The park­ing grille is a solu­tion that is becom­ing increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar in both pri­vate and pub­lic spaces. It is not only aes­thet­i­cal­ly pleas­ing and func­tion­albut also eco­log­i­calThis is because it pre­serves the nat­ur­al per­me­abil­i­ty of the soil and reduces the urban heat island effect. How­ev­er, in order for the grille pave­ment to last and per­form its func­tion, it is cru­cial to install them cor­rect­ly. In this arti­cle, we will pro­vide a detailed guide to the instal­la­tion of park­ing grates RecRoadto help avoid mis­takes and ensure the best results.

Site preparation — the first and crucial step

Every suc­cess­ful project starts with prop­er site prepa­ra­tion. Before you start the instal­la­tion grilles, the sub­strate should be care­ful­ly assessed and the area to be hard­ened marked out.

What should be done before the work starts?

1. Deter­mi­na­tion of pave­ment load
   - If the pave­ment is only to be used for pedes­tri­ans or cyclists, the sub­struc­ture can be less demand­ing.
   - If it will be used as a car park, a more sol­id sub­struc­ture is required.
   - For heavy vehi­cles (e.g. vans or fire engines), the sub­struc­ture needs to be even more robust.
2. Deter­mi­na­tion of plot bound­aries
   - Use stakes and string to mark out the area where the grids will be laid.
   - It is also worth not­ing where the grilles will need to be trimmed.
3. Removal of top­soil
   - The soil should be exca­vat­ed to a depth of 20 to 50 cm, depend­ing on the load that will act on the pave­ment.
   - Remove any bumps, roots or oth­er obsta­cles that could affect the sta­bil­i­ty of the pave­ment.

Preparing the substructure — the key to durability

The sub­struc­ture is one of the most impor­tant ele­ments that deter­mines the dura­bil­i­ty and strength of a pave­ment made of park­ing grat­ings.

What layers should the substructure contain?

1. Sep­a­ra­tion lay­er (geo­t­ex­tile)
   - Pre­vents mix­ing of soil and aggre­gate lay­ers, increas­ing the dura­bil­i­ty of the sub­struc­ture.
   - It helps to sta­bilise the pave­ment and improves its load-bear­ing capac­i­ty.
2. Base course — larg­er aggre­gate frac­tion (30–60 mm)
   - Spread a thick lay­er of aggre­gate (e.g. bal­last, grav­el) to a depth of approx. 10–40 cm depend­ing on the antic­i­pat­ed load.
   - This lay­er should be com­pact mechan­i­cal­ly using a vibra­to­ry tamp­ing machine.
3. Lev­el­ling lay­er — fine aggre­gate (2–8 mm)
   - The fol­low­ing should be poured onto the sub­struc­ture fin­er mate­r­i­al (e.g. sand or grav­el)which will allow bet­ter lev­el­ling of the pave­ment.

Step-by-step installation of the RecRoad by Sammler parking grate

Once the site has been prop­er­ly pre­pared, the instal­la­tion of the park­ing grilles them­selves can begin.

How are the grilles properly laid out?

1. Start lay­ing from the cor­ner of the sur­face
   - It is advis­able to lay the grilles in rows, mov­ing pro­gres­sive­ly deep­er into the des­ig­nat­ed area.
   - Grilles RecRoad have spe­cial hooks that make them easy to con­nect.
2. Match­ing grilles to the shape of the sur­face
   - If nec­es­sary, the grilles can be trimmed using a hand­saw or cir­cu­lar saw.
3. Pave­ment sta­bil­i­ty con­trol
   - Make sure the grilles lie even­ly and are well con­nect­ed — loose com­po­nents may cause the struc­ture to move.

Grid infill — grass or aggregate?

Once the grids are in place, they should be prop­er­ly fill outto ful­fil their func­tion.

Option 1: grass infill

✔ Fill the grids with fer­tile soil and sow grass.
✔ Choose seeds that are resis­tant to tram­pling.
✔ Water inten­sive­ly for the first few weeks to allow the grass to take root.

Option 2: aggregate fill

✔ You can use grav­el, grit or fine bal­last.
✔ Fill in the grids even­ly and then thick­en slight­ly.
✔ The aggre­gate is more resis­tant to heavy traf­fic.

Finalization and maintenance of the pavement

Once the instal­la­tion is com­plete, it is worth tak­ing care of the final com­paction and lev­el­ling sur­faces.

What else is worth doing?

✔ For the lawn — water and mow reg­u­lar­ly.
✔ On grav­el pave­ment — fill in any defects.
✔ Check the con­di­tion of the grilles every few months.

Why install parking grilles correctly?

The cor­rect instal­la­tion of park­ing grilles ensures sta­bil­i­ty, dura­bil­i­ty and aes­thet­ics of the pave­ment for many years. By prop­er­ly prepar­ing the sub­strate and pre­cise­ly fill­ing the grids, a robust and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly solu­tion can be cre­at­ed that works well on pri­vate prop­er­ties as well as in pub­lic spaces.

Advan­tages of prop­er­ly installed paving:

✅ Bet­ter water man­age­ment, no pud­dles or flood­ing.
✅ Greater dura­bil­i­ty and resis­tance to heavy loads.
✅ Less sur­face degra­da­tion and need for repairs.
✅ Aes­thet­i­cal­ly pleas­ing appear­ance and pos­si­bil­i­ty of pre­serv­ing greenery.Thanks to prod­ucts such as RecRoad instal­la­tion of grilles is sim­ple, fast and effec­tiveand the final sur­face — durable and func­tion­al.