prjindigo: basement flooding is caused by poor eaves and bad drainage around a poorly constructed basement, not by pavement.

People just can't avoid opening their mouths to spout out stupidity.


If you have regular soil, where the rain can be absorbed, then you have to have a substantial deluge before you have the problem of flooding. If you get a light rain on a concrete or asphalt surface that has a minor grading issue, and you will have a basement full of water, irrespective of the condition of the basement. Not to mention that with a paved surface 100% of it has to go down a drain of some sort, which the city has to deal with, which costs tax money to maintain.

So paved surfaces = water drainage concerns that need to be monitored and maintained constantly. Unpaved soil and plants = only occasional water drainage issues and minimal maintenance. If you don't need paved surfaces, don't put them in.

Why anyone would have a paved back yard is beyond me. Would have all the charm of a prison yard.

asphalt has a low r-value and absorbs a lot of heat energy from the sun. All of this absorbed heat creates "heat islands" around urban areas. The article doesn't mention what the man will replace the asphalt with but there are many better alternatives that are permeable and adsorb less of the sun's energy. Including grass-crete, pavers, or old fashioned concrete ribbon driveways.

Honest Bender: According to Ringeling, 77 percent of Somerville land is paved, which he said creates environmental and basement flooding problems because of storm water runoff poor civic planning.

If your city was built a little better, you'd have sufficient systems in place to handle runoff without flooding the neighborhood.


City managers of 40 years ago never imagined anyone would be so stupid as to pave their back yards, and the damage that causes to drainage infrastructure prematurely ages the sewers and drains, meaning their maximum flow capacity goes down, and replacing drainage systems is perhaps the most expensive thing a city can do, so they always leave it to the absolute last minute before doing it.

Allen. The end.: Lots of biatching on this thread. Sounds like some people got together, had a good time, and ripped up a driveway. What's your problem?

Oh yeah, the "liberal environmentalist agenda". Shut up.

Thread over. Getting together and working on something for the common good helps make a community. So what if it's isn't perfect?

Much better to snark about it than do anything constructive.

buzzcut73: Sounds like John got a bunch of free labor by calling it an environmental project.

Modern day Huck Finn getting a bunch of suckers to white wash the fence.

It's time to back to the old ways

Contracted a hit on John two days later when news reached the home office of this treachery to the asphalt business.

fzumrk: Meanwhile, at Walmart:
[i47.tinypic.com image 624x417]

The article didn't say what he was going to replace his driveway with. If he puts down gravel, that is only slightly better than the pavement from a storm water runoff standpoint. If he leaves bare earth he's going to get erosion and sediment in his storm water runoff, which is bad. Also, where is that asphalt going, a landfill? He would probably have less of an environmental impact if he left the pavement and put in a storm water detention pond instead.

What's a detention pond? Is that where all the water is locked up for 25 to life because it's all wet?

What can you do with a yard that doesn't need constant care,yet isn't concrete or tar?

Obligatory

MBrady: fzumrk: Meanwhile, at Walmart:
[i47.tinypic.com image 624x417]

The article didn't say what he was going to replace his driveway with. If he puts down gravel, that is only slightly better than the pavement from a storm water runoff standpoint. If he leaves bare earth he's going to get erosion and sediment in his storm water runoff, which is bad. Also, where is that asphalt going, a landfill? He would probably have less of an environmental impact if he left the pavement and put in a storm water detention pond instead.

What's a detention pond? Is that where all the water is locked up for 25 to life because it's all wet?

In case you actually wanted a serious answer, a detention pond is a temporary storm water storage structure. They typically have an outlet that slows the flow of water leaving the site. The idea is to reduce the peak flow so that downstream drainage facilities do not get overloaded. A retention pond is slightly different in that it has no outlet. Water only leaves it via absorption into the ground or evaporation.

Ikahoshi: prjindigo: basement flooding is caused by poor eaves and bad drainage around a poorly constructed basement, not by pavement.

People just can't avoid opening their mouths to spout out stupidity.


