<p>The present study evaluated permeability characteristics of closed graded premix carpet (PMC), which is primarily used as surfacing for rural road in India. Basalt aggregate and viscosity grade (VG-30) binder were used in the study. Permeability of PMC was evaluated using a laboratory fabricated constant head permeameter. Thereafter, attempt was made to reduce the permeability of PMC by incorporating (1) seal coat (SC) and (2) slurry seal (SS) gradations using two different approaches. At first, the loose SC and SS mix were directly compacted over previously compacted PMC layer. Secondly, SC and SS graded aggregates were intermixed with graded PMC aggregates and compacted together. Permeabilities values of different combinations were compared with equilibrium permeability values (10⁻³ cm/s) to categories bituminous mixes based on permeability. The results showed very higher permeability of the order of 10⁻⁴ cm/s for PMC and PMC with SC. Contrarily, permeability of PMC intermixed with SS reduced by 83% compared with PMC. Further, effects of air voids, compaction levels, aggregate proportion and gradation on permeability of mixes were also analysed. In addition, ranking based comparison was drawn based on permeability values. Surprisingly, bituminous mixes with air-voids less than 8% were also ranked as highly permeable based on permeability values. Therefore, alternative ranking based on air-voids was suggested to characterized permeability of bituminous mixes. Finally, it was recommended to explore the advantages of SS in place of SC to reduce the excessive permeability in low volume roads.</p>