Making a parking spot for coach?

[Tully]

Going to be parking the coach at home / side of garage.

Any special thoughts on how and what I need to do to prepare to park the coach.

Was thinking concrete or brick pavers.

Instead of going 10 or 11 feet wide, thought I might just have two strips of either concrete or brick pavers at around 3 feet wide per strip. Would this be enough area to pull and park coach on?

Any input would be nice.

Tully Lee Garrett

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hi Tully, what part of the country are you in?
A picture of the potential site would help.
Pavers and concrete strips can work, but regardless of what you use you will need a properly prepared base, with good drainage.
If you want the pavers and strips for aesthetic reasons that is one thing, but if you are trying to save money, it will probably cost more than a broadly paved area.
Give us a little more info and you will get some good ideas back.

[Tully]

I am situated on an 1.2 acres. Village zoning says unit has to be on side of garage or back of home. Since there is a creek towards back of home, do not want to chance flooding.

Now drainage will not be an issue since this is on a slight dip and naturally the water will drain away.

Now I never thought about pea gravel. May not be an bad idea.

I just did not want to dump $5 or 6K into this project. I would like to keep cost/s down. On the other hand, I have no problem with doing things right. My thoughts are the next party looking to buy my house probably does not want a 40x10 concrete slab taking up the yard.

Tully Lee Garrett

[garyde]

Ok, here's the issue. Depending on the wieght of your Prevost, you will need
6"-8" of crushed rock and a minimum of 6" of Concrete w/ rebar. Your approach to the pad also needs Crushed rock as well. In wet weather, you don't want your coach sinking down to the axles, so it would be best to consult a grading & paving contractor.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Tully, what I meant by what part of the country, was, New England, Mid West, South Central, Pacific Northwest, stuff like that.

Does it freeze where your at, rain a lot.

Your dealing with a vehicle weighing in at aro 50,000#, that's 12,000# on each corner(nominally).

Just to get to your pad you had better have a good existing drive, or it is going to hell fast.

At the very least you need to excavate the area to remove the topsoil, and get down to firm subsoil.
Upon that you need a layer of large gravel, not P gravel, and on that a finer gravel. (any P gravel you put in without the base will disappear, over, and over again!)
That surface should be compacted.
Your finish pavement or pavers would go onto that.
Get 3 estimates from contractors and then pass it buy us again for more ideas. At least that way you will know what the correct job will cost.

[Tully]

Will do just that. Will get three estimates and jump back to the boards with numbers/info.

Live South of Chicago. Brutal cold winters.

Tully Lee Garrett

[rfoster]

Tully: Gary ain't kidding about 6" of concrete with rebar. To be safe I would recommend a minimum of 7" with rebar. I built a new house 6 years ago and spent mega bucks on concrete driveways. Just this past year I spent another 10 big ones repairing the concrete behind the house due to the weight of the bus and insufficient concrete thickness.

Pay me now or pay me later.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Tully I work with these types on a daily basis. Ozinga is the big guy, Davidson concrete is just as reliable but less expensive. A load of stone for base delivered is gonna be around 22 ton @ 8bucks a ton plus delivery, around another 100. You want CA-6 for base. The closest quarry to you is Vulcan Laraway Rd.

Concrete delivered is, I'm guessin here between, 75 and 100 bucks a yard. If you call a concrete co. with dimensions they will tell you how many yards you need.

I could steer you to a concrete contractor or I do not know how ambitious you are but with a bobcat rental to remove the topsoil you could do this yourself and save a bunch. Do you have somewhere to loose the spoils out back? If not you could hire an excavator to remove the topsoil and haul it away. I can bring you the CA-6 and frame it yourself. Then hire a concrete finisher for a couple of hours the day of the pour. That is how I would do it.

I can help with any or all aspects of that job, just ask.

I park on a bed of CA-6, period. Pavers would be nice but you would almost have to have them on a concrete pad to keep them from cracking, sinking and shifting. At minimum you would have to go that extra mile in base preparation. I would not suggest pavers. You could however have concrete dyed and stamped to look just like pavers with the right finisher.

[Ray Davis]

No one mentioned it, but I would assume that if you ever want to get under the coach, that it would be much easier on a full concrete bed, rather than a row of pavers?

