The kind of hybrid surface I park my enclosed trailer on is functional, well drained and works. It was a good bit of manual labor though. I did have the disadvantage of needed to dig out about 3cy of soil to create the relatively flat spot for the trailer spot near my shed in the backyard. That was one very sore Sunday digging all that out by hand. If I ever do something like that again, "rent-a-hoe" here I come. I did the passing though on pouring concrete, but ready-mix ain't cheap, and trying to float something 12' wide with limited help was too ambititous even for me.
So what I did was a mix of stone and pavers. The subbase of the parking spot is 6" of quarry process/DGA, and from a patio/basketball hoop project going on at the same time, I used the leftover 12"x12" concrete pavers to create a pair of 2' wide "runners" for the trailer tires to sit on. Another couple pavers are placed near where the tongue jack comes down for a solid surface there. Since road base stone is ugly gray and will grow weeds better than potting soil, for surfacing I got a delivery of landscaping stone, with what I picked out a lava rock that is a dark red, tan and brown that goes well with the house and shed siding, the red patio pavers, backyard fence and landscaping. The space has about a 2.5% grade back to front. It never ever has water standing, as the landscape stone has a lot of voids and the DGA is well drained. I have this same surfacing section on the entire path I drive the trailer on to get it from the driveway to the parkign spot, and it has held up really well since I got it all finished in 2005. The trailer is going on 6 years old and the steel frame underneath looks great.
Materials all-in to do this for one spot would be under $500 delvered.
(on edit - added a picture of the finished job)
Last edited by preparedcivic; 11-14-2010 at 07:17 PM.
Rob Foley
Race: ITB '87 CRX Si
Autocross: GP '86 Civic Si
I did four 12X25 pieces to make my driveway double wide beside the garage. I did all that about 20 years ago and did all the work as mentioned above with two friends. Not the same two friends each time though - now they don't answer the phone when I call.
I did the slabs to park my motorhome and trailer. All in all, the front two slabs have held up very well but the third slab where the motorhome parks all the time has broken up somewhat. I did four inches of concrete and probably should have done six inches there with additional reinforcement.
In those days, concrete was only about 27 dollars a yard so each slab was reasonable. The prep work and labor was free (excluding beer and excedrin) but you really abuse your buddies when they aren't used to it.
Beside my latest garage, I put down about 10 yards of 3/4 inch gravel to park my open trailer and a couple cars. Even compacted, it seems too fluffy for me to consider using as a motorhome parking area.
I've done the ready-mix trailers with a yard bucket for shed slabs and they work well but aren't good for a larger slab.
I've also got a couple old Sears mixers and will do stairs and sidewalks on occasion but usually stop at about a half yard now (5 loads). Carrying sand and gravel in 5 gallon buckets isn't as easy as it used to be.
Hire the pros to do your slab.
Chuck
A bit late on the timeing but I've seen it done and taken it on myself. Flatwork contractors work f'ing hard and its not easy to get it right.
I did a 25x40 apron in front of my shop a couple of years ago. I had about $3100 into it when I was done, my labor, preferential pricing on the 18 yards of concrete. This included rental of bobcat, plate compactor and backfill materials and rebar etc. I took it down 2-3 feet and backfilled w/ sound fill. It took me several weekends through the fall, then one day w/ me plus 6 guys to place the concrete. It came out OK, it heaves in one corner and has a couple of low spots that puddle.
It kicks ass for things though. Basket ball, roller blades, working on cars outside, keeping dirt out of the shop.
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