ᐅ Gravel Borders Around the House and Paving Work: Pros and Cons

As a layperson: A dimple membrane is used to protect the foundation and is simply laid between the foundation and the gravel.
A basic version that is not fastened and does not require a visible edge strip is sufficient.
Any part that extends above the surface is cut off.
This is how it was done for us.

Regards, Yvonne

We also had a gravel strip installed. However, we chose to lay the curbstones flat instead of upright; they are still set in a concrete shoulder. This was more cost-effective than making the gravel strip wide enough to function as a walkway with upright curbstones. The walkway works well! Even in muddy weather, we can walk around the house with clean feet. And who wants to disturb a newly growing lawn at the beginning? However, I often see developer houses where the grass grows right up to the house.

We use trench drains (Bircorinnen) for drainage. It is important that they are not too short but cover the entire area, for example, the driveway, even if one meter less could probably handle the expected water volume. Better to have more trench drains than fewer; they are not expensive, and the installation crews are very familiar with them, so there is little risk of errors. The pipes must, of course, be laid underground beforehand, and the height of the surface finish must be known. If we had terrace doors without any threshold to the terrace floor, we would definitely install trench drains there as well as a precaution. However, the terrace floor should have a slope away from the house in any case.

Hope this helps you, best regards

Gabriele

Thank you very much in advance.
Yes, these are all just "small details" that you have to deal with.
Everything just needs to be done correctly.

ypg schrieb:
A dimpled membrane serves to protect the foundation and is simply laid between the foundation and the gravel.

In my opinion, the dimpled membrane protects the base or the plaster in the base area from mechanical damage caused by the gravel strip and from standing moisture at the gravel. The type of dimpled membrane probably doesn’t matter; the simplest standard product will do.

The curb set in concrete normally does not enclose the gravel strip against the house. The gravel strip is open at the bottom. Only with non-permeable soil (soil report) is additional drainage needed. In most cases, this will not be necessary. There is also usually some roof overhang.

Regarding the gutter, in my opinion, there isn’t much that can go wrong … just use the standard product from the civil engineer. In front of the patio door, choose stainless steel design covers at your discretion (sample them).

I would like to revisit this question... Is a drainage membrane strictly necessary between the soil/gravel and the concrete floor slab, even if the facade does not extend down to the gravel? I don't fully understand the purpose, since the water would then be against the drainage membrane and not directly on the concrete slab. Also, couldn’t water be pushed up from below between the drainage membrane and the base of the wall? Which product is best to use in this case?

First of all, the house base plus the lower two rows of Poroton or Ytong blocks in the shell construction should be sealed with two full coats instead of waterproof slurry. Then there is also a roof overhang that provides protection. Therefore, the dimpled membrane can be omitted. The interior floor is sealed against rising water with a bitumen waterproof membrane. Katsten