Ray

[Tully]

Joe (Cannarozzi):

I may need some help or referal on this job. Will hold tight first and see what the first estimate comes in at. Should have by the end of the day and will post.

Thanks everyone.

Tully Lee Garrett

[Tully]

Ok, got my first quote back. My concern is having a huge concrete slab out in the yard. Considering re-sale value here...

The contractor suggested heavy duty brick pavers. Said that they can always be taken out real easy if need be.

He quote: 40 feet long for coach- going to do two strips (3) feet wide.
25 feet long for approach- two strips (3) feet wide each.

Going to dig down to good base and use (8) inches of gravel and (2) inches
of sand and top of with a heavy duty brick paver brick.

$3200.00 turn key.

He is aware of the weight issue at around 45,000lbs or so and says this
would have no problem holding coach.

This seems pretty decent. Plus I like the idea of the strips and brick looking better than concrete.

Thoughts?

Tully

[Alek&Lucia]

Tully,

I would try 45' long runway. I see 45' Prevost in your future :)

Alek

[JIM KELLER]

A three foot wide strip is too narrow. It will be hard to keep the tires on two strips that wide unless the approach is straight and you have a hundred feet to get lined up. Remember the front end of these things will move almost sideways. IFS more so than straight axles. If the Bus is parked full time on the strips I would have to think you would have dirt under the Bus because grass wont grow. Also a little harder to keep insects out of the Bus. If you ever plan on getting under the Bus to inspect or do maintenance you will be out of luck. You could raise it with the air suspension but couldn't go under it because you wouldn't have any place to put Jack Stands. I encourage you to think real hard about a concrete slab. Besides, when sell the house the next owner would already have a slad for another building or greenhouse type structure.

[Tully]

Well if I am at 3 fett on each side- gives me 6 feet. How wide would I need to go to be safe if I did a full slab? 10 feet? 11 feet? 12 feet?

Tully

[tdelorme]

Tully, the wider and longer the better. If you only go 10 wide you will be working on the coach, loading the coach and even walking around the coach either on the grass or dirt or whatever is next to the slab. Twelve feet wide at least.

[Alek&Lucia]

Jim is right in every point, and if you will have dirt under the Bus because grass wont grow you will have all kind of critters living there. They will also try to explore inside of your bus very quick :mad:

Alek

[dalej]

If I were doing it and you have the room, 14x50 slab. When you get the bus centered on the slab you will be able to open the back doors, open the bay doors and drop the front bumper and not have to leave the cement.

Get a set of Jon's bus stands on the next production run and you'll be ready to do some of your own maintenance.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

And more importantly you will have a sufficiently wide apron around the coach so the ladder you use to wash, dry and wax the coach will be on a solid, level slab and not half on concrete and half on grass.

Actually it is almost a sin to not have a coach under cover. The damages of the elements will equal the cost of a garage over time, not to mention the savings on routine maintenance if the coach is under cover and available for service.

But then down here in redneck country (all over the country I guess) I see folks parking $40,000 cars in the driveway because the garage is so filled with crap that wouldn't be worth the trouble to sell at a garage sale. So maybe a garage is not that important to some. I need a garage to protect my slack adjuster polish.

[flyu2there]

Oh Jon,

You said a dirty word...what's up with this wash and wax stuff?? Arizona has an endless supply of RV Washers and Waxers who will do the job for 125.00 (including paste wax). Yeah, I know you have to follow them with your own rag to get off what they left behind but at the end of the day your ahead of the game rather than wasting valuable heartbeats doing that task yourself:D

I agree with the perimeter pad but disagree with working as a cleaning engineer.

I have a bus port, rather car port...that works fairly well at keeping the elements off but once again, I am in the desert where they store airliners outside because of the very lo humidity. No corrosion here, lotsa dust however.....

Did you pick up that can of undercoating for your slack adjusters yet??

John

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I think that your concern of a concrete pad or any kind of a parking area adjacent to a garage would be an impediment to a future sale is 180 degrees out. As a buyer I would love to see something like that weather i had a bus or not. I think nowadays on the average most folks are carrying enough extra baggage to utilize it in one fashion or another.

[Tully]

Well my situation is a little different. I have a 4 car garage attached to the house. Last year built a 2 1/2 car garage (detached) and set back just a bit with a concrete drive. So, there is really a ton of concrete already on the property. The main drive is 35 feet wide by 35 feet. The second drive is 12 feet by 38 feet. Now having to put in another 10 or 12 by 40 feet of more concrete just might be over-kill.

