Installation Guidelines
Solmax's guideline for geotextile in drainage work, with a separate procedure for each application: French and trench drains, blanket drains, and fabric under rock on a bank.
The reason this guide is split by application is that the failure mode is different in each one. In a trench drain the fabric fails by getting punctured or by an overlap pulling open as the stone goes in. Under armour stone it fails on impact, from rock dropped rather than placed. Same fabric, different thing to watch.
The wrap detail on a French drain is the part most often done from memory and most often done wrong. The overlap has to land where it will be held closed by the weight of the backfill rather than pulled apart by it, and the guide is specific about which way that is.
Filtration is also the application where picking the fabric by weight alone gets people into trouble. What matters is the opening size against the soil it is filtering, and a heavier fabric is not automatically a safer choice. If you have a soil report and a spec and they do not obviously agree, call us before you order.
Road Fabrics stocks the Mirafi filtration range and the SKAPS equivalents. The cross-reference tool matches whatever number is on the plans, including the discontinued ones that still get copied into specs.
Tell us about your site and performance goals. Our team will match the right materials and installation approach, and get you a quote fast.
