Landscaping solutions: ground stabilisation and soil separation

Fail to get this right – use the wrong materials or not enough of them – and you’re looking at a lot of time and effort to put things right, which represents a big hit to your bottom line and a hefty dent to your reputation.

To help ensure that your landscaping services are of the highest quality and to keep your business on the up and up, we’ve created this mini guide to ground stabilisation and soil separation landscaping solutions.

What the right ground stabilisation materials provide

Let’s start with why ground stabilisation and soil separation are important in landscaping. You might know all of this already but it doesn’t hurt to go back over it and it’s always helpful to be clear.

• It is vital to put a stable foundation in place and, as a professional landscaper, you’ll know that this can often be a challenge. But if you fail to create a stable base, the new path, patio, driveway or parking area that you’ve created will quickly become cracked and uneven.
• Whatever you’re creating, good drainage is a must. If rainwater can’t properly drain away from a lawn, path, patio, driveway or parking area, it’s going to build up, flood and quickly damage what you’ve worked so hard to put in place.
• Ground stabilisation prevents sinking and rutting. A customer whose lawn, path, patio, driveway or parking area quickly shows sinking or rutting, making it unattractive and unusable, isn’t going to be happy.
• The steps you take to ensure ground stabilisation and soil separation can also help keep weeds at bay. Zero weeds is what customers are looking for from their landscaping and, when you help deliver it, what they see (or rather don’t see) will be another big tick in your customer satisfaction box.

Choosing the right ground stabilisation materials for your project

Now we’ve had a look at the importance of ground stabilisation and soil separation, the next thing to consider is the type of job. As you’ll be aware, different projects require different solutions, and ground stabilisation and soil separation are no exception.

• With regard to creating lawns, patios and paths, the need for proper ground stabilisation and soil separation often goes hand in hand with weed suppression. As such, it’s good to be able to use a material such as Groundtex that can meet both challenges in soft and hard landscaping schemes.
• Driveways usually require a more heavy-duty ground stabilisation, filtration and drainage solution. You need a purpose-made membrane that can be used beneath MOT Type 1 or 3 aggregate or hardcore in sub-base layers, such as Drivetex, which will prevent sinking and rutting caused by the settlement of aggregates into the soil beneath.
• For projects where significant drainage is required, such as the installation of land drains, you need a lining material that will properly separate the aggregate from the soil, thus preventing the aggregate mixing with the soil and having a negative impact on the efficiency and capacity of the drain. Draintex is a non-woven drainage geotextile fabric with excellent drainage and filtration properties.
• For larger, more demanding landscaping projects, such as those involving roads and highways, car parks, railway construction, foundations or retaining structures, you need a super-tough ground stabilisation and soil separation material that provides excellent durability and mechanical resistance, such as Earthworx NW1000 geotextile, which is manufactured from 100% polypropylene fibres.

Landscaping projects often throw up challenges with regard to ground stabilisation and soil separation, and it’s essential that you address any issues in the right way and put in place the landscape materials that deliver a high-quality job and that will safeguard and grow your reputation.

With 20 years’ experience in the landscape industry, Growtivation understands the needs of landscaping professionals and has concentrated on providing high-performance solutions with our Product That Works range.

Growtivation’s wide range of professional landscaping systems means we have the right solution for all common landscaping problems.

Find out more about the Growtivation Product That Works range by downloading our Product Guide and your free copy of our Landscaping That Works guide to weed control and geotextile fabrics. Our PledgeMark warranty certifies that our products are suitable for their intended use for your peace of mind and quality assurance.

To find out where you can buy Growtivation products, visit our online Where to Buy facility or contact the friendly team at Growtivation for advice on 0800 197 8885 or email [email protected].