I had all the garage space for my car collection which I have as of late sold off. Had I been into the buses I probably would not have built the second garage and drive and the slab would probably not be an issue.

The real concern is that I had parked the American Dream at the house several times over the past six months with no problem. Then one of my neighbors (pretty certain) called the fuzz on me twice. So, two tickets.
Figured I did not want to bring something even bigger home, park on street and cause even more friction.

Thought by doing the brick paver strips would at least off set all the hard scape. Have a close friend who will be doing most of the maint. at his shop so this space at home will pretty much be dedicated to parking and loading only.

I am pretty upset the the neighbor would shake my hand with one hand and behind the curtain call the police. But, this happens a lot I guess.

I do have an office where I will be parking unit at as well at times. It is just the fact that I do not even feel safe parking this rig on the street just to load. The police were that firm about the prior rig. Said to load it in the drive. Not possible, hence wanting to at least pull off the street and load. Also, this is a big investment for me and would like to keep an eye on it. Not a fan of parking this thing at a storage unit.

So, everything is still up in the air. I just did not want to dump 10k into a full blown pad. Someone had even mentioned doing just gravel. Not certain if that is an option. I just canot decide what to do on it.

Tully

[Alek&Lucia]

How about converting one of the garages to a Prevost garage ?
Raise the roof and .....

[Tully]

The good old village has a height restriction. That is an fantastic idea though.

Tully

[lewpopp]

How come Joe wants you to put a "sink" in the pad. I guess if the "sink" was too small, it really would be out of the "sink".

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Seriously Tully, to get a usable answer, you need to give more complete and descriptive info up front.
With that data we might be able to come up with a solution you will like.
How about some pictures of the drive, garages, yard area, and whatever else might help.
What is the height restriction, what are your setbacks.
Will you be able to make the turn into your drive?
Is existing your drive up to the weight of the bus.
Where will you plow your snow?

Somehow I see a move in the near future. :D

[Tully]

Well this is going to be complicated. Since I do not know how to link a photo. 1) Go to zillow.com
2) Type in my address: 1464 Creekside Ct, New Lenox, Il. 60451
3) You will see a image of neighborhood. It is old. Just below the
image you will see my address underlined in blue. Click on this.
4) Now a new updated image will appear.
5) Click on Orange side-ways triangle that says
"See Larger Birds Eye View"
6) Top image is my current home with new garage and layout.
The spruce trees in-line are mine and would make nice barrier.
7) Click maginf. glass with "-" to zoom out.
8) You can hit North/South/East/West. Click on West.


This view will show you what I have space-wise on the size of the garage
that is detached.

From the street there are three spruce trees. I would take the middle one out for access and with give me a width of 14 fee to drive through. Was going to transplant that tree where the other row of spruces are on the property line to give a better barrier so neighbors do not have to contend so much with the view of coach.

The secondary garage is 24/24 in size.

If you are able to link the photo for me that will really help.

I know the above sounds real complicated. It is the only way I know to give you an idea.

Tully

[Petervs]

Here is a new idea, assuming you are backing in, how about pavers most of the way, but concrete for the last 15 feet or so, say 12-14 feet wide, so the rear wheels are on concrete when parked, and all the parts you normally want to work on are over the concrete too. If you need to work on the front end just turn the coach around.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Very Nice Property Tully. http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=5416429

I have to agree with the other guys about not building anything just to fit the current size you think you need, CAUSE you never know what will happen in the next year or two.

I have forgotten have you got a bus yet, or are you still looking?

My completely enclosed storage place, which is one of the biggest I could find around my area, is 14' x 14' x 50'. I have an XLII 45', and it still is very tight. I have to let the air out of the suspension to get under garage door, satellite and all.

But anyway, building bigger than you need is always a good thing. Are you sure you can't use the existing garage off to the side somehow and incorporate a complete enclosed garage for the bus? Deed restrictions frown more on seeing a big bus outside, than the nicely built enclosed garage holding it inside?

Good Luck. All the other guys will have better ideas than me about what and how to solve your dilemma.

Gary S.

[Tully]

Thank for putting up a link. The Village has no restriction other than the unit has to be parked on the side of the house/garage or in the back. Very open with no restrictions. Now this a brand new ordinance. So that is good.

