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Buyer's Guide · Geotextile Fabric
Mirafi Geotextiles: How to Match the Fabric to the Job
A geotextile is a fabric that does structural work in the ground — separating soils, filtering water, draining, or reinforcing weak subgrade. Pick the wrong one and it clogs, tears, or lets your base mix into the mud.
Choosing the right Mirafi fabric comes down to two things: the job it has to do, and whether that job calls for a woven or nonwoven.
TenCate Mirafi groups its geotextiles by function. Almost every fabric handles one or more of these six jobs — and the Spec Finder on this page asks which ones you need.
Separation
Keeps soft subgrade soil and clean base aggregate from mixing, so the base stays strong.
Filtration
Lets water through while holding soil particles back, preventing piping and erosion.
Drainage
Moves water within the fabric plane toward a drain or outlet.
Reinforcement
Adds tensile strength to soil, spreading loads and stabilizing weak ground.
Confinement
Locks aggregate in place so it can't spread under load, improving load distribution.
Erosion Protection
Shields slopes, shorelines, and riprap from the scour of moving water.
Woven vs. Nonwoven: The First Fork
Before the series number, decide on construction. It's the single biggest factor in whether a fabric will work for your application.
Nonwoven
Needle-punched polypropylene fibers — a felt-like mat that lets water through fast and conforms to uneven ground.
Best for: filtration, drainage, separation, and cushioning. Series: N, S, MSCAPE. Typical: French drains, under riprap, behind retaining walls, drainage layers.
Woven
Flat tapes or filaments woven tight — high tensile strength with lower flow (monofilament-woven types add filtration).
Best for: separation plus reinforcement and stabilization under load. Series: X, HP, RSi, FW. Typical: under driveways and roads, soft-soil stabilization, base reinforcement.
Match the Series to the Job
The RSi-Series integrates five functions in one woven fabric.
For drainage, filtration, and separation, the nonwoven Mirafi 140N is the everyday workhorse — it conforms to trench surfaces, moves water fast, and serves as a cost-effective alternative to a graded aggregate filter behind drains and under riprap.
When you need to keep a good subgrade from mixing into your base under a driveway, road, or parking lot, a woven slit-film like Mirafi 500X provides separation and can reduce the base material you have to import.
And when the subgrade is soft or wet and the job calls for real reinforcement, the Mirafi RS380i (RSi-Series) integrates all five functions — separation, filtration, reinforcement, confinement, and drainage — to stabilize the base course and cut aggregate thickness. For very fine or silty soils, a woven monofilament FW-Series fabric is the right filter, and the HP-Series covers high-performance reinforcement in between.
Reading the Spec Sheet
Geotextiles are specified by a few key numbers, and matching them to your project's requirements matters more than the brand name on the roll. Watch for Apparent Opening Size (AOS), which controls soil retention; permittivity or flow rate, which sets how fast water passes; and grab tensile and puncture resistance, which determine survivability during installation. Many public projects also call out an AASHTO M288 class (Class 1, 2, or 3) or a state DOT type — Mirafi fabrics appear on DOT qualified-products lists, and because they're made in Georgia, they can meet Build America / Buy America requirements when you note it at checkout. Always confirm the exact values against each fabric's spec sheet.
Fine Soils Need the Right Filter
With fine or silty soils, the filter has to be matched carefully: too open and fines pipe through; too tight and it clogs. A woven monofilament (FW-Series) or a correctly-sized nonwoven keeps water moving while holding soil in place — so check AOS against your soil gradation before you buy.
Quick Selection Checklist
1. What's the job? Separation, filtration, drainage, reinforcement, confinement, or erosion protection (or a mix)
2. Woven or nonwoven? Nonwoven for flow, filtration, and drainage; woven for strength and stabilization under load
3. Soil & loads: soft/wet subgrade or heavy traffic → high-strength woven (RSi/HP); good-subgrade separation → X-Series; drainage/filtration → N-Series
4. Match the spec: AOS, permittivity, grab tensile, and any AASHTO M288 class or DOT type your project calls out
5. Public or federal job? Mirafi is made in Georgia and can meet Build America / Buy America — note BABA at checkout
Popular picks to start from: the nonwoven Mirafi 140N for drainage and filtration, the woven Mirafi 500X for separation under driveways and roads, and the high-strength Mirafi RS380i for stabilizing soft subgrade — all genuine TenCate Mirafi, made in the USA, with free shipping.
Not sure which fabric your project needs? Use the Geotextile Spec Finder above — answer a few quick questions about your application and soil, and it points you to the right Mirafi series.
