River Mattresses

Products Offered

Gabion baskets or river mattresses are offered Class A galvanized or together with a PVC coating to prevent corrosion of the steel wire.

Hexagonal woven mesh netting is offered and used over mattresses for large areas and for rock-fall mesh netting.

Geotextiles are normally used with gabion baskets to prevent/limit movement of soil particles through or underneath the gabion structure.

Gabion tool sets are offered to make the site installation task easier and more productive.

Biodegradeable soil blankets are permeable fabrics used to prevent soil erosion.

Impermeable liners are membranes which can be used to make gabions impermeable to water.

Gabion Baskets
Specifications

Our baskets are made from Class A galvanized mild tensile steel wire in accordance with the SANS 675 specification. The baskets and mattresses are manufactured in strict accordance with the SANS 1580 and site installations are also in accordance with the latest SANS 1200 specification.

Gabions

Our mesh is hexagonal in shape meeting with the 80x100 mm mesh aperture for gabions with a mesh wire diameter of 2.7mm and selvedge wire of 3.4mm diameter.

River Mattresses

Mattresses also have a hexagonal mesh spec. of 80x100mm with 2.5mm mesh wire and 3.0mm selvedge wire diameter.

All gabions and mattresses use a 2.20mm wire diameter lacing wire which is supplied with the baskets and used to lace together the mesh panels during the erection process.

Mattresses and gabion baskets are also available with a 0.5mm thickness P.V.C. coating to enhance the resistance of the baskets to corrosion of the wire mesh. This provides a overall increase in diameter of 1mm to all wires used in the manufacturing process.

Standard Sizes

The sizes offered are shown below together with their volumes, we can make other sizes where required or necessary.

Gabion Baskets

All measurements are in metres, (length x width x height)

1x1x1        -            1m³

2x1x1        -            2m³

3x1x1        -            3m³

4x1x1        -            4m³

2x1x0.5     -            1m³

3x1x0.5     -            1.5m³

4x1x0.5     -            2m³

6x2x0.5     -            6m³

1.5x1x1     -            1.5m³

2x0.5x0.5  -            0.5m³

River Mattresses

2x1x0.3     -           0.6m³

3x1x0.3     -           0.9m³

4x1x0.3     -           1.2m³

6x2x0.17   -           2.04m³

6x2x0.23   -           2.76m³

6x2x0.30   -           3.60m³

Rock Specification

In accordance with SANS 1200, the rock must be unweathered, and can be tested for it¡¯s suitability using the weathering or durability tests. The rock size should meet the following requirements;

Gabion baskets

Using 80x100mm mesh
Min. 100 - 250mm Maximum size

River Mattresses

Using 80x100mm mesh
Min. 100 ¨C 2 thirds of mattress depth

A minimum density of 2.6ton/m3 is required ¨C normally allow 1.5tons of rock per 1m3 of gabion and approximately 20% for wastage or fines depending on the quality of supply from the commercial rock source(quarry).

Geotextiles
We recommend the use of an appropriate geotextile placed behind and below the gabion structure at all gabion/soil interfaces. This prevents subsidence behind or below the baskets once fast flowing waters pass through the structure.

A 300mm overlap must be allowed at all joins of the geotextile, and we suggest a product with a minimum mass of 200g/m2. It must allow the passage of water through the material and hold back all fine soil particles.

Tool Sets
The tool set consists of the following items to assist in erecting the gabion structures, it is not however a prerequisite to have these tools.

Combination pliers

A wrecking bar

Gabion tensioner

Gabion frame

Tensioning Frame

Leather gloves

A Stanley knife

Fencing standards

Biodegradeable Soil Blankets

These blankets are used to promote vegetation growth and help retain the top soil that is vital to protecting the earth against soil erosion. They are used to keep the soil moist and cool during the initial plant growing phase and to encourage growth before the soil is transported. Both the woven and non-woven blankets are eco-friendly and degrade into the soil over time.

Impermeable Liners

The liners are used to make the gabion or mattress impermeable to water and keep the backfill materials dry. They are normally placed between a geotextile and the backfill soil so that they are not damaged during the filling operation of the gabion structure.Because of it's flexible, tough and durable nature it combines well with gabion structures instead of using conventional soil stabilisation methods.