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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
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Tully,
I would try 45' long runway. I see 45' Prevost in your future :)
Alek
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In my Opinion
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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
