Landscape fabrics come in many materials and weaves. To the untrained eye they may all look the same and be perceived to perform the same. However, there are some significant differences between fabrics that can impact performance, longevity, price and application suitability.
Woven landscape fabric is woven as opposed to knit or assembled using another non-woven method such as bonding fibers together through a heat treatment process. Woven fabric uses a cross weave where yarn goes over and then under and then over and then under, etc perpendicular pieces of yarn. Woven fabrics are typically:
- very strong
- have a high tensile strength
- not as effecient as non-woven fabrics when it comes to water flow through rate (e.g drainage).
With that said woven fabrics are great for heavy duty hardscape and construction projects where stabilization and reinforcement is required and drainage is less critical. It's also great as a floor covering in nurseries.
Take a look at some of our woven fabrics here.
Non-woven fabric come in different formats such as knit, needle-punched, and thermally bonded fabrics.
Most other landscape fabrics that aren't woven, are either needle-punched and/or thermally bonded fabrics. Effectively these fabrics are composed of different sized fibers that are randomly spun together in to a flat web. These fabrics usually have a heat or heat and pressure treatment applied to them either in an area or on specific points (point bonded) throughout the fabric. These types of non-woven fabrics are porous and have some flexibility. Because of the pores, non-woven fabric is great for drainage and filtering applications.
Both woven and non-woven can be used for soil separation and weed mitigation so for basic landscaping applications your decision making may come down to tensile strength and water flow-through abilities.
Take a look at some of our non-woven fabrics here.
Knit fabrics are made of a single continuous yarn looped together. This method typically provides superior stretch to the other fabrics above but may not be as durable because if the yarn is damaged, there is risk to the whole fabric unraveling. Knit fabrics are great as tarps or shade cloth for residential, commercial and agricultural use.
Take a look at some of our knit fabrics here.
If you need help in determining what type of fabric you need for your application, contact us today.