Geotextiles in design - review

Geotextiles are special fabrics made for use in 'geological' situations. They are rot-proof and permeable to water. Geotextiles can be woven or non-woven, heavy duty or light duty, black, white or coloured.

The horticultural uses of geotextiles (known as landscape fabric or horticultural fabric) include:

• prevention of weed growth with geotextiles: 'a weed control fabric', often by placing a geotextile layer on top of bare soil and then covering it with a mulch
• moisture conservation with geotextiles, again by placing the geotextile above the soil and applying a mulch above
• a filter layer (eg beneath a vegetated roof)
• a weed control layer (eg beneath a gravel path)

Their civil engineering uses of geotextiles include:

• a geotextile filter-fabric, in road construction
• geotextiles prevent drainage systems from clogging with fine particles
• erosion control with geotextiles
• geotextiles are used as soil reinforcement agents and as a filter medium in road construction.

Geotextiles are made of synthetic fibers manufactured in a woven or loose nonwoven manner to form blanket-like products.