Community Forums

SMRDNR · 11-12-2013, 04:52 AM

when I did ours I removed the top soil and just shoveled the rock in and leveled it. the TT we had at the time helped compact the stone and every so often I would re-level the stone filling in where the camper made tire tracks. now I park the MH there without any issues.

hjsdds · 11-12-2013, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mobilcastle

If you have top soil, you may want to remove it since the stone will just sink in. If you have clay put the stone right on it.

I second that, the top soil should go, plus it will give you "depression to fill" making the pad level rather than elevated. Local yard can usually recommend a mixture of crushed stone and fill (stone dust, etc.) that will bind well when put down. You don't need any fabric or plastic under the pad, that's usually to prevent weeds from coming up, any pad that has stone dust in it will kill anything trying to come up. You rigs aren't that heavy 3 inches ought to do it, I'd start with a full truck load, they don't like to deliver partial loads anyway and start spreading. Back breaking, you could rent a bobcat steer skid for a day for relatively short dollar, which could also help with soil removal.
I had a pad like that put on my property, about 50 x 20. It was 5 inches deep but my rig weighs almost 23,000 pounds and the three rear axles are 18,000 pounds. There was a backhoe on the property for other work so that made it easy and the after the stone spread the guy that did it simply ran the delivery truck back and forth over the pad to tamp it down.

hjs

vraines · 11-12-2013, 07:30 AM

Old-timers used to tell me that you should put down the gravel at the right sign of the moon. I think they might have been right, but I never knew what sign was the right one. Your motor home is probably not heavy enough to require top soil removal, but if it were much heavier, that would be the best long range option. Grass will grow no matter what mix you use, so that is what they make weed killer for.

oldkartracer · 11-12-2013, 07:35 AM

I had a driveway "paved" with ground asphalt (the stuff they have when they mill a road surface for re-paving).

If there is a road project in your area, I would go for it. It was dumped and spread, then packed by driving on it. I could drive a hard-tire fork lift on it, and the stuff didn't sink into the dirt underneath.

Half Dimes · 11-12-2013, 12:21 PM

In our case, with very sandy soil, we had a guy come in, level the area, dump about 6 inches of what passes for denser sand, and then add about 3 inches of #57 gravel on top of that. Only compaction was him driving back and forth with his front loader and me doing the same with my truck later. That was in 2001 and it is holding up well. The section exposed to the elements is extremely hardpacked and grey colored while the portion under a 20x40 shelter looks like it was put in last week.

TravisNuwa81 · 11-12-2013, 01:26 PM

I will relay all this awesome knowledge onto my buddy. I think we may be able to do this!

Mr_D · 11-12-2013, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

That usually is all it takes. Be sure to have a bit of slope or crown in the pad to aid in draining.

Water will drain through gravel just fine without any slope or crown. They even make asphalt that is open enough that water goes through it.

Mr_D · 11-12-2013, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hjsdds

I second that, the top soil should go, plus it will give you "depression to fill" making the pad level rather than elevated. Local yard can usually recommend a mixture of crushed stone and fill (stone dust, etc.) that will bind well when put down. You don't need any fabric or plastic under the pad, that's usually to prevent weeds from coming up, any pad that has stone dust in it will kill anything trying to come up. You rigs aren't that heavy 3 inches ought to do it, I'd start with a full truck load, they don't like to deliver partial loads anyway and start spreading. Back breaking, you could rent a bobcat steer skid for a day for relatively short dollar, which could also help with soil removal.
I had a pad like that put on my property, about 50 x 20. It was 5 inches deep but my rig weighs almost 23,000 pounds and the three rear axles are 18,000 pounds. There was a backhoe on the property for other work so that made it easy and the after the stone spread the guy that did it simply ran the delivery truck back and forth over the pad to tamp it down.

hjs

One of my jobs over the 30 years I worked for the WA DOT was subgrade and grading inspection as well as design.
The fabric keeps the gravel from compressing down into the subgrade. We used a lot of it over slightly wet areas.

C-PHartley · 11-12-2013, 02:00 PM

I used crushed concrete 3 inches thick covered with a shell and concrete mix. This was all delivered and rough spread as it came off the dump truck. I was able to level it with a garden rake. Very inexpensive in our area.

tuffr2 · 11-12-2013, 07:20 PM

I just used 21.5 tons of #2B sandstone on my parking area. Sandstone is multicolor and looks nice after a few rains. It also packs nice. Sandstone will wear down in time. I plan to find out how long it will last.

Two people with strong backs and a wheel barrow or better yet, know someone with a skid loader. A 30' X 30' area I would say 12 to 15 ton should do it.

I had a friend with a 21 HP diesel Kubota tractor with a front loader. It took about 90 minutes to spread the 21.5 ton.