Parking Motor Homes in my Driveway

dsbike · 09-12-2010, 07:57 AM

Not sure if this is the right subforum for this or not, moderators please move it to where you think it should be if not. (my disclosure)

I had my driveway repaved & concreted pads installed this week. I have 2 driveways, one to the main level of the house with the garage & one to the basement area.
On the lower section we had a 10'x30' pad with a 1/4'" drop over each 10' poured with 3600psi concrete 6" thick. This is where my parents will park thier 36' Journey when they come visit us in the fall & spring. They usually stay for 2 months & 1 month respectfully. Then we laid 2" compressed asphalt over the existing asphalt & 4-5" of asphalt where there wasn't any for the approach to the concrete pad. We plan on adding 30amp electric service also. In the slight chance my MH is at home when my parents aren't I will park it here also. My MH is usually always on the road somewhere.

On the upper driveway we poured concrete from the garage to the end of a poured concrete retaining wall, apprx 50' long and 35' wide tapering to 15' wide. We poured most of this at 4" thick but also added a parking pad 45' x 10' of 6" thick on one side of this pad. I will be able to park or do maint on either my parents or my MH on this pad. We then repaved the rest of our driveway with 2" of asphalt. I will also be adding 30amp service in my garage for the MH connection.

This has been a long time goal of mine & it finally became a reality. I am so happy. In the past parking the MH's on the asphalt always gave us a challenge due to impressions & the 2 way slope the driveway had. We always needed to raise the drivers front apprx 10" off the ground with 4x4's & 2x6". Not a good situation.

GaryKD · 09-12-2010, 08:09 AM

Hi dsbike,
Nice job, congrats. Did you consider 50 AMP electric? Is there water and sewer at the site for your parents? I wish I had that much property.

mikron · 09-12-2010, 08:36 AM

50 AMP would be better, it would let you run both A/C's at the same time. If you have a long run from the panel to were you want the outlet run #6 wire instead of #8 to the outlet.

dsbike · 09-12-2010, 08:55 AM

Gave a little thought to 50 amp. I realize 50 amp ould be the ultimate chioce. However we thought the added expense may not be worth it since they are not here when both a/c's are needed. Sewer is not an option. What little waste they have gets dumped in the septic tank by bucket, but we can't run a line up the hill that far. Maybe a maserator pump is in the future. They use the house bathroom which is just inside the basement for showers and such. I have thought about water, no decision made there yet.

**Gary RVRoamer** · 09-12-2010, 09:18 AM

50A doesn't add that much expense. You don't even have to go for the full 50, but do wire for 240V and two hot lines rather than the single for 30A. A pair of 30A breakers on a 240v line will generally assure the RV of plenty of power (7200 watts, vs the 3600 max with standard RV 30A power).

paz · 09-12-2010, 10:44 AM

If you're going to add 50-amp service, make sure the line coming to the main panel from the street has enough capacity for the additional load. 50-amp service is really 50 amps to each of 2 legs for a total of 100 amps. You may need to upgrade service to your main panel first. Otherwise, go with 30 amps or 2 X 30 amps as Gary suggests.