The 90 Country Coach is being delivered to me next Saturday. I have to drive up to Crystal Lake which I think is above an hour plus away from my home. The seller is driving from Sedona Arizona. The coach I ended up buying was and is listed on philcooper.com. It is the one listed for $119,500.

I just do not want to leave this coach at a storage facility. I am certain the two neighbors to my right will not be very happy. I was not very happy that one of them (not certain which) called the Heat on me. But, I figure if I can park this off the street and on the side of the garage with a little landscpe. design, I will be within the city guidelines. Each house is on 1.25 acres with a wide open culdasac. Did not think parking out on the culdasac from time to time (in front of my property) would be an issue- I guess it was.

Once I figure out this issue the other big issue is going to be to start the project and either figure out how I am going to inform the neighbor of what I am doing or just do it the "letter perfect" of the law and let it be no business of theirs.

Tully

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Tully, here are three solutions for you.

1. Move; your beautiful new house and landscaped yard would be over improved and very difficult to sell if you add any more features that have a limited buying audience. Short of tearing down, or moving and reconfiguring your new garage, anything you do will only be "getting by" at best.

2. Add the pad.
Be sure to see if the bus makes it around your culdesac before you construct anything!
Stake out your area and get an approved and signed Zoning permit before you begin any work!!!!
Include a 50 A plug, you probably already have water.
I think that you wanted to add the bus drive to the outside space next to your new garage.
IMHO that is the wrong place. You should place it between the house and the garage. Pave the whole area and you will have a patio when the bus is not there, and for a new owner when you do want to sell. The bus door will also be closer to the house because you will pull in, and the windshield will not face the street and be a target for stones from your good neighbors.
The existing concrete drive will allow access to that area.
Add 4 more evergreens to the front and 3 to the side for better neighbor relations.
You said the contractor thought the pavers etc would support the bus. Make him put it in writing.
What will you be using the new garage for now??????????
Make a good gravel base and use pavers and asphalt in combination or alone, as they are more natural looking than sterile concrete.

3. You implied, by reference to depreciation that your bus would have some relation to your business. In that case have your business buy an existing "place" to store the bus, and possibly other business property, (records, furniture, equipment), or the land on which you would build a new structure. This could be similar to a Southern RV Port Home, but up North, in reverse if you will, for when you semi retire to Tn, and want to be in the Office location to live and work from the bus. Google earth shows you live in a semi rural area so unzoned land would be available (in a township/unincorporated area.

Sorry you got M P D, GOOD LUCK :p
:DJIM

[garyde]

On my property, I installed a 12' wide driveway on the edge of the property line all the way to the back of the lot. My property is a large rectangle, 120 X 210 feet approx. Except at the front, no one notices the driveway, because I have a 6 foot hedge all the way back as well. No one cares about where its parked because my neighbor on the closest side do not use that portion of the back yard anyway. So, if you can install a nice sand gravel driveway to the back and no one has a primary view out your way, just go ahead and do it. Then have a BBQ and invite the whole neighborhood!

[Tully]

Not certain what you mean by sand / gravel drive? Is that all that is used?

Tully

[garyde]

Hi Tully. You have a grading contractor grade the drive, apply 8 inches of rock base, and finish it off with colored gravel (3-4 inches) of you choice.

[Tully]

That might be an option. Never thought of that before.

Tully

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Regardless if you put something over it or not if you have a solid base I can spread a load of gravel and accept a very slight amount of shovel work afterwards will not need ANY grading at all after it hits the ground.

There is nobody better at this.

[Tully]

Ok, got a party who wants to do my drive. He says to do correct would need a good base, 5 inches of gravel and 8 inches of concrete? Seems a little over-kill. Anyone has thoughts on what is actually needed to do the job right?

Tully

[garyde]

The base should be 6 inches of base rock. The Cement should be re-inforced 6 inch concrete, 2000 psi. Use min. #4 rebar 18 inch O.C. two directions.
Expansion joints every 10 feet when finishing cement. Salt finish, broom finish, or whatever.
I had a 12 inch Brick paver enlayed every ten feet on my drive to break up the concrete look.

[Tully]

Great idea on the brick pavers to help break up the concrete jungle look. Will use that idea.

Tully