We are now PICP Certified!

What in the world is PICP?

PICP stands for Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement.  The keyword here is "Permeable."  It is a paver pavement system where the pavers have larger joints in between each piece, and the joints are filled with small #8 or #9 stone instead of sand.  But, that's not all you need for a permeable pavement, you also need the proper stone base construction underneath.

Here's how the system works:  Water enters the joints between solid concrete permeable or "eco" pavers and flows through an "open-graded" base, i.e. crushed stone layers with no small or fine particles. The void spaces among the crushed stones store water and infiltrate it back into the soil subgrade. The stones in the joints provide 100% surface permeability and the base filters storm water and reduces pollutants.  For more information, visit our web page on Stormwater Management.

That's a pretty simple explanation for a huge solution to our storm water runoff/pollution problems here in the United States.  One thing that I have never quite understood is why our country doesn't pay more attention to what other countries are doing to handle their storm water problems.

In October of 2012, my daughter Moriah and I traveled to Nicaragua on a missions trip with our church.  We loved every moment of experiencing life in a different country and culture.  Being a hardscape contractor, one of the first things I noticed were all of the paver parking lots and roadways...like everywhere.  We were there at the end of their rainy season so we experienced torrential tropical downpours everyday like I've never seen before.  It was crazy rain....like 7" in one hour and all of the streets flooded...but drained very quickly.  Why?  Because most of their parking lots and many roadways (except main highways) are pavers, so the pavers allow the water to infiltrate the soil instead of just running off the surface like asphalt and concrete.

So, interestingly enough, a former employee and special friend of mine--Jen Wean--contacted me last week and shared a picture she took of some guys laying pavers in Shanghai.  You see, Jen used to lay pavers with us while she was just starting her career as a pilot more than 15 years ago.  (Today she flies those big jets all across the world...that's why she was in Shanghai.)  So, again, this got me to thinking about why pavers are being installed all over the world, even in third-world countries, but the industry is really just in its infant stages here in the U.S.  Yes, paver patios and walkways are pretty popular in residential markets, but permeable pavement is the next biggest change to come our way.

That's why Tom and I decided that it was very important for us to pursue the ICPI certification for PICP installation.

The first step in becoming certified is you must be an ICPI Certified Installer...and that's Tom.  He has carried the ICPI Certified Installer designation since 2002.  In order to become ICPI certified, you must have hand's on experience in this field, and you must take a two-day course and pass a written test with a score of 70% or higher.  

The next step in becoming PICP certified, which is a fairly new component of ICPI, is again participating in a two-day class and taking the test.  Although I personally cannot carry the full PICP designation at this time (because I'm not ICPI certified), I still went along to take the course for the additional knowledge that will help me when estimating and designing PICP systems.  We both took the course and passed the test.  I must say that I am pretty proud of myself...I got a 96 (I'm such an overachiever...I was afraid I would fail...just wish I knew what the two questions were that I missed!  LOL).  So, that was step 2 of the process.  

The final step, in order to get the full PICP designation from ICPI, will happen when Tom has installed a combination of 10 PICP projects totaling 50,000 sf of PICP.  At this point, we have installed one PICP driveway in historic Shepherdstown, West Virginia, for a total of 2,000 sf (see picture below)...we have a little ways to go.  So, is there anyone out there who wants to help our local environment by removing asphalt and replacing it with permeable pavers?  If so, Kingdom Landscaping is the company to hire for PICP.

Enjoy life and protect our environment while enjoying it!

--Jodi Tyler