Constructing basic Parking Pad

[B&D]

Need to construct a simple concrete slab for parking our Trail bay 527SS. GVRW ~8700lbs. It will need to support the F-250 HD tv and the trailer.

Any suggestions/comments regarding design/construction specifics? i.e. What type of concrete and reinforcing?

Made the mistake of attempting to pull the 5th wheel out of the parking spot after a bit o'rain. Took several hours of jacking and placing gravel in the quagmire. Not as much fun as quaffing a beverage around the fire, grilling a steak. Cheep lesson in the long run.

Thanks.

B&D
1999 F-250HD
2002 Trail-Bay 527SS

[B&D]

Need to construct a simple concrete slab for parking our Trail bay 527SS. GVRW ~8700lbs. It will need to support the F-250 HD tv and the trailer.

Any suggestions/comments regarding design/construction specifics? i.e. What type of concrete and reinforcing?

Made the mistake of attempting to pull the 5th wheel out of the parking spot after a bit o'rain. Took several hours of jacking and placing gravel in the quagmire. Not as much fun as quaffing a beverage around the fire, grilling a steak. Cheep lesson in the long run.

Thanks.

B&D
1999 F-250HD
2002 Trail-Bay 527SS

[Hitchhiker]

B&D,

Welcome to iRV2, we're really glad to have you here as a new member and are looking forward to reading your posts about your RVing experiences and adventures. You'll find a great bunch of folks on this site who are very knowledgeable of RVing, the rigs we use, and the places we go in them.

As you'll see, they're eager to help and share their knowledge and experiences with others.

I'd recommend a 3,000 psi mix with the fiberglass reinforcing. Also, it's always a good idea to have some control seams to keep the inevitable cracks under control.

Again, welcome to iRV2, we're glad you joined.

[cwsoules]

In my town the city engineer said I needed a 6" thick steel reinforced slab to support a 10,000# trailer. It works nicely.

[earljan34]

When I did mine I used 3000psi mix steel reinforced and 6" thick and the control seams been there 3 years and no craking! MH and Boat sit on it all winter.

Earl

[450Donn]

Had 4 inches over about 5 feet of gravel for over 25 years. Finally replaced ot last year due to getting a bigger trailer and a few age cracks. Still only about 5 inches deep, no problems at all. 6 would be better but cost a lot more. If it on grade level, be sure to add about six to twelve inches of rock before paving.

[gearman]

I went with 5" thick slab, with 4-6" of gravel under concrete for my RV pad. It has worked very well.

[B&D]

I appreciate all the input and will use this info in the design.

Again thanks all

[jmo]

We had it done, sloped lot, did a bulkhead type wall on one side, lot of work. They put a nice slight angle on it for drainage. 4" Ed tells me. Big expense but it will be with us a loooong time. We extended our driveway into backyard for pad then put barn type gate on fence. Extra space on extended drive-way nice too.

jmo

[Toterman (David)]

One very important issue is to make sure you have a good base under the pad. I would dig it out to get the topsoil off and fill with cursh and run then put the pad ontop. I have done 4 inch with rebar and it only cost a little more to do the 4k mix. JMHO

David

[DriVer]

We have a 14x40 foot pad with re-bar and a fiber 4K psi mix. The pad is parallel to the house and is accessed by a concrete drive I don't believe w/ re-bar but just the 4K fiber cement.

About 3/4s of the way back we installed a 5 way hookup (50A & 20A-GFI, Telco, CATV & H20) pedestal. The 50A is in its own WP metal enclosure and the 20A is in a WP metal box w/ a plastic in-use cover. We installed a 4 inch drain 2 feet further back parallel w/ the pad that goes to septic.

A 4/3 backed w/ a 2P-60 breaker feeds a separate WP plastic surface mounted service panel from my main panel. The O/S panel feeds the pedestal underground for some ~25 feet of 6/3 and a 12/2. The O/S panel has a 2P-50 and 1 1P-20. (also has a split 1P-30A & a full 1P-30A and a split 1P-20. (6 position panel)

1P-20
1P-30
2P-50
S/ 1P-30
S/ 1P-20

I recently put up a shed in the back yard and since I had room in the panel I ran a 10/3 UF some 125 feet out to it. The shed had a SQD surface mtd panel with a 2-1P-15A and 2-1P-20(GFI) breakers. I feed a lighting circuit in the shed (2x60W A-lamps), a backyard Lo-volt system (future), a submersed quartz lamp in the pool and a 20A pool motor.

I'm sqeezin' just about all I can get out of that setup. Waste not! How I can get away with those types of loads? ... Because the RV never really pulls 50A out of the panel. The pool motor runs late at night using a time clock when the RV A/C if on wouldn't be running anyway. So it's pretty well time intervaled.

So far so good and I haven't tripped a breaker or come close. All the breakers are cool to the touch even the 2P-60.

The CATV and Telco goes out to the pedestal in it's own WP box with an in-use cover. The lo-volt wires are in a separate conduit.

Got'er'done!

[travel66]

Same subject - slightly different question.

I have a two month old Keystone VR-1. Noticed in the owners manual that they recommended parking the TT tires on 2 inch X 12 inch wood pads.

Wonder what the reasoning might be for this? Any thoughts?

[Ray,IN]

I always use re-bar or metal fabric re-inforcing material. Concrete willcrack at some point. Re-bar,etc will prevent the concrete from moving vertically at the cracks or pulling apart. Nothing you can do will prevent cracking, given enough time. I use 1'of sand for a base.
Hi travel66, welcome to the club! I've seen that recommendation also. I'm not sure why of this. My trailers tires sat on gravel whils stored for many years without any problems. I once asked a tire shop, and the reply was "I have no idea".