Drainage fleece buying guide
Updated: 16 October 2026
You are standing over a trench, a stack of crates, or a patio base, and the amazon.co.uk title says membrane, fleece, and 100 gsm without an opening size or a puncture figure. This drainage fleece buying guide is the check before the price matters: a non-woven sheet, a width that lines the hole, and an area that still works after overlap. The cuts, the shelf prices in GBP, and the star lines sit on the [drainage fleece comparison](/hub/weed-control/drainage-fleece). The Products Compared editorial team updated this page on 16 October 2026 from those listings and from public UK merchant and standards notes. We did not run a lab test. If you buy through our links, a qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
You are standing over a trench, a stack of crates, or a patio base, and the amazon.co.uk title says membrane, fleece, and 100 gsm without an opening size or a puncture figure.
You are standing over a trench, a stack of crates, or a patio base, and the amazon.co.uk title says membrane, fleece, and 100 gsm without an opening size or a puncture figure. This drainage fleece buying guide is the check before the price matters: a non-woven sheet, a width that lines the hole, and an area that still works after overlap. The cuts, the shelf prices in GBP, and the star lines sit on the drainage fleece comparison. The Products Compared editorial team updated this page on 16 October 2026 from those listings and from public UK merchant and standards notes. We did not run a lab test. If you buy through our links, a qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Width | Stated weight | Cover area | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Spudulica Spudulica 1.1 m x 8 m trench fleece | 1.1 m | 100 gsm | 8.8 m² | 9.8 | about £29.55 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Spudulica Spudulica 2.25 m x 10 m soakaway piece | 2.25 m | Not stated | 22.5 m² | 9.0 | about £44.06 | View offer |
| Best value |  Spudulica Spudulica Caisse 2.25 m x 8 m | 2.25 m | 100 gsm | 18 m² | 9.0 | about £37.55 | View offer |
On this page
What you are actually buying
Drainage fleece in this set is a permeable non-woven geotextile. Water is meant to pass, and soil fines are meant to stay out of clean stone, a perforated pipe, or a soakaway crate. Geoworks points soakaways toward non-woven fabric for that reason. A woven weed membrane is built to block light under bark or gravel. Frost fleece is a plant cover, and the Lucky Reptile HF-100 is a terrarium sheet. Those products can share the word membrane on a packet and still fail as a trench liner.
A short French drain needs a felt that wraps the stone. Decorative gravel on a dry path needs a sheet that shades the soil. Using the weed sheet in the trench leaves the pipe open to silt. Using the white fleece under the gravel leaves the path open to light. The fork is on drainage fleece vs weed membrane.
BS EN 13252:2016 sets the characteristics required of geotextiles in drainage systems, including filtration and separation. A title that says 100 gsm does not, by itself, show that a cut meets that standard.
Weight, width, and area
Grams per square metre is a mass, not a flow rate and not a puncture grade. EasyMerchant treats about 100 gsm as a domestic starting point for French drains, crate wraps, and light sub-base separation. BuildWiz uses a similar band, about 80, 100, and 200 gsm, and moves you toward a heavier grade when the sheet can be punctured. Most garden cuts here claim 100 gsm. That claim is a merchant default you can check on the specification table. It is not a statement that the sheet meets BS 8661.
About 1.1 m suits a narrow trench or border. About 2.25 m suits a wider base or several crate faces. A trench 300 mm wide and 350 mm deep on each side is already about a metre of fabric before you fold a flap across the top. A 1.1 m strip can close that trench. It will not cover a 2 m patio in one piece.
Area comes after overlap. Install notes quote 150 mm, 200 mm, or 300 mm, and those figures belong to different details. If you follow a 300 mm overlap on an 8 m run, an 8 m cut does not finish an 8 m trench plus a return. The garden cuts here run from £26.02 for 6.75 m² to £44.06 for 22.5 m², roughly £2 to £4 per square metre. BuildWiz cites bulk 100 gsm nearer £0.78 to £1.56 per square metre on that merchant page. That bulk figure is not an amazon.co.uk price.
What these listings do not show
A proper drainage specification names opening size, water flow, and puncture resistance. AGS describes BS 8661:2019 as guidance with three profiles chosen from the ground and the job, not from a shop title. None of the garden listings in this set publish a CBR puncture figure or an opening size. You can compare width, stated weight, and area. You cannot rank them as stronger or more permeable from the titles.
