Grass Vs Gravel

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I keep seeing stories for the southwest about paying people to wipe out their lawns and lay gravel. I get that these are desert areas converted to cities with lawns and lawns take water, yadda, yadda, yadda....

But what about heat island effect? Doesn't gravel around a house retain heat and make a home harder to cool using more energy?

Maybe they're less concerned since power can be generated and water can't?

 

[dainthomas]

I keep seeing stories for the southwest about paying people to wipe out their lawns and lay gravel. I get that these are desert areas converted to cities with lawns and lawns take water, yadda, yadda, yadda....

But what about heat island effect? Doesn't gravel around a house retain heat and make a home harder to cool using more energy?

Maybe they're less concerned since power can be generated and water can't?

1. Not sure of the science on that, but dumping water on the ground doesn't seem like a great way to cool your house in the middle of the desert. And grass takes an f-ton of water.
2. There are plenty of non-gravel options to replace grass with. The first that comes to mind is native plants. They require little to no water once established. You could spread gravel or some kind of bark mulch between them and it would look great. (This is what I'm doing and I don't even live in a desert).

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^ It isn't spraying water on the ground. It's something to disperse heat. Organic matter does that better than solid matter.

Even here where drought is not a major issue, my grass is brown and crunchy now due to lack of rain for a few weeks. We have altering wet and dry periods, but not years long droughts. Stepping on turf in bare feet, as dry as it is, is less hot than stepping on concrete or gravel. It's 95 today and I don't have the air on right now. Part of that is because the entire area around the house is not baked the way it would be without grass.

 

[Brainonska511]

The ground itself doesn't trap a lot of heat. It's the paved surfaces that really do the most for heat islands. Ripping out grass and replacing with native shrubs and bushes is a fine thing to do.

 

[snoopy7548]

IMO nothing beats chocolate rocks.

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Our milk chocolate multi-colored chocolate rocks are designed to look like small river rocks but are actually chocolate! Great for parties.

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[IronWing]

Most effective steps to cool a house in the desert:
1) Build a smaller house (most important single thing one can do), single story.
2) Paint the roof white.
3) Paint the walls white.
4) Plant native vegetation to shade the walls. Even low vegetation works.
5) Build the house with extended eves or covered porch on the south face.
6) Build a squarish house or orient the long walls running east - west and the shorter walls running north - south. This is counter-intuitive but the walls heat up more in the low angle sunlight of the morning and afternoon. During the height of the day, the eves or porch protect the southern exposure.
7) For hard surfaces, white concrete is way more better than asphalt.
8) Modern A/C is more efficient than swamp coolers (he grudgingly admits). Put the compressor/condenser unit on the roof if possible to dissipate the heat away from the house walls and yard.
9) Lawns suck. They add humidity and mold with almost no cooling effect for the house.

 

[nakedfrog]

I think I'll trust our resident desert-dwelling rockhound's take on this.

 

[Scarpozzi]

2. There are plenty of non-gravel options to replace grass with. The first that comes to mind is native plants. They require little to no water once established. You could spread gravel or some kind of bark mulch between them and it would look great. (This is what I'm doing and I don't even live in a desert).

I would just mimic what the neighbors do assuming you're in a neighborhood. A lot of home shows show people going the artificial turf route so they have something soft to walk on outdoors that doesn't promote weed/unwanted plant growth.

My understanding is the biggest disadvantage to desert soil is that the soil can be compact in places and rain storms can cause flash floods. Rock around your house is great for drainage if you're on a high ground and don't have to worry about rain carrying the rock off (2" gravel or smaller). In the East, I've seen people really screw up by using rock in the wrong places.

 

[skyking]

Most effective steps to cool a house in the desert:
1) Build a smaller house (most important single thing one can do), single story.
2) Paint the roof white.
3) Paint the walls white.
4) Plant native vegetation to shade the walls. Even low vegetation works.
5) Build the house with extended eves or covered porch on the south face.
6) Build a squarish house or orient the long walls running east - west and the shorter walls running north - south. This is counter-intuitive but the walls heat up more in the low angle sunlight of the morning and afternoon. During the height of the day, the eves or porch protect the southern exposure.
7) For hard surfaces, white concrete is way more better than asphalt.
8) Modern A/C is more efficient than swamp coolers (he grudgingly admits). Put the compressor/condenser unit on the roof if possible to dissipate the heat away from the house walls and yard.
9) Lawns suck. They add humidity and mold with almost no cooling effect for the house.

Add in Ground source heat pump to your list. Trying to push heat into ~55 degree soil is a whole lot easier than 115 degree air. Put in oversized loop fields in extreme conditions.

EDIT: The thread title threw me at first. Gravel runways are better in the winter months, but they do chip the paint on the leading edge of the tail. They wear the tires quickly.
Grass is best for tire wear but can be really interesting when soggy.