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Old 07-29-2016, 10:42 AM   #15
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When I poured my RV slabs on both sides of the house, I used steel, poured them at 4" and used what they call a six sack mix, which is two more bags of cement per yard than a sidewalk or standard driveway. I've never cracked mine in 25 years of running and parking RV's on them. With that said, the issue is often the transition points from a driveway to the slab, one slab to another, over the sidewalk, etc. This is where you'll often get a crack or break the concrete. When you order concrete, the concrete trucks will not drive over or onto your property unless you sign a waiver.

I definitely would be leery of any asphalt driveways, especially in the heat.

I think there are some other issues that should be considered. First, the neighborhood may not allow RV's and the neighbors, no matter how nice your new coach looks, may not want to see a 40' parked in a driveway. Personally, I don't think I would want to impose, even on family, by parking in their yard and using their power. They may not have the courage to tell you no, and there could be hard feelings later.

We have a friend we visit in Oregon, he has room for our coach and the power, but we prefer to stay at a nice park nearby. It gives us and them our privacy. If you want to show off your new coach, have them over for dinner or cocktails one evening.
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Old 07-29-2016, 10:54 AM   #16
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1) Construction of the driveway does matter and you'd have to know how it was done, materials, thicknesses, etc . . .

2) TJ mostly had this correct (except for pascals?), it really boils down to PSI, pounds per square Inch or some similar measure of pressure. My coach weighs 45,000'ish. But the surface area it rolls on is what matters. I had some idiot on the Home Owners Association claiming my camper and pickup did more damage then her Honda . . . after I proved my point that ended the discussion. Simply take the weight of your coach and divide it by the amount of surface area put down by the tires . . . that is approximately how many pounds per square inch you are applying. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in the same relative area of a pickup, although I have never done the calculation. This is also why if you put some nice wide boards down under your jacks it will spread the weight out even more. Keep in mind that the "boards" have to be pretty rigid (stout) because if they flex you lose the weight distribution effects.

Concrete - My coach is stored in my garage which has a concrete floor. The floor is roughly 4" thick but it sits on ground that was very well compacted and non-organic material (ie it won't compress). There is also a rebar mesh through it. I put my jacks down and level it all the time in there, no problem.

Net - in the case of concrete it TOTALLY matters what was done under the concrete, what is in the concrete (steel or fiberglass), how thick it is, what the PSI rating of the concrete is, etc . . ..

Asphalt - Same deal - the compaction of the ground under the Asphalt matters HUGE. Did they pave on dirt or did they lay a nice bed of stone & sand and compact the living daylights out of it? How thick is it? What type of asphalt is it? Also what is the outdoor temperature?

If you stop your coach and crank the steering wheel on relatively fresh laid asphalt on a hot day . . . you're going to damage it. Most driveways, unless they have been repaved several times are only 2" thick and most likely laid on organic material (dirt). If someone paid for it and did a professional job (think box store or gas station parking lot) you can park on it without issue.

Hope this helps you.
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Old 07-29-2016, 11:15 AM   #17
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At my last house we had a heavy pour with a barn for Rv's. I never had an issue in 20 years because it was designed for the weight. When we bought a new side by side frig for the house the delivery company was using a 24 foot straight truck. I told driver he would be ok on paved area but company policy was to not go on any residential driveways for fear of cracking. Think about that they were not close to as heavy as a DP. I would never put my rig on a friends driveway.
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Old 07-29-2016, 02:03 PM   #18
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Don't do it. I've cracked my own concrete driveway. Get a very heavy guage long extension cord if you must, or just run your generator twice a day (unless you need the AC).
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Old 07-29-2016, 02:17 PM   #19
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We have the standard "contractor grade" driveway (2X4 turned sideways) so the concrete is about 3½" thick. It started breaking under our 35' Type A gas MH and continued through the 38', 40' and now 45' DP's. The first gas unit weighed about 18,000#'s and the front axle of our present 45' rig scales at just under 18,000# without the wife onboard. In fact it's sunken enough that some of the undercarriage drags slightly as I drive over it.
Can't afford to replace it right now due to the DW's medical bills.
We have stayed at some friends in Fresno but they have a gravel area and 15 amp service. Glad we didn't need the heat pumps while there as the circuit I was on was also for his shop and everytime he turned the saw on our EMS went to battery power.
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Old 07-29-2016, 03:40 PM   #20
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So, if the sub base and base is correctly prepared then all you need is 3½" of concrete and no mesh? Why do the highway engineers use 12" thick high strength cement and usually wire mesh when they pour a highway? If so I'll let all my friends at the WA DOT know they're doing it wrong. Although most of them have probably retired by now as I did in 1999.
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Old 07-29-2016, 04:10 PM   #21
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Sometime ago (like 20 years !) we had our parking lot for my test garage at work repaved with the stated intention of driving and parking fully loaded buses and semis on it. A few weeks ago, I parked the test trailer in a new spot and then retired. (Stealth gloat ! ) When folks got back to work after the 4th, they found the landing gear had poked a 10" square hole through the asphalt and into a washout. I guess somebody should complain to the guy in charge of that repaving.

