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Drain-Crete can: 

Lower Costs
Drain-Crete can greatly reduce both initial and long-term project costs. It reduces initial costs by eliminating the need for stormwater management systems that are expensive to construct and maintain. 

Unlike asphalt, Drain-Crete is low maintenance, and has the same long life cycle as concrete—20 to 40 years. 

This means that in the long run you will save money on repairing and replacing your pavement. 

Like other concrete pavements, Drain-Crete also reflects light better than darker pavements. This difference in reflectivity can mean more long-term savings: studies have found that using concrete pavements can cut lighting costs by up to 30%. 

Save Space
Drain-Crete helps developers use land more efficiently. No runoff means no need for retention ponds, swales, storm sewers and other stormwater management devices. 

As a result, space is preserved or made available for parking, green space, storefronts, homes and other uses. 

Protect the Environment
Drain-Crete is a pervious concrete mix— that means rain flows right through it into the soil. This means that it replenishes groundwater, eliminates runoff into local watersheds, and satisfies EPA regulatory requirements. But Drain-Crete’s environmental advantages don’t end there: 


• Trees love it—it allows more air and water to get to their roots.
• Together with the underlying soil, it filters out water-borne pollutants.
• Drain-Crete reflects light and heat, so it reduces the heat island effect  by decreasing ambient temperatures and the need for lighting.

Pervious concrete is one of the best management practices recommended by the EPA—and by other agencies and geotechnical engineers across the country—for managing stormwater runoff.

Pervious Concrete Workshop

On December 9th, 2008, Chaney Enterprises and the Maryland Ready Mix Concrete Association hosted an engineering workshop for Pervious Concrete. Below are the videos, podcasts, PowerPoints and handouts.

Pervious Concrete Workshop Presentations

Speaker	Video	Podcast	PowerPoint	Hand Outs
John Strong, Huron Consulting Poolsville Town Hall Case Study (35 minutes)				n/a
Rod Meyers, BASF Pervious Concrete Specifications and Testing (63 minutes)				n/a
Matt Cockerham, North Star Foundations (36 minutes)				n/a
Martin Covington, Carroll County Government Storm Water Runoff – Regulations, Calculations & Implementation (36 minutes)
Stuart Schwartz, UMBC Storm Water Runoff – Regulations, Calculations & Implementation (25 minutes)			n/a
David Mitchell, Bunyan Industries Pervious Concrete Mix Designs (58 minutes)
Questions and Answers After a deomonstration pour, we had a short, informal time of just questions and answers. (60 minutes)			n/a	n/a

Where can Drain-Crete be used?
Drain-Crete is ideal for parking lots, driveways, walkways, patios, and residential roads. It can also be used for golf cart paths, inside greenhouses, and erosion control. 

How strong is Drain-Crete?
Despite its permeability, it can achieve strengths in excess of 3500 psi and flexural strengths of more then 500 psi. That makes it stronger than porous asphalt and as strong as many conventional concrete mixes. 

How much maintenance does a Drain-Crete pavement require? 
Barring installation or design problems, it will last 20–40 years with little or no maintenance. In most locations, periodic vacuuming or pressure washing may be needed to remove surface debris. 

How thick should Drain-Crete pavement be?
Pavement that doesn’t get any vehicle traffic can be as thin as 4 inches.  Pavement commonly used by vehicles as heavy as garbage trucks, delivery trucks or cargo vans should be 6–9 inches thick. 

How about freeze-thaw issues?
A Drain-Crete pavement is 15%–25% air, so there’s plenty of space for water to expand if it freezes. Drain-Crete should be placed on a drainable rock base to guard against saturation. 

Can Drain-Crete be colored?
Yes, Drain-Crete can be any color you can imagine! It can also be paired with other forms of pavement, such as stamped concrete, to create unique designs and a customized stormwater management system.