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Hanes Geotextile Fabrics
Hanes Geo Components is the leading supplier of erosion control, storm water compliance, revegetation and geosynthetic solutions for the civil construction industry.
As a division of Leggett & Platt, Hanes Geo benefits from the resources and support of a global, engineered products manufacturer. HGC is the established, nationwide resource of product knowledge and supply. With our success largely dependent on how well we partner with customers - HGC is committed to providing the best products, customer service and price available anywhere.
For more info on these types of fabric visit the Ultimate Guide to Geotextiles >
Are Woven & Nonwoven Geotextile Fabrics Really That Different?
Anyone who has worked on a hardscape project knows how valuable landscaping fabrics are. Landscaping fabrics reinforce and separate while providing excellent drainage and filtration for their projects. Even though not all fabrics are good for all applications in a given project, there are things you need to take into consideration when choosing the right fabric for the right reason. To begin with, understanding the differences between woven and nonwoven fabrics will help you choose the product that will work best for your project.
Woven and nonwoven geotextiles have their own strengths and weaknesses. One fabric might be the better choice over the other for a given application and vice-versa. They might have similar properties, but what they offer can be very different because they do not perform the same way. This is based on their properties and what they can offer for a given application.
Laying Out Geo Fabric
The Different Landscape Fabrics
Geotextiles offer separation, reinforcement, filtration, and drainage. This is very important for subgrade materials that are saturated throughout the majority of the year or have many freeze-and-thaw events in the winter months. It's important for the subgrade material to separate from the base material to prevent the movement of the soil into the base material. The upward subgrade soil movement to the base material comes from the weight the pavement delivers. Think about it this way, when you step in mud, your foot becomes the load pushing down on the mud, causing it to shift upward and horizontally. When using geotextile, the stabilization of the base material will spread out over a larger area because the geotextile is tighter providing tensile strength to the base material.
The properties found in geotextiles will let water disperse over a large area for better control of water draining. With proper drainage, water will freely flow through the geotextile fabric.
Before choosing the best geotextile for your project, there are a few things you need to know including the two kinds of geotextiles and how they should be used.
Woven geotextile fabric is used for heavier dynamic and static projects such as driveways for additional reinforcement to the base by spreading the load over a larger range.
When the subsoil is soft and unstable, water will not penetrate through the subgrade so woven geotextile is probably not the fabric of choice. Re-think, that does not mean that drainage is unimportant for the project. Drainage is always an important factor so if you are not getting the right drainage and have decided to go with woven geotextile, you will have to install a drainage system using perforated or solid pipes along with drains to collect water and then draw it out of the system. If you don't, the water will form a reservoir that will eventually lead to several problems down the road.
Non-woven fabric is made from polypropylene fibers that are connected randomly throughout. Due to the small size of the fibers, this fabric will have the feel of a felt material. When installed, the non-woven fabric will offer filtration, separation, and drainage. There are various non-woven fabrics available and the strength of the fabric is approximately 80 to 90 lbs grab tensile strength (varies beyond this range for lighter or heavier varieties) and over that, it qualifies for hardscape installation under interlock and retaining wall as well as landscape drainage projects.
Woven and non-woven geotextiles are different due to their drainage and reinforcement designs. Nonwoven is a water-penetrable landscape fabric. The drainage properties of the non-woven fabric will go beyond woven geotextile fabric, making it the chosen product for areas requiring good drainage. This can be important when having to separate bacteria from one element to another while allowing water to drain similar to French drains. Nonwoven fabric is made up of a perforated drain pipe enclosed by a stone and then encased with non-woven fabric. The process will allow water to filter through the fabric without material being left behind. The same method is applied to hardscape.
Another avenue for hardscape is using a concrete overlay, similar to that of non-woven fabric. The base of the concrete overlay is a very hard material that will not require stabilization or reinforcement. It is required that any water entering the system must drain through and then filter out of the system. This is one reason why nonwoven geotextile fabric is highly recommended. Also, a nonwoven geotextile is normally a retaining wall fabric but a woven geotextile can be used for the foundation as well.
The sole purpose for using the top section and the lateral of the fabric is separation, filtration, and drainage, not reinforcement. In turn, when the water is allowed to penetrate through the backfilled area of the wall it will drain without displacing the subgrade and soil material into the backfill material.
Installing Landscape Fabric
Know How To Use Landscape Fabric
When installing geotextile, the process is known as shingling, which we will get into shortly. The minimum overlap from one piece to another is 12 inches but this will increase as the subgrade becomes softer. The pieces should be shingled away from the foundation. In other words, sections from the foundation must be placed under the next section. Water will travel from one section to the next section while shifting further away from the foundation while not landing under a section of fabric.
The geotextile is then rolled out and cut but each piece must be in tension and all wrinkles must be removed before placing gravel on top and preparing the base.
Be careful how much fabric you cut. You need to install the fabric so it will wrap up the sides of the project to improve the separation of the subgrade from the sides into the base material.
Unloading Gravel on Geo Fabric
Separating the subgrade from the base material has great benefits. When material is put under pressure it has a habit of moving horizontally and the material under pressure from the load will move upward. Separating the subgrade under the tension of the geotextile will stop the upward motion of the subgrade to the base material because it will travel over larger areas. Horizontal movement of the subgrade from the sides into the base material will be prevented.
There are a number of benefits for installing geotextiles in your hardscape or landscape projects. There are some factors that must be considered when choosing the correct geotextile for your project. In this article, we will help you make the right choice for long-term hardscape or landscape projects.