On the 2.25 m by 10 m cut the specification table does not state a gsm, and a UK review reports a piece advertised around 100 gsm that arrived stamped Lotrak 80. Treat that cut as unconfirmed until you read the stamp on the fabric you receive. Titles that print 100 gsm in the specification table are at least consistent with their own page, which is a lower bar than a datasheet.
Reviewers describe boxed pieces rather than trade rolls, and one review of the 1.1 m by 10 m cut measured it short of 10 m, so check the length before you cut it to the trench. A small cut is dearer per square metre because you are paying for a folded parcel, not because the fleece is a heavier grade. If the job is a trafficked driveway, or a soakaway that building control will see, ask for a product that publishes tensile strength and puncture figures.
A short checklist
Decide the job before you open the price table. If water and silt are the problem, stay with non-woven drainage fleece. If weeds under bark are the problem, leave this category. If the product is a reptile hydro fleece at £8.99 and about 100 cm by 50 cm, leave it in the vivarium.
Then measure. Choose about 1.1 m when the developed width of the trench, including both sides and a closing flap, fits that strip. Choose about 2.25 m when you are covering a wider base or wrapping more than one crate face. Add the overlap from the guide you are following, and buy the next area up if the join would land short.
Read the specification table, not only the title. If gsm is missing, do not fill the gap yourself. If the base will carry vehicles, buy a sheet with a datasheet rather than a 100 gsm claim alone. Which cut matches a trench, a crate, or a wider base is on best drainage fleece.
Common questions
Is drainage fleece the same as weed membrane?
No. Drainage fleece here is a non-woven geotextile meant to pass water and hold soil fines back. Weed membrane is sold to block light under a mulch. Both can be called membrane on a listing, and some drainage titles mention weeds, but UK reviews in this set report grass rooting into the fleece.
What does 100 gsm actually tell you?
It tells you the stated mass, grams per square metre, when that figure is on the specification table. Merchant guides use about 100 gsm as a domestic starting point for drains, crates, and light separation. It does not tell you opening size, flow, or puncture resistance, and it does not mean the sheet complies with BS EN 13252 or BS 8661. Heavier grades are the merchant suggestion when puncture is the risk.
Do you need a 1.1 m or a 2.25 m width?
Use about 1.1 m for a narrow trench or border when the fabric must go down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side. Use about 2.25 m when one piece has to cover a patio base, a wider separation layer, or several faces of a crate. Measure the developed width, including the flap you will overlap, before you treat the cheaper narrow cut as enough.
Why is a small cut dearer per square metre than a trade roll?
The garden cuts here work out at roughly £2 to £4 per square metre. BuildWiz quotes bulk 100 gsm nearer £0.78 to £1.56 per square metre on that merchant page only. You are paying for a folded consumer parcel. The higher rate is not evidence of a stronger fabric, and the bulk figure is not an amazon.co.uk shelf price.
How do you allow for overlap?
Add the overlap your install note specifies, and do not average the published figures into one number. Sources used for this category quote 150 mm, 200 mm, or 300 mm depending on the detail. A cut that matches the trench length on the label can finish short once that lap is taken at the join. Buy the next area up if the spare is only a few centimetres.
Can you use the reptile hydro fleece in the garden?
The Lucky Reptile HF-100, listed at £8.99 with a title size of about 100 cm by 50 cm, is a terrarium sheet for separating substrate. It is not a garden drainage fleece, and half a square metre will not line a trench or wrap a crate. A low price in that listing is a different product, not a bargain geotextile.
When do you need a datasheet instead of a marketplace title?
You need one when the job asks for a declared strength or filtration figure: a trafficked base, a weak subgrade, or a soakaway that building control will assess. These listings do not publish CBR, opening size, or flow. A 100 gsm line on a title, or a missing gsm on the 22.5 m² cut, is not that declaration.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources from the research digest. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures in the product listings used for this page. gsm, permeability and puncture lines are listing claims or review notes, not a test run for this page.
- Approved Document H: drainage and waste disposal (retrieved October 2026)
- CNC Building Control: soakaway size FAQ (retrieved October 2026)
- BRE Digest 365 via UNDA (retrieved October 2026)
- BS EN 13252:2016 geotextiles for drainage (retrieved October 2026)
- AGS: BS 8661:2019 geotextile guidance (retrieved October 2026)
- Geoworks: where to use geotextiles (retrieved October 2026)
- EasyMerchant: geotextile membranes explained (retrieved October 2026)
- Growtivation: fabric for wrapping soakaway crates (retrieved October 2026)