The grass driveway

[dajodo2]

I think this is one of the dumbest eco ideas I've seen lately.

http://videos.canoe.ca/index.jsp?fr_story=6cf205d63600b677bc06dd858b9385d988e3db47

Great now you have to mow and water your driveway.

How do you shovel or snow blow a grass driveway in the winter without wrecking it?

 

[tboy]

Yeah I like it too.....a lot more ascetically pleasing than black pavement.

Only problems I see is:
1) The environmental impact of cutting it with a gas mower
2) The environmental impact of removing the existing pavement

On new constuction? Perfect idea as the grass will help remove the CO2 that the vehicle produces.......

 

[dajodo2]

It looks nice I'll grant that. Not so sure after a couple of months though.

Something else to maintain is what turns me off.

I still can't see how driving a vehicle on that grass hundreds of times in a year won't kill it even with that plastic stuff underneath that's supposed to disperse the weight I guess.

Like I mentioned above I still don't know how you're going to remove snow from on top of it without ruining it.

Maybe you don't and get a 4X4 like in the video.

 

[tboy]

Well, one thing you have to think about is just how much driving will there be? It's not like it's a road running to a corner store or ?? that will get a lot of traffic. You're basically driving up it at night, and out in the morning for most days and then how many times on the weekend?

I know if I'm going out shopping or whatever on the weekends I go out, do my stuff, come back. That's it.

For that matter, if you don't take your vehicle to work everyday, and leave it in the driveway, I'd be more concerned with the grass not getting enough sunlight (that's for people that use their garage to store junk in, not their cars lol).

One thing that might be a problem is shovelling the snow off it in the winter. You'd probably tear up the grass with a shovel or a plow.....

 

[Never Compromised]

None of you have ever had a gravel drive way? Unless the first snow fall is 18 inches, you let a layer of ice build over the gravel, or in this case grass, put down sand and then shovel what accumulates on top. Easy.

 

[Emma@SecretaryService]

I think this is one of the dumbest eco ideas I've seen lately.

Dumber than the grass roofs in many parts of Europe and, more recently, the US?

 

[landscaper]

we had a grass drive at the cottage for years worked just fine, you could uise a snow blower just raise the shut an inch until it freezes up. Mud would be the real problem

 

[bogo]

Would really like to see a solution along these lines to the acres of paved parking lots at malls etc.

 

[Macator2003]

I think this is one of the dumbest eco ideas I've seen lately.

http://videos.canoe.ca/index.jsp?fr_story=6cf205d63600b677bc06dd858b9385d988e3db47

Great now you have to mow and water your driveway.

Yea really. Next thing they'll be wanting us to do is put our clothes on a new contraption they are calling a "Clothesline......

 

[tboy]

Would really like to see a solution along these lines to the acres of paved parking lots at malls etc.

definitely a good idea. Not only would it help stop the "heat island" effect it too would help filter out all the CO2 from the cars parked on it......

Now if you really want to make millions and benefit the environment, the genetisists should be working on grass that only grows to about 3" tall. Imagine the dramatic drop in CO2 from all the 2 stroke lawnmowers not being needed?

 

[PussyHunter]

I can remember growing up as a kid and the homes used to have two strips of concrete for the wheels to drive on and the rest was grass. Use to work great. Never noticed any problems in the winter with snow shovelling.

Looks like a great idea but time will tell if it holds up to the wear and tear.

 

[basketcase]

Where do you put the basketball net?


Sounds like a good idea in relatively dry, temperate climates but here it would quickly become the old fashioned dirt and mud driveway that sparked the creation of asphalt in the first place.

 

[big dogie]

Anybody ever heard of a time of year called spring... this might work 7-8 months a year...but thr rest I don't think so...

I think this is one of the dumbest eco ideas I've seen lately.

http://videos.canoe.ca/index.jsp?fr_story=6cf205d63600b677bc06dd858b9385d988e3db47

Great now you have to mow and water your driveway.

How do you shovel or snow blow a grass driveway in the winter without wrecking it?

 

[star_lord1]

Anybody ever heard of a time of year called spring... this might work 7-8 months a year...but thr rest I don't think so...

Works fine. I've been using a grass driveway for 30 years. It has 2 bare ruts that fill with compacted snow in the winter which the snowblower runs right over. In Spring, the snow melts, there's about a half inch of mud on top for about 2 weeks and the rest is solid. The trick is to have a layer of gravel underneath which provides good drainage once the ground thaws.

It's actually rather attractive in a rustic sort of way - goes great with my log house.

 

[basketcase]

...
It's actually rather attractive in a rustic sort of way - goes great with my log house.

And I'm sure great for your neighbours resale values. At least help them out and remove the car parts from the lawn when they try to sell.

 

[dajodo2]

This silly grass driveway gimmick is aimed at the eco snobs to park their hybrids on.

What's so bad about asphalt? It's environmentally friendly too. More so than grass I would say since you don't have to mow and water it.

Asphalt is made with all natural ingredients from Mother Earth. There are two basic ingredients in Hot Mix Asphalt. The first is aggregates (crushed stone, gravel, and sand). The aggregates used are almost always locally available stone. About 95 percent of the total weight of an asphalt pavement consists of aggregates.

The remaining five percent is Asphalt Cement or tar or pitch whatever you wish to call it, the black liquid that acts as the glue to hold the pavement together. Asphalt Cement is a petroleum product generally obtained from the same refineries that produce gasoline for your car and heating oil for your house derived from all natural organic crude oil from Mother Earth.

Asphalt driveways and roads are 100% recyclable as well to be used in new driveways and roads.

Asphalt driveways require no watering no mowing no pesticides and no fertilizer.

Once again I've had to school many of you who blindly buy into the green scam.

Grass driveways, how 1950's, this is the twenty first century. Builders will be offering caves for families to live in next as a eco friendly dwellings.

 

[hairyfucker]

Grass driveways, how 1950's, this is the twenty first century. Builders will be offering caves for families to live in next as a eco friendly dwellings.

I think a tent would be more eco friendly. Do you know any builders that are building tent cities ... with a grass roof?

 

[nottyboi]

when you have a city house with a shared driveway, these make a LOTof sense, you can actually make a lot more of the driveway into usable green space.

 

[HafDun]

Ya, i'm a tree hugging Eco snob. But I don't think a grass driveway is very practical solution. It will likely not be green for any amount of time at all.
And the maintenance will probably undo any benefit.
My unsubstantiated opinion is that paving stones are the most environmentally freindly topping, and they allow a certain amount of water to absorb back into the water table, avoiding the storm sewers.

 

[gordie 269]

Sucks for Road Hockey.