If you have regular soil, where the rain can be absorbed, then you have to have a substantial deluge before you have the problem of flooding. If you get a light rain on a concrete or asphalt surface that has a minor grading issue, and you will have a basement full of water, irrespective of the condition of the basement. Not to mention that with a paved surface 100% of it has to go down a drain of some sort, which the city has to deal with, which costs tax money to maintain.

So paved surfaces = water drainage concerns that need to be monitored and maintained constantly. Unpaved soil and plants = only occasional water drainage issues and minimal maintenance. If you don't need paved surfaces, don't put them in.

Why anyone would have a paved back yard is beyond me. Would have all the charm of a prison yard.

There is more than one way for a basement to get flooded. Leakage of the walls from excess surface water as you have described is one common way. Another very common cause is a combined sanitary and storm sewer system backing up due to a heavy rainfall event. This causes water to back flow into basements from the floor drains or other drains. I think this is the type of flooding the homeowner in the article is worried about.

AngryTeacher: "A lot of times you don't get the chance to interact with your neighbors," Nutter, 40, said. "In this case, you have not just friends but your neighbors in your backyard. It's a really great idea."

What the hell? How about walking outside and saying hello to your neighbors. It's not that hard to get to know someone that lives next to you.

Her name is Nutter. How'd apropos.

He should re-pave his driveway with Pervious Concrete

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervious_concrete

It allows up to 400 inches/hour of rain to just go right through and into the soil. Ideally under the concrete is a thick layer of gravel so that the water has someplace to settle so that the concrete doesn't get saturated during the freezing times. The freeze/thaw cycle can be a biatch.

Doesn't the increased albedo of pavement vs. dirt help mitigate global warming?

Chunky Pumpkinhead: asphalt has a low r-value and absorbs a lot of heat energy from the sun. All of this absorbed heat creates "heat islands" around urban areas.

This.

Phoenix would be hot without all its asphalt; with the asphalt, it's several degrees warmer than it otherwise would be.

\Phoenix sucks balls for countless reasons
\\asphalt is just one

"It comes off like frosting on a cake." How the Fark am I supposed to realte to reference like that? I assume it means either easy or hard?

Can't wait for the followup story featuring code enforcement or HOA. Hahahaha

Lando Lincoln: way south: I don't get it either.
If runoff isn't controlled, especially in a large urban area, it can do some pretty severe damage.

/It dosen't seem like the kind of thing everyone should do.
/Urban planning and whatnot.

Runoff needs to be controlled if you have a lot of asphalt / concrete preventing water from being soaked up in the soil. Otherwise, no, you don't have "runoff." You have "soaked up."

The water doesnt just enter the ground and vanish. It joins the local water table and that flow can become a problem of its own if buildings are depositing wash in odd places. Nature will provide unplanned guts an lakes of its own with enough rain.

One driveway isn't a big deal, but dozens in a housing community can add up.

Lando Lincoln: way south: One driveway isn't a big deal, but dozens in a housing community can add up.

Then explain why they need to create retention ponds only where there are large areas of concrete and/or asphalt.

Because you've built an artificial structure on land where nature had its own ideas of where to put the guts and ponds. When the earth is disturbed and the bush is cleared to build houses and roads, the natural flow of water is redirected to unusual spots at faster rates. If you aren't paying attention then someone could come to find their car sitting in what God decided would be a great place for a lake.



This is the kind of thing that can happen as a result. Water went into the ground inland and came out of the ground at a bushed up gut that everyone forgot about. Taking a dozen cars with it (including one of mine).
One driveway isn't going to change much. But if a whole community builds on a site and leaves the new water table up to chance, bad things could happen.

This is what I want to do to my huge driveway:

Buffet: "It comes off like frosting on a cake." How the Fark am I supposed to realte to reference like that? I assume it means either easy or hard?

The better question is, what kind of frosting is he used to that comes off in hard chunks, like asphalt?

kobrakai: This is what I want to do to my huge driveway:

[thedailydelights.files.wordpress.com image 450x298]

Who want to mow the driveway?

/actually looks interesting