Driveway Help

[firebroad]

firebroad - thanks for the compliment. We are very blessed to have our property! I might price out some of those blocks - wouldn't they want to move all over seasonally though?

Yes, they might heave out, but if you sink them in properly, they shouldn't be too much of a problem. Sand is useful, and I'll bet there are plenty around here who could advise you.

 

[seeyal8r]

100% free. Look in the phone book under 'material testing lab' or the like. Every construction project usually requires concrete testing. They usually make concrete cylinders for compression testing. The cylinders are either 6" diameter and 12" tall or 4" diameter and 8" long. They will have 100s of them and be willing to give away for someone to haul off. usually made of 4,000 psi concrete. Some may be damaged. See pic..... During peak times in the summer we make 1,000 of these a month.

 

[ironpony]

Here's a pic taken almost from the street - you get the idea of the amorphous border I have going on .....

There's probably another 200' of drive behind the house.

take small bites, frame enough for about three yards of concrete every Sat. morning
keep chugging along and it will be done
I bordered everything with concrete and filled in with pavers 3500 sq ft worth up towards the house
asphalt down from there
that picture is the beginning of the pavers
the driveway is 425 feet long thru the woods to the road

 

[sowers25]

I own a paving company and we also do concrete. There's pros and cons to each. Asphalt will be 1/2 or less the price of concrete, but will not last quite as long. They both have their own appeal depending on your taste, both with the prep work done properly will take care of your weed problems, but asphalt has more of a tendencie to have weeds grow up through it and to have the sides crumble than concrete. The railroad ties would be the way to go except for the fact that your driveway is curvy and would be hard to a little less appealing to the eye since you would have so many bends. A nice edging boarder would look nice, but like you mentioned before, the plow would take it out most likely and you would still have to spray a weed killer at minimum twice a year to keep them at bay. One other suggestion I have if you want to go the cheaper route than some form of paving is asphalt millings. If you don't already know that is ground up recycled asphalt, u could call your local asphalt supplier to see if they sell it. I packs much better than gravel and won't wash away when it rains. This product is what alot of people use that live on steep hills, don't have the money to pave, and get tired of their driveways getting washed out. If you lay it on a nice hot day, spray a little diesel fuel on it, then roll it with a decent size roller it almost looks like regular asphalt. Just so you know asphalt paving will probably cost you around $2 sq ft and concrete $4.

 

[Eatonpcat]

Here's a pic taken almost from the street - you get the idea of the amorphous border I have going on .....

There's probably another 200' of drive behind the house.

take small bites, frame enough for about three yards of concrete every Sat. morning
keep chugging along and it will be done
I bordered everything with concrete and filled in with pavers 3500 sq ft worth up towards the house
asphalt down from there
that picture is the beginning of the pavers
the driveway is 425 feet long thru the woods to the road

Awesome looking property Ironpony!!

Embarassed after seeing yours, but here is mine!!

 

[ironpony]

Here's a pic taken almost from the street - you get the idea of the amorphous border I have going on .....

There's probably another 200' of drive behind the house.

take small bites, frame enough for about three yards of concrete every Sat. morning
keep chugging along and it will be done
I bordered everything with concrete and filled in with pavers 3500 sq ft worth up towards the house
asphalt down from there
that picture is the beginning of the pavers
the driveway is 425 feet long thru the woods to the road

Awesome looking property Ironpony!!

Embarassed after seeing yours, but here is mine!!

Thank you, I wish I had a place for a little bridge.
looks like you have some nice privacy

 

[bears12th]

I used these from Home Depot: (broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Landscape-Supplies-Pavers-Step-Stones/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbx4bZ12kx/R-100619511/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053)

Heres what it looks like now, not the greatest, but works for trim nicely and you can angle it easily. Easy to work with, not the most expensive option, not the cheapest. Can easily weed between or place landscaping fabric below it if you would like to give that a go. Been in for two year now and have had no problems. Dig down and level em the height of the driveway and it will even expand your drive way a bit and you can easily use your plow over em if level.

Hope the pic works, I am horrible at this tech stuff.

 

[Flatbedford]

Embarassed after seeing yours

If that is embarrassing, I will never post a picture of my place here. :red:

 

[Eatonpcat]

Here's a pic taken almost from the street - you get the idea of the amorphous border I have going on .....

There's probably another 200' of drive behind the house.

take small bites, frame enough for about three yards of concrete every Sat. morning
keep chugging along and it will be done
I bordered everything with concrete and filled in with pavers 3500 sq ft worth up towards the house
asphalt down from there
that picture is the beginning of the pavers
the driveway is 425 feet long thru the woods to the road

Awesome looking property Ironpony!!

Embarassed after seeing yours, but here is mine!!

Thank you, I wish I had a place for a little bridge.
looks like you have some nice privacy

Actually it's not such a little bridge...When I bought the property, It had one 8'-0" diameter steel tank with the ends removed in the culvert. When that one washed out, I dug it up and put in two 10'-0" diameter tanks (The rim on one got broke when we were setting them). Because of the cracked rim, that tank slowly got crushed by the propane and other delivery trucks. What you see in the picture is a 25'-0" wide X 7'-0" high aluminum culvert that we put together and installed. A few years later we formed it up and poured concrete. The rail (still not complete) came a little later.

One of the two 10'-0" diameter tanks after we removed it.

Here is the Culvert we put together (Must have been a million bolts)

And finally this is what we used to set the beast

Moral of my story...If your wife says "I love the little creek that runs through this propery, Lets build here", Run from that property as fast as you can ;-P

 

[gzecc]

I always liked the metal edging. Quite expensive but nice. Rent a trencher for a day then install yourself.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=e2EYT5mPJonu0gHzxfjECw&ved=0CHwQ8wIwAA#

 

[HeatsTwice]

Thats 25% lower than the price I previously found at:

http://www.grandinroad.com/everedge-lawn-edging/153152

Good find. I like that stuff. But of course I don't have to plow snow.

Its used all over the wineries here in the Napa/Sonoma area and looks great. Mostly see it in high foot traffic areas though. Not low auto traffic areas.

 

[timfromohio]

Metal stuff looks nice, but way too expensive.

 

[ironpony]

Yes, quite large
pictures are decieving
I would of guessed maybe 12 foot long 8 foot wide
that was a large project for sure

 

[lukem]

Metal stuff looks nice, but way too expensive.

Metal stuff looks nice, for a while, but it will eventually heave out of the ground (given the almost daily freeze-thaw cycles of a midwest winter). I've installed miles of that stuff, and unless your terrain is pretty flat, it can be a pain to install too.

I wonder how much it would cost to have someone come out and pour a curb on each side of the drive-way? Those machines they have lay them down pretty quick, and it wouldn't be a ton in materials. It might be crazy expensive, but worth thinking about.

 

[timfromohio]

Pouring a curb is an excellent idea.

 

[sowers25]

Pouring a curb should run you around $15 a linear foot

 

[lukem]

Pouring a curb should run you around $15 a linear foot

Ouch. I think he could pour the whole driveway for about the cost of a curb down each side.

 

[timfromohio]

Concrete is just too expensive. I keep going back to RR ties.