Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Landscape Design/Pedestrian Paths

[Oilcloth International/Cardie Molina (oilcloth]

Hello - DG (decomposed granite) is a great pervious material. It makes a
wonderful walking surface that sort of "crunches" beneath your feet. Like
walking in a botanical garden. It is a sensual experience to walk this type
of path and very nice.  If it is very dry you won't have to weed it but if
it gets water the weeds will come thru for a while. (not like pavers or
concrete), but it will be easy to pull those up and if the paths are used
often you won't have that problem. It is very inexpensive. It doesn't stick
to your shoes and shouldn't be a problem going in and out. It will need
refurbishing or shoring up after a few years but is not expensive. If you
have low spots then you just fill in with more DG. You could also have
brick/stone borders so it doesn't spread. We had our paths dug down about
about 4-6 inches and then filled with the DG. I think your Landscape
Architect has an excellent idea.
Cardie  
. 

"A New Oilcloth Makes the Whole Family Happy"(TM)
 
Oilcloth International, Inc.
www.oilcloth.com 
Phone: 323-344-3967 Fax 323-344-0409/259-5951
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Karen Scheer [mailto:karen [at] monkeyhouse.org] 
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 4:55 PM
To: Cohousing-L
Cc: Melanie Mindlin
Subject: [C-L]_ Landscape Design/Pedestrian Paths

Hello cohousing friends!

Our cohousing group here in Ashland is getting very busy finalizing  
the landscape plans.  In designing our pedestrian paths, we would  
like to create organically styled (flowing around natural contours  
and human movement, ie. not linear) pathways that would create areas  
for gardening, privacy and play in our common outdoor space.  Our  
landscape architect is suggesting 1/4 minus Decomposed Granite (DG)  
for the pathways.  There is some concerns about this material and how  
well it will work.  Does it tend to track into homes and other  
places?  Does it need a lot of repairs to prevent muddy spots?  Does  
anyone have any experiences with this or suggestions for other  
materials to consider?

Also, we are looking at ways to make the "driveway" past the parking  
area pervious (rather than paved) so that water can flow through and  
we can have an open grass lawn.  This area needs to be able to  
support the weight of the occasional car or fire truck so we are  
planning to reinforce it with a material that is being described as  
"egg-crate" below the surface of the grass.  If anyone has any  
experience with this type of pervious surfacing or other suggestion  
we would love to know more about it.

I'd like to wish everyone a very peaceful holiday season filled with  
presence, magical moments & laughter.  Reading the emails that come  
in through this list everyday, I am inspired by who you all are and  
your commitment to community.

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond!

-Karen Scheer
Fordyce Street Cohousing Community
Ashland, Oregon
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