Why Landscape Fabric Weed Barrier Doesnt Work Solutions. Weeds readily pop through germinate in a path that was installed with a layer of landscape fabric between the gravel and the soil. Weed barrier aka landscape fabric sounds like the perfect solution for reducing garden maintenance. Unfortunately, it isnt. And, it can even end up causing more headaches and ugliness than you might imagine. Once youve draped weed barrier all over your exposed beds, do you cut holes in the barrier and stick plants into the holes you make If so, your plantings may not thrive, but odds are the weeds still will. Perennials and ground covers will try to spread as they mature. How To Install Pea Gravel Playground Photos FreeEither the weed barrier will strangle them or theyll pop new holes in the barrier or theyll spread under the barrier, heaving it skyward for all to see. You can support this blog by buying through our links. Purchases made through the affiliate links on this page and others on this site pay a small percentage to Garden Mentors. Thank you for buying and helping support usTrees and shrubs may send up suckers that pop holes in the barrier or, as their trunks widen, the weed barrier may strangle them. Plus, every hole you make in the barrier is an opportunity for those sneaky weeds to gather sunlight and thrive. And all of this assumes that the barrier doesnt keep water from getting to your plant roots. Yep, any material even permeable materials can deter water from seeping downward. So, weed barrier may stop or limit rainfall and irrigation water from making it to your plants roots. And, in some situations, it might even lead to runoff and erosion issues as well. Landscape Fabric lined Path Full of Weeds. We know youve got a cool bag with some smart ideas inside, so let us know Share your bag in our Lifehacker Go Bag Show and Tell Flickr pool, shoot me a message. So, if those reasons still arent enough for you, consider what happens after youve put in your weed barrier, installed your plantings and then you start top dressing your plantings with a healthy layer of composted mulch. You know that the mulch material will provide a finished look to your beds. It will help protect roots, feed the soil and help hold moisture. Thats all great. But what happens later when the weeds pop up through the barrier or a shrub dies and you need to remove it Once roots have grown through weed barrier and a layer of soil or mulch has built up over the cloth, it becomes very difficult to clear up an area without breaking through the barrier. Once you begin removing dead plants or trying to do planting divisions in an area filled with weed cloth, odds are digging and dividing will be really hard to do. A sheet of material, weighted by layers of mulch or soil, in grown with roots isnt easy to dig through. And, once you begin breaking through the fabric, it is unlikely youll get all of it out as you divide or remove plantings. And replacing a swath of fabric in an established bed is near impossible without removing everything and starting over. So, after a few years of working in your cloth lined beds, youll likely have several raggedy bits of ugly fabric waving about above the soil line. Yes, you can cut those bits out, but youll be finding them for years. Several years ago, I helped a client renovate her entry bed before putting her home up for sale. When we dug our shovels into the ground to install a few decorative plants, we immediately came upon a sheet of old landscape fabric someone had installed years ago. Uh oh It appeared that someone had laid down landscape fabric and then covered it with several inches of topsoil. Then, theyd dug through the topsoil, fabric and into the clay below to plant. Welcome to Dream Yards Pinterest board all about backyard patio ideas. This board has tons of patio design ideas from our brick patio pictures, stamped concrete. There was no wonder all of the plants were stunted or dead, and water seemed to never saturate the soil. It ended up taking hours of back breaking labor to dig out the root and weed filled topsoil layer in order to get to the fabric to remove it. Then, it cost quite a bit in labor and materials to renovate the dead soil below that fabric line before we replanted the area. Oh, and all of that fabric was filled with plastics, so she had to carefully remove the roots and soil from it so that the plastic garbage could be sorted for the landfill and the soil and weeds for the topsoil recyclers. Clearing the weedy path brings ratty bits of plastic fabric to the surface of the garden bed. And, before you decide that weed barrier might still be a good idea to lay under a new permeable pathway, think again. One of my first DIY projects involved installing a pea gravel pathway around some raised beds. We took the advice of the box store salespeople and purchased a roll of miraculous weed barrier to install under the gravel. And, weve regretted it ever since. The pea gravel itself was a mistake, but thats a post for another day. Over the years, weeds readily seeded into the pathway. Every time we pulled a weed from the path, soil came up with it, and the barrier below ripped. So, as more soil mixed into the gravel path, more weeds germinated in it despite compaction, which makes pulling weeds hard. As we made more rips in the fabric, its raggedy edges began waving in the wind looking like an exposed landfill under our garden paths and beds. Oh, and some bits even became tripping hazards as an extra bonus. Yep, wed all love to find those magic wands to keep weeds at bay. Sadly, in my experience, weed barrier is more of a burden than a helping hand. Try installing without it and spend your leftover dough on good tools, a bit more mulch or a weeding partner to help you keep your garden healthy and looking great. Tread Lightly A complete guide to selecting the right sports surface. By Margaret Ahrweiler. The idea of a floor, on the surface, seems pretty simple something to stand on. Outside, it meant grass or dirt. Add sports and recreation into the mix, though, and it becomes something to stand on, run on, jump on, sit on, roll on, bounce on, fall on, race on, dance on, meet on. More complicated yet, every year seems to bring a new sport or fitness with new flooring requirements Did planners have to worry about Pilates or inline hockey needs 2. On top of that, dozens of different manufacturers, each with an array of products, compete for a slice of the sports surface pie. How is a facility manager supposed to make a decision As it turns out, education and thoughtful planning can reduce the headaches and clear the path to the right floor. Actually, say the experts, choosing the floor is the last and sometimes easiest part of the process. The hard part lies in askingand answeringthe questions that lead to the right floor. The first question facility owners need to ask How is the surface going to be used It sounds obvious, but its not, observes Sally Cottingham, whose Chicago based firm, Moose Sports Surfaces Ltd. Rarely do you see a surface used for just one thing, and its the secondary uses that often determine your