Permeable Paver Selector

If you take away one idea, make it this: grass pavers are for a green surface where turf grows up through the cells, while gravel pavers are for a firm stone surface where crushed gravel is locked into the cells. Both are permeable and both transfer vehicle weight down to a compacted base, but they create very different finished looks. Grass pavers suit overflow parking, fire lanes through landscaping, and turf areas that occasionally see vehicles. Gravel pavers suit driveways, parking lots, trails, and access roads where you want a stable, drivable stone surface that doesn't rut, wash, or migrate the way loose gravel does.

A rigid cellular grid is laid over a compacted aggregate base. The cells confine the fill and transfer vehicle loads down to the base course instead of letting tires displace the surface. At the same time, the open cell structure — and, on the gravel roll, an attached geotextile fabric — lets water infiltrate through to the ground rather than pooling on top or running off the edges. That combination is what makes the surface both drivable and permeable. The fabric on the EZ Roll gravel paver also separates the stone from the soil below, so the fill doesn't sink and disappear into the subgrade over time.

Rule of thumb: the grid doesn't replace a proper base. Match your base depth and compaction to the load, and the paver system keeps that surface flat, clean, and drivable with far less maintenance than loose gravel or bare turf.

Pick the product to the heaviest vehicle the surface will see. The two EZ Roll systems carry a compressive strength of 57,890 psf when empty, which covers the great majority of residential and light-commercial uses. For fire lanes, loading docks, and anywhere an H-20 vehicle such as a fire truck must travel, the rigid TuffTrack panel steps up to 81,744 psf.

Two questions decide your order: will it carry the load, and how much do I need? For base depth, a common minimum is a 6-inch compacted aggregate base for cars and light trucks and an 8-inch base for heavy loads like fire trucks, with grade limits depending on the load. Poor soils or repeated heavy traffic usually justify more depth. For coverage, an EZ Roll gravel paver roll covers about 577 square feet and the small 4' × 24' grass roll covers about 96 square feet. Divide the area you're paving by the coverage per roll, then add a small allowance for trimming and overlap.

Worked example: a 12-foot-wide by 80-foot-long gravel driveway is 960 square feet. At roughly 577 square feet per roll, you'd plan on two rolls plus a small trim allowance, over a 6-inch-plus compacted base, filled with clean angular stone.

Once the grid is installed and filled, EZ Marker domes snap into empty cells to lay out parking stalls, drive lanes, and fire lanes — no paint or striping needed. They're especially useful on overflow and event parking where you want clear guidance on a gravel or grass surface. EZ Markers are an add-on for a paver order, so when you build a match in the selector above you can add them right alongside your pavers.

Treat the job like a roadway section: excavate to depth, compact the subgrade, build and compact the aggregate base in lifts, then roll out the pavers with the fabric side down and anchor them so they don't shift during filling. Fill the cells with clean, angular stone (rounded pea gravel tends to migrate) — a common target is 3/8-inch clean crushed gravel — and top off so the grid is fully supported. Contain the edges with edging or a border to keep the surface tight over time, and the finished result drives like pavement while still looking like gravel or turf.