Driveway cracking

[javpop]

How many of the Diesel Pusher community have to do something special/extra to park on their home dirveways? I have a Holiday Rambler DP, 36ft., and mine is cracking bad. I have visited my son and friends and parked in their drives and not done any damage so it puzzles me that mine is cracking so bad. I know that when I redo it, soon, that I should put down a thicker base and probably use rebar but I just wonder how many DP owners have the problem and go to the extra expense to be able to park in their drives.

[Pusherpilot]

We've had two pads poured for MH storage/parking areas and I specified no less that 4" of concrete with wire mesh reinforcement. The contractor thought I was crazy but neither has cracked to date. One is ten yrs old and the other is 5 yrs old. Both have 30k plus lb DPs parked on them regularly. The house in Calif had a long drive that passed over the sidewalk to the street. The sidewalk section cracked the second or third time I drove over it with our 29k Safari. I complained to the city and they actually came out and replaced it based on safety of pedestrians!!
Many contractors will try and get away with pouring sidewalk spec pads for driveways expecting that nothing heavier than a 4-5k car or SUV will ever be parked there. I hope a couple of contractors chime in on this subject as they have both experience and the training etc to comment on this.
Ron

[bdaball]

I'm not a contractor but I have shoveled many a asphalt loads in my younger days. Think of asphalt as frosting on a cake. Looks good until the cake crumbles.

Check your base BEFORE you resurface. You could be putting more frosting on a crumbling cake!

I might suggest concrete in the future. Ashpalt never hardens.

[hardy1000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by javpop How many of the Diesel Pusher community have to do something special/extra to park on their home dirveways? I have a Holiday Rambler DP, 36ft., and mine is cracking bad. I have visited my son and friends and parked in their drives and not done any damage so it puzzles me that mine is cracking so bad. I know that when I redo it, soon, that I should put down a thicker base and probably use rebar but I just wonder how many DP owners have the problem and go to the extra expense to be able to park in their drives.

I have 4" with mesh and there are a few cracks, nothing to be alarmed about. After reading PusherPilot's reply, it looks like we did the same thing. My pad is 55' long and the only entrance is over the grass in my front yard, which is also 55'. You may wonder how does a 35k motorhome go over grass without destroying it. Well, my neighbor is an Artichect and before I purchased my MH I asked him if he has ever seen any kind of product that would allow me to drive over grass because I do not want concreate in my front yard. He showed me a product call grasspave which are 2x2 moduels that look like a honeycomb. It works by digging up your yard and laying 6" of road base and covering them with soil. Then you can lay your sod and your done, and it works great. The honeycombs allow the roots to grow and I actually have the greens't lawn on the block.
If the grass is damp I lay plywood sheets down and drive over them.

The only thing is when I back it into my pad people stop and think I am nut's until they see how it works and then they are inquisitive.

[BudtheDiplomat]

Like yours, my concrete driveway broke when I pulled my Diplomat in the drive.

When our house was built 15 years ago, I watched and have pictures of the Rebar (reinforcing bars) placed in the driveway wooden forms prior to the cement being poured. I didn't actually watch the concrete being poured because I had to leave for work.

I had a concrete guy come out in January this year. He said, "That wouldn't have cracked if you had Rebar." I told him that I had seen the Rebar laid prior to the concrete being poured. He bet me $20 that there was no rebar there.

He said that it is a "shell game" that neighborhood developers use to pass city inspection. They'll have pre-tied Rebar sections, will place it in the driveway forms, get the "Green Check" from the City Inspector, then after the inspector has left, they move the rebar to another property and reuse the same rebar throughout the neighborhood.

Truth in point, none of my neighbor's drives have rebar either! Yet I have pictures of the rebar in my drive prior to the concrete being poured. Sure enough, I lost $20.

Now my drive is 7 feet wider, 12" deep from the street for the first 15 feet, with 3/4" reinforcing bars. Then it drops to 10" with 1/2" rebar for the remaining 90 feet. No motorhome is going to crack it!

We wonder why businesses are failing. The answer for many is Dishonesty. What goes around, comes around.

[gg]

Not all concrete is created equal. I would spec 3500 psi mix of min to 4" with # 10 wire mesh steel reinforcement. This would be pored on a prepared base of sand/ crushed stone. The steel needs to be placed in the bottom 1/4-1/3 of the thickness of the concrete to be most effective.


Cold climates have concrete with cracks and concrete that will crack in time. The steel reinforced concrete cracked in my 25 year driveway but has not seperated.

I have used a new fiberglass fiber added by the redi mix company in the concrete (Fiber is homogenous in the mix) thus better than the steel mesh per concrete supplier. This concrete has not cracked yet, but no MH have driven in my basement.

I have not driven the MH on friends driveways for fear of cracking them.

[powerboatr]

ours is 6" thick 60x 26
with 4 foot piers under each support stanchion

we have small settling cracks, filled em with that dap stuff and so far all is good.

[gg]

I forgot the about sealing cracks with dap or tar. In cold areas of the country, to prevent water entering and heaving when freezing.

[Corvette Man]

gg is correct. Go for the stronger concete. 3500 is good enough. Just talked to a concete guy about different strengths. Also a good base is important.

[mikedes]

Just a thought but when I had my drive put in 3 years ago I had the contractor install highway fabric under it. The contractor told me he never used it before on a residential drive and although there is no rebar in it the drive shows no sign of cracking and I have been parking a 38' diplomat on it for three years

[JDooley]

Everything we do costs. So when I do I do it to overkill ONCE I will be pouring a slab to park on which may in time become a CBS garage. When I pour the slab it will have the footers poured at the same time (for later Use) I am doing 5000 lb concrete with fiber mesh and #5 rebar over a vapor barier. In Florida I dont need the crushed stone as the soil is sand. I work for a commercial construction company and have access to excess rebar and othe rmaterials

[katoommaster]

You need six inches of concrete 3500psi number#4 rebar and it needs to be place on 8" of 3/4 class 2 base rock. Note: all concrete cracks you need exspansion or depcute in the concrete every 6ft x6ft this helps the cracking and controlls where it will crack

[Mutt]

I had our driveway poured(4"-3,000 psi) in 2001 using 2 rebar 8" apart where the wheels roll and used wire mesh throughout the 12' width. Unfortunately, ants are continuously tunneling under the driveway before I find them and I have had some cracks to occur. If and when I have to repair a section, I will go to 5" and specify either a construction mix or 5,000 psi. In my RV building I used 6" 5,000psi so hopefully, when I use the jacks the floor will hold up. Poured in 2003 no cracks yet. My expansion joints are about 12 feet apart on the driveway and in the building.

[Mutt]

Just a further note relative to concrete slabs. It depends on which part of the country you are located as to different methods to use. Of course, the base is the most important. Mine is a hard clay, thus the reason for my choices. The comment about the fiber versus wire I don't believe will suffice. I used wire and fiberglass in my house basement slab. Still had cracks since I didn't use expansion joints. Some expansion and contraction is going to happen, even though I was hoping the basement floor would remain relatively stable due to inground temps not changing that much around the Atlanta area. In the RV/Garage building, I used the wire mesh, fiberglass, rebar where the wheel tracks will be/are located, and expansion joints. Just need to check with several folks familar with construction methods in the particular area where you located if you want to try and get the most longevity out of your slab. And again, in my area I failed to include the ants causing a problem aling the driveway. Good luck to all with your projects.
David