Laying out drainage on horizontal surfaces presents many issues. Narrow rolls of drainboard require a lot of weighting to keep them from lifting in the wind or rolling back up because of material memory. This means higher labor costs for rolling out small rolls to cover large areas. Weights reduce open work areas, reducing productivity.
Conventional drainboards have been commoditized, driving manufacturers to cost-savings efforts that include using cheaper geotextiles and compromised performance. As a result, incidents of clogging have increased. Additionally, these cheaper geotextiles have less resistance to soil pressure after backfilling, which causes a reduction in drainage space and, therefore, a reduction in drainage rates.