ltoscano   3 days later

I think recycled plastic lumber (HDPE) is a better choice for the environment than TREX, which is a composite material. Check out this company: http://www.rpi2.com/homepg.html. Pressure-treated wood will also hold up well. If you have a drainage problem, though, letting the water through to the soil will still allow it to back up. Rainwater collection off the drainpipes would avoid some of the problem, teach the kids about conservation, and give you free water to use for maintaining the plantings.

cjmpathfinder   4 days later

Have you thought about decomposed granite? Once compacted and wet a few times in basically turns into a "soft concrete." In other words, the granite bonds together to create a hard scape. It's still permeable, but isn't loose like gravel. The advantage of DG is that it is significantly cheaper than any type of decking, and arguable a greener product than composites or HDPEs.

arisso_kaboom   8 days later

Just checked it out online. Sounds too good to be true. Can it hold up under a lot of use? Could it support chairs and tables perhaps?

ltoscano   21 days later

has its ADA accessibility been evaluated?

cjmpathfinder   22 days later

It can definately hold support chairs and tables. I'm not sure about high use, but it is commonly used in parks, so I would assume it holds up well and, again, would be cheap to add material/maintain. It is an ADA accessible material, but of course does need to be maintained over time, as any surface does. Apparently you can also add a stabilizer if you are worried about high traffic or want low maintenance. I don't know much about said stabilizers, but you can get it pre-mixed into DG as well. Adding stabilizer looks to cost about 3 times as much though.