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Driveway construction

Yahoo Message Number: 56138
I did some searching but could not find any discussion regarding the appropriate angle needed when pulling off a flat street to a driveway.. I have a 2008 Allure sunset bay 38 foot .. planning on building a new house with covered storage. any links to reading material would be welcome.. thanks Bill littlebaler@...
2008 CC Allure Sunset Bay

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56139
I had a similar problem a few months ago. My solution was to draw a scale model of a side view of the coach. There were three issues: (1) The crown of the driveway/roadway intersection had to be low enough to not scrape the center of the coach wheelbase. (2) The dip of the driveway where it became level for driving into the covered garage had to be gentle enough to not catch the tail overhang of the coach. And (3) the entrance to the covered garage had to have enough flat run outside the garage to be sure the roof (and roof mounted gear) would clear the garage door entrance.
Everything gets easier of the run between the roadway and the garage is long enough. But if it is short, things can get complicated.
I know I've not provided a direct answer to your question, but perhaps the idea of cutting out a side view profile and making a cross cut drawing of your driveway will help?

Thanks
-skip-

2000 Magna 5778

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56140
I am meeting with an architect tomorrow and wiil take these suggestions along. thanks bill

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56141
Glad your thinking about this before building -- makes getting it right a whole lot easier.
I put up a 40x60 steel building a few years before buying a 42 ft Affinity. I was able to talk to CC before building just to get some hints -- i didn't yet know of this forum. Door height needs to be 14 feet so minimum sidewall height of building needs to be 16ft. I used a off center peak on the roofing system so one sideway is 16ft with the peak in the middle of the RV door which is 14 ft wide, the other sidewall is only 12ft high. The second door is 10ft high and 18ft wide -- for all the other toys. If you have the room - make the building as big as you can -- it's amazing how fast it can fill up. Ok now for the driveway -- I always back my coach in. I have a 1/2 mile long lane up to the house and the "toy box" is about in the middle. It has power and water - don't forget those. The driveway off the lane to the building is not long enough for me to just back right in. I have to jockey the coach back and forth a few times. It's not to bad with such great cut on that front axle. But i can pull right out and go down the lane when we are heading out. I would take your coach with a couple of friends to a school parking lot and use some sidewalk chalk marking the paths for all the tires -- that will get you your minimum parking path. Making a full cut turn and with your tag up if you have one. Then make sure you have a bit more room. Let the forum know what you work out -- it may help the next guy building a house for the coach!

Dave

'00 Affinity 5825

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56145
Bill, You have received some good suggestions from other coach owners. I would add three points for your consideration.

1. 14 X14 doors are a must for easiest entry.
2. If you have the space and money make the shelter long enough to hold a 45 ft coach.
3. If possible make the slope suitable for the larger coach.

If at some point in the future you move up to a forty-five long unit your shelter will be the right size. If you sell your property you may increase your chances of a good price if a potential customer has a 45' coach.

If the road camber is a big problem, you can ease the situation by using the 'raise button' on the HWH panel. I have to do this with my 43' coach at one location I use. Raising the coach provides just enough clearance to avoid dragging the tail. Failing that I would need to place boards where the road meets the sidewalk.

One final point. If you are going for a concrete drive and floor for the shelter be aware that large concrete slabs love to crack. Stress relief is very important. If possible create squares rather then rectangles. If I were to pour another slab for my motor home I would run a saw cut right down the center line. I have 12' by 16' sections where the coach sits and the weight of the coach caused the concrete to crack down the center. Only a cosmetic problem but one I could have avoided if I had known more about concrete. You could spend a lot more on compaction and thickness of concrete to avoid this problem, but a simple saw cut is a inexpensive solution.

Good luck with your project.

David 31383

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56156
Thanks for all the good suggestions.. I took everything down to the planner this am and he read it all.. will have a rough draft in a couple of weeks. Bill

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56178
And don't forget to put something (plywood, etc.) under your tires to keep the oils from leeching out of them into the concrete! I guess that's why I park on gravelJ

Glen

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56253
I am not building a garage nor a shelter but I plan to pour a level concrete slab driveway to park my CC along the side of my home. It will be about 10' x 50'. I had contractors install 50 Amp power, water line and sanitary sewer under the driveway path. Now I am ready to consider the slab.
David, I appreciate your suggestion to saw-cut stress relief lines after the concrete sets. The builder who built my home 5 years ago did that in the driveway and the garage. So far, I have no cracks.
My question has to do with the recommended thickness and compaction density of the proposed slab. The soil out here in Indio, CA is sand and clay (desert).
The contractor that I consulted advised that 4" thickness with standard mix and heavy, cross tied re-bar will do an adequate job of supporting my 28,000 lb. coach and would be the least expensive. Another contractor suggested that I should go with a 5" thick slab with heavy re-bar for cosireably higher cost. Both advised that the slab may be poured directly over the existing soil without gravel or sand base.
I want to control the cost but, I want a slab that will hold up for a few years without breaking up. Is the 5" thickness proposal actually overkill? My knowledge regarding concrete is very limited so I would appreciate the advice of anyone who has some experience with this stuff.