choices. The dozens of different materials are matched by dozens of different performance qualities best for different sports, with a quick lesson in physics and biomechanics necessary for each sport see chart on page 9. In basketball, for example, floors need to return energy to maximize the balls bounce, enable athletes to jump well and allow for quick pivot turns. Meanwhile, tennis courts need to return energy for bounce as well, but to a lesser extent, and must enable horizontal movement by athletesa controlled slide. While a park district may consider artificial turf for a facility primarily used for soccer, Cottingham notes, volleyball may be a secondary use. Since artificial turf doesnt allow athletes the foot slides necessary in volleyball, this would be a poor choice that could lead to injury. Theres a lot of factors to consider. Likewise, a school may plan a field house and consider putting in a smooth surface in the center. But if the school follows through with plans to place six tennis courts there, textured surfaces more appropriate to tennis should be used. You get the picture. The Foundations for Flooring. Youll find as many different opinions and options on flooring as there are systems and manufacturersthat is, dozens. But the experts all agree that sport surfacing choices must satisfy seven key factors Installation How difficult is it to install the systemWho will be doing the installing Does the manufacturer offer its own installation teams, or is your staff honestly up to the task How soon can the surface be used after installation Does it emit any toxic outgases or noxious smells Aesthetics What kind of look are you trying to convey for your facility Traditional ContemporaryHow does the flooring look under different lighting conditions How does it hide or show soiling Is glare an issue for usersMaintenance How much and what type of maintenance is required Are some substances commonly found at your site harmful to the surface Will your facility honestly be able to handle the maintenance schedule Can your staff perform minor repairs or must the manufacturer be called Durability How long does this surface last How long do you want it to last That is, do you really want to go 4. What types of wear does the product show and how can it be fixed Does the type of usage you plan affect durabilityPerformance What is this type of floor designed to do best Does that match your planned uses Cost Dont just look at upfront costs, look at lifetime costs. How much does installation costWhat are the maintenance costs How much are the products necessary for maintenance and how easy are they to obtain What does maintenance cost in employee hours Safety Does this floor meet the biomechanical needs of its intended uses Is there proper cushioning for impact Is it too slipperyNot slippery enough Does it accommodate a range of users Are there any protrusions that can cause a hazard It takes a village. Next, owners must consider the sometimes conflicting needs of everyone involved with a sport surface. This includes the owner, the facility manager, the architect, the contractor, the maintenance staff, the athletic director, the coaches, a community representative for a publicly funded space and even athletes, who may have strong opinions about comfort levels. Everyone involved needs to decide whats most important for the surface. While this step may seem equally obvious, its frequently overlooked as planners try to move the process along quickly. To help resolve these issues, Cottingham uses a ranking system, giving clients a sheet of flooring attributes and asking that the group number them in order of importance. These include Durability. Sound deadening. Cleanability. Resiliencyshock absorbency. Ball bouncerollperformance. Coefficient to friction slip vs. Color. Installation time. Smell duringafter installation. Warranty. Spike resistance. Permanenceportability. With all these needs and opinions layered on top of an already complex issue, an expert and mediator may come in handy. Thats where flooring consultants can enter the picture, Cottingham says, since they can offer a greater level of expertise by, like the chicken people, doing just one thing right. Architects are at a disadvantage because they have to know a little bit about everything, and it doesnt always allow them to focus on flooring, Cottingham says. A flooring consultant serves as the point person, bringing the various groups of decision makers together and helping streamline the process. Typically, flooring consultants charge between 0. Hence, consulting fees for a 1. York Community High School in suburban Elmhurst, Ill. We felt we needed an independent voice, rather than picking a surface based on who had the best marketing materials, says Patricia Sumrow, assistant superintendent for Yorks Community School District 2. After hiring Duffy Mahoney of Carmel, Ind. Duff Athletic Design, the York team realized that they had been focusing on competition, but that was actually the fifth most important issue, after the field house floors use for practice, physical education, community use and gatherings such as graduations. According to Mahoney, his first task is to analyze the overall usage plan and design of the facility, looking at safety, spectator issues and configuration. Next, he educates clients on the range of products. With York I started with about 3. Tower of Babel on some of the product information, Mahoney says. Next, he pinpointed about a half dozen field houses for the York team to tour for comparison. That helped the team better eye up the situation. Facility planners who have neither the budget nor the inclination to work with a sports surface consultant can explore the alternative of a ready made package plan. An increasing number of firms offer design build services for sports facilities, where they offer a prepackaged program of set flooring options. A prepackaged program of good, better and best spaces can be offered, with all the design and materials choices already made. A Comparison of the Four Major Types of Sports Flooring. Area elastic sports floor. Resilient, deflection resistant floor with large deformation control area. Combined sports floor. Area elastic floor with point elastic top layer. At the load distribution layer, the deformation control layer is large, at the top layer it is tightly adapted to the load bearing area. Mixed sports floor. Resilient, supple floor with area reinforcing component. The deformation control area is small but clearly exceeding the load bearing area. Point elastic sports floor. Resilient, supple floor with a deformation control area tightly adapted to the load bearing area. Note Independent of the manufacturer specific properties, there are basically two types of sports floors area elastic and point elastic. In between, you find various hybrid forms of combined and mixed constructions. The difference shows in their deformation properties and the resulting consequences on their suitability to the project at hand. Diagrams Courtesy Of HARO sports. The physics of floors.
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