case, a perforated drain pipe was enclosed by stone and covered with non-woven fabric. The water from the surface can absorb through the non-woven geotextile fabric through the clean stone and then into the drainage pipe. Filtration of water through the fabric will only remove contaminants in the water but will not remove the subgrade or soil around the filter.

Gravel Being Placed on Non Woven Fabric

Another important feature of non-woven geotextile fabric, you can apply a concrete overlay. The overlay was made of a hard substance not needing to be stabilized or reinforced It's necessary that any water entering the system will drain out through the filter and non-woven geotextile is highly recommended for this process.

Non-woven geotextile fabric is normally used for retaining walls while woven geotextile fabric is used for the foundation or base of the retaining wall. The remainder of the wall can be covered with non-woven fabric as the lateral and top section of the fabric creates separation, filtration, and drainage but not reinforcement. Water will enter the backfilled areas of the wall into the drain without removing the subgrade and soil material.

Geogrid is used along with non-woven hardscape fabric to provide reinforcement or stabilization of the base material that's placed on top. The non-woven geotextile is installed for separation, filtration, and drainage with the geogrid installed directly on top for reinforcement or stabilization. Non-woven geotextile is flexible where woven is not, so aggregate can get through the apertures of the geogrid and operate correctly.

There are many benefits to installing geotextiles in your hardscape or landscape projects. Keep in mind when choosing the correct geotextile for your project. You must also consider the longevity of your hardscape or landscape project.