The moral of this story is that even if you know exactly how the driveway was built, there is no promise that it is still that way. Anytime you borrow something, you need to figure that the worst thing that can happen is that you have to replace it if you break or lose it. If that's not in the cards, don't borrow it.

By the way, I know that washout wasn't there when the paving was done because I was the guy in charge.
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Old 07-29-2016, 06:36 PM   #22
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Thanks, everyone. I figure any friend-mooching-boondocking will have to be on proven-solid gravel or other damage-proof surface as recently successfully used by heavy farm & ranch equipment.

I wasn't so much thinking of boondocking in friends' city or suburban driveways as I was the more rural areas. Now, unless they have a coach bigger than mine, I guess we will be commuting visitors.

And I suspect we won't have the nerve to pull it into our suburban S&B development driveway even once as we unload the house to transition to FT :-)

Thanks again -
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Old 07-29-2016, 06:56 PM   #23
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I had a concrete pad poured about 7-8 years ago specifically to park my then 35' DP. I asked the contractor to make sure it could easily hold 40,000 lbs. 8 years later there are several large cracks running the length and width of the pad. It will need to be replaced very soon. I will NOT be using the same contractor.

Would I park my DP in a friends driveway? No.

Would I let a friend park his DP in my regular driveway? No.


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Old 07-30-2016, 07:53 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_D View Post
So, if the sub base and base is correctly prepared then all you need is 3½" of concrete and no mesh? Why do the highway engineers use 12" thick high strength cement and usually wire mesh when they pour a highway? If so I'll let all my friends at the WA DOT know they're doing it wrong. Although most of them have probably retired by now as I did in 1999.
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Methinks these are the 2 main reasons that highway engineers use 12" thick high strength cement and wire mesh when they pour a highway:
1.) Because it's a highway, (not a driveway or a parking spot).
2.) Because they don't have to pay for it.
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Old 07-30-2016, 07:58 AM   #25
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I call this "Moochdocking"!
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Old 07-30-2016, 08:00 AM   #26
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Mr_D
Methinks these are the 2 main reasons that highway engineers use 12" thick high strength cement and wire mesh when they pour a highway:
1.) Because it's a highway, (not a driveway or a parking spot).
2.) Because they don't have to pay for it.

80,000 pounds rolling down the road 24/7 also may have a small impact.


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Old 07-30-2016, 09:05 AM   #27
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So, if the sub base and base is correctly prepared then all you need is 3½" of concrete and no mesh? Why do the highway engineers use 12" thick high strength cement and usually wire mesh when they pour a highway? If so I'll let all my friends at the WA DOT know they're doing it wrong. Although most of them have probably retired by now as I did in 1999.
Actually there are several reasons they do that. It is not done on all highways but in some high use areas the plan is to overbuild in order to keep the highway functional for it's life cycle. The high cost to build the highway is offset by the full use of it for the longest period. You could rebuild the highway at regular intervals but the inconvenience to the traveling public (and cost) would be higher than "over" building and using the best materials available.
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Old 07-30-2016, 09:10 AM   #28
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2) TJ mostly had this correct (except for pascals?), it really boils down to PSI, pounds per square Inch or some similar measure of pressure. My coach weighs 45,000'ish. But the surface area it rolls on is what matters. I had some idiot on the Home Owners Association claiming my camper and pickup did more damage then her Honda . . . after I proved my point that ended the discussion. Simply take the weight of your coach and divide it by the amount of surface area put down by the tires . . . that is approximately how many pounds per square inch you are applying. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in the same relative area of a pickup, although I have never done the calculation.
Hope this helps you.
All you have to do is measure the tire pressure. The pressure on the ground will be the same as the tire pressure. So if you have your tires inflated to 110 lbs on your 45,000 lb coach you will have a greater effect on the road than the Honda inflated to 28 lbs. This is a matter of physics and is not debatable.

Add the deflection caused by your 20,000 lb axle compared to the Honda's 1000 - 1500 lb axle the motorhome will have a greater effect in causing rutting if it is an asphalt surface. Concrete surfaces deflect but much less. If it were not for heavy loads the roadways and highways would be in better shape for much longer periods.

A truck tire inflated to 110 lbs will not have the same ground pressure as a pickup tire inflated to 28 lbs.
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