Class A parking at home.

[mothgrey]

I'm gonna keep saying how much I'm learning here and thanks for all the great info.

We're getting our new to us 2004 Damon Challenger at the end of the week. We have a stone driveway that leads to where my detached garage is. Last year we put in the garage and a large parking area I had clay brought in compacted it then stone put down. Now for the MH I cleared a 45' by about 22 feet out of the woods. I removed all the stumps and I used a rake first then box blade on it. I want to compact it, put cloth down then put stone down. I'm then thinking of marking out where the tires will sit dig a 4'x4' pads out put stone in, Base stone then concrete. Do you think this will work ok or will the 4'x4'x6" concrete pads shift? I don't want it to sit on dirt and not sure about the stone. Thoughts

[Whizzer60]

Here you go. You walked right by it.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/is-i...ng-177124.html

[BFlinn181]

How firm is the soil? Usually concrete pads won't shift, but if you buy a new RV in a couple of years your pads might be in the wrong places. Instead of uniform size stone, ask your stone yard about mixed fines. The larger stones will be locked into place by the smaller sizes and stone dust. If it's tamped layer by layer, you might not need cement pads. Again, local stone yard will have experience with what works in your soils.

[Dunner]

I have crushed river rock with the MH tire sitting on 3/4" plywood. Seems to work fine.

BTW Bob, was that fine as in grain or illegal?

[SuperGewl]

Yeah a good 4 - 6" of 3/4minus that is packed down will be just like most camp grounds. If you do it right, go down about 18" and put yourself in some sand for drainage then about 6-8" of 3/4 minus topped with 2-4" of 1/4minus. Oh yeah don't forget about the drainage pipe underneath that leads about 10-20' form the pad. That type of system would even work up here in the NW where it rains from Oct 1 to Sep 30 Then put down a couple of 2X12 to drive the wheels on. As someone stated if you get a different MH later you want to be able to use the pad as is.

[fountain42]

I would question the clay you put down? Clay that is dry is like concrete but wet you may have issues plus it take a long to to dry out, I think sand would have been a better choice.

[buckstand]

Be sure to lay down concrete wire or make a rebar mat out of #4 rebar (1/2") on about 8 to 10" on center to keep your pad from cracking. Suspend the mat about 3" off the ground.
Another trick is to "post-hole" some holes under your pad area and tie the holes into your mat.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by buckstand

Be sure to lay down concrete wire or make a rebar mat out of #4 rebar (1/2") on about 8 to 10" on center to keep your pad from cracking. Suspend the mat about 3" off the ground.
Another trick is to "post-hole" some holes under your pad area and tie the holes into your mat.

These tips would be fine for a concrete slab, not sure it would do anything for mixed stone.

[MSHappyCampers]

Sounds like there will be trees around it. Be sure to keep those dead limbs cut off. It doesn't take a very big limb to put a nasty hole in the top of an RV!

[bronk]

Congratulations on the Challenger purchase. We have one and really have been enjoying it for the last 3 years. You didn't say where you live, but severe weather (cold and deep frost) can have an adverse effect on almost any support system that has to endure a lot of weight over time. I think that the suggestions that others have made have merit and would suffice in almost any climate. Happy travels!

Bronk

[rsflight]

We did something similar to your thoughts. We then paved a drive around the pads. For a 18,000# RV it was ok, but over 15 years the pads moved off level. When we got the next RV, the wheelbase was longer, so we cut the blacktop & added more pads. When we moved to a DP, again the pads were in the wrong spots. Well, the DP was so heavy those original pads would visually move off level under the tires. By now the drive wasn't flat, rain water flowed in and around the pads and the whole drive needed to be redone. The original pads were 4'x4'x4" set on 4" of gravel base. Now we have 12" of gravel base with a single 12" reinforced cement pad on top. The new drive is 4" of binder asphalt. No movement or cracks after 3 years. We should be good for another 20 years, maybe more.

[mothgrey]

So I live in the Richmond Va area so winters are not too bad. The clay that is down is in the previous area where I built the out building and parking area for that. Where I just cleared in the woods I didn't add any clay to the new clearing. I was going to compact it and add stone. I left a slight grade to the soil for drainage then figured the stone would be graded to make it level?

[vsheetz]

DG - decomposed granite. I have a driveway, parking apron in front of garage/workshop, and RV parking pad. In place for several years. Very firm surface.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dg+d...w=1366&bih=643

[buckstand]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

These tips would be fine for a concrete slab, not sure it would do anything for mixed stone.

A 4ft X 4ft pad that the OP described, is a slab to me