Daron Hairabedian, 98 Allure 40', 30226, No tag axle

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56255
I built a concrete floor for our 31,000 pound 2002 Allure under our home. I used 4 inches of abs gravel mix, .005 plastic sheet, number #5 rebar the length and #4 rebar horizontally on a 12 inch patern. 4 inches of 5 bag mix concrete was poured on top. No cuts were made on in the concrete but there are a few surface cracks that were filled. It has held up well.
Outside the driveway has 4 inches of rock as a base. 3 inches of asphalt was laid over it. While the asphalt was still warm, a bag of Portland cement was brushed into the asphalt and then sprinkled lightly with water. The result has held up without cracking except for a couple of places on the edge where a dump truck went over the edge, about a 3 inch by 18 inch smile on the edge was the result. No cuts are necessary for the asphalt. The only negative about the asphalt is if oil or diesel is spilled on it, it leaves a dark mark.
Portland cement can be used to cover the spot, but it still shows slightly. Make sure there is enough width to open the basement doors and pull out the slide for loading. Mine is tight inside the garage on one side. For those interested in doors, mine are 13 feet high hinged on the sides. They are made out of 2x4's and insulated. Cables are used from the top corners to the bottom middle with turn buckles to tighten if they sag. With both the inside and outside skinned, they have not sagged. Cedar plywood was used outside and regular 1/4 inch on the inside.
I will try and post pictures of the construction if I can find them. John 2002 Allure
#30702

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56257
Pictures have been uploaded, found on page 3 of photos, Concrete Driveway.

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56261
Daron,

We just poured a slab for a new HazMat building here at the Eufaula NWR. The maintenance personnel laid it out but the weight requirement is probably not a high as one for you coach. The pad has 11 inch deep by 12 inch wide footings all around and the middle of the pad is 5" thick. The only heavy rebar was a single piece running in the center of the footings raised up and tied to rebar supports. The pad was poured all at once meaning the footings were not poured separately. The center of the pad had one layer of reinforcing wire mesh laid right on the bottom. This is where a pad holding the weight of your coach may differ.
What may be of interest to you is that we installed two expansion joint strips across the pad to help prevent cracking. They are thin sheet metal strips held up to the top of the forms with screws and screwed to driven stakes in the middle for support. The stakes are driven to below the top of the strip because they are not going to come out. The expansion joint metal is a great help when screeing the poured concrete.
Concrete will eventually crack almost a guarantee. The expansions joint are intended to force the cracking to the joint leaving the rest ok if there are enough expansion joints. It doesn't always work. Another thing that the contractor claimed would prevent cracking when I poured the basement in a new house in 1996 was using concrete with fiberglass hair mixed in it. I wasn't impressed and maybe that has now gone away.
Originally the maintenance guys were planning to pour the slab right on top of the top soil. We could not find a level enough spot so we had to dig some out and back fill the middle with crushed bank run (gravel) I am from New England and one would seldom pour a slab without getting at least the footings below the frost line and have plenty of gravel in the middle. It not the pad would twist and heave with the frost. Talk about cracking. Here in AL frost heaving is probably not a problem. Still and all I can't seem to overcome in my mind the concern that I have for pouring a slab directly on top of the topsoil. But I don't know where the slab would be located.
Well there is what I learned and observed about pouring a slab from a recent experience and some fleeting contact through the years. I am not speaking as a contractor experienced with the subject.

Don Seager

2004 Allure 31046

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56262
I was reading your post and something caught my eye. The first sentence is " under our home". Any pictures of that project and was that a before, during or after the home was built ? AL

00 affinity #5851

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56263
The home is a monolithic dome. A steel tank was first built, doors and window openings were framed, 4 inches of foam insulation applied to the tank except the 32 feet of the tank later cut out for garage doors and decks, rebar attached to foam on 12 inch centers, 6 inches to 12 inches of 8,000 psi shotcrete applied, a 12 inch foundation was built on top of tank, a skin like a hot air balloon was attached to the foundation, air pressure was applied to inflate the skin, insulation applied under the skin, rebar added, and shocrete applied. Thermodynamic equivalent R factor is 60. The RV garage was dug out after the air pressure was dropped and the front of the tank was cut out. This is the kind of home that carries a FEMA 5 rating. It is the kind of a home that only engineers can love. If you have further questions, you can give me a call at 541 547-3066.

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56277
Daron,

We have done a garage floor and 2 different parking areas for our CC over the last 3 years. The garage floor done by the contractor has more cracks in it than the other 2 that we did ourselves. We found that 5" thick with steel mesh or rebar has worked the best. We used 3,000 psi with fiber in it over sand and plastic with wire mesh that was stamped and joint lines every 6 feet (done when poured) to help control the cracks. We have a few small cracks and the soil is bad clay. We also used 5 - 6" thick with big rock with steel mesh on dirt and bedrock with joint lines every 6 feet (done when poured) was good also. Remember that the one thing concrete does is crack and that the steel is not only used for strength but mainly used to keep the concrete from separating where it cracks. Our garage floor that was done by a contractor has more fine cracks and he cut the joints after the slab was hard. Rebar is stronger but the mesh has worked well so far - was cheaper and alot easier to work with. The areas we did were also very large - 90 yard parking area, 3400 square foot garage and 40 yard parking area. If you put a structure up then 14 x 14 doors are a must. Also don't forget to install any drainage you might need for when we do have some rain. Have fun.
Safe travels,
Kathy

'06 Inspire #51782

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56283
Our 20X50 concrete floor for the coach, a 40,000+ lbs Intrigue, is 2+ years old and no cracks. It does have joint lines (10X12.5). My good fortune, I think is the limestone bedrock underneath. IMHO, concrete over mush = cracks.
--

Lee Zaborowski
07 Intrigue 12153
 

Re: Driveway construction

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 56327
Thank you, everyone who replied with advice. I appreciate it! I feel a little more knowledgeable and confident to ask the right questions when discuussing the contractors' bids.

Daron Hairabedian, 98 Allure, 30226.