Case Study: The Effects of Permeable Pavers

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you’ve seen it: several weeks of high rain fall, hilly neighborhoods, and lots of puddles and runoff, sometimes in the most inconvenient places. If you happen to live at the bottom of a hill, you very likely have personal experience with this annoying phenomenon. What can you do if you have a yard or driveway that floods easily?  Are you supposed to resign yourself to dealing with constant water runoff and mud threatening your home?

In this blog post, we are diving into a quick case study of a customer’s project. Permeable pavers saved this customer’s home, and could be the answer for yours.

Case Study

The problem: relentless flooding

The customer we are featuring has a house in the hills of West Portland. Not only is his neighborhood located in one of the most hilly areas of the Willamette Valley, but it is located directly at the bottom of one of these hills. The road leading to his home turns to the left, and his driveway continues straight on towards his house.

His problem is quite easy to imagine: every time there was significant rainfall (which in Portland is more often than not), all the water from the hill ran down the road, straight toward his home. Not only did the water completely flood his driveway, it actually built up to the point of frequently running into his garage.

The solution: permeable pavers

The customer knew that if he was going to keep the persistent flooding from further damaging his home, he needed to come up with a creative solution. He hired a contractor to install a new driveway. The contractor used one of our favorite permeable pavers, Camino Permeare. 

Hardscape makes lovely driveways any time, but a Camino Permeare driveway is particularly ideal. Not only does it provide the stability paver driveways are known for, but it actually helps naturally filter water back into the soil. 

It still rains in the Pacific Northwest, and this customer’s driveway still collects the neighborhood water. Now, though, it disappears through the surface of the pavers, into the established drainage system that empties further down the hill, where no driveways are threatened.

Install permeable pavers

Do you have a driveway or patio area that tends to flood during heavy rains? You can eliminate the puddles with our permeable pavers, such as the Camino Permeare that saved this customer’s driveway. Constant problems with storm water runoff does not have to be part of your daily life. As you can see from this case study, permeable pavers can make all the difference.

Contact WI for tutorials and expert advice

If you are ready to get started with the installation process, you can click here to make your choice from our selection of permeable pavers and more. You can also check out our DIY with WI page for access to tutorials, and guides. Our team will be happy to assist you with any questions or custom advice you need for your installation.