Cap Concrete Block RV Pad

[lots2seeinmyrv]

Has anyone used the Cap Concrete Blocs to use as a Pad to park the trailer on?

I wanted to make it big enough to just put the tires on and off the grass.

Cap Concrete 3.6" x 7.6" x 15" wide

Or they have the Concrete pavers 12" x 12" Square.

Clicky Lowe's


Will they hold the weight or crack?

Thank you.

[christopherglen]

I have clay in the front yard, and back the boat over it to get it out and put away. I was rutting it something fierce. Ended up digging out 8 inches or so, putting in a bit of gravel to level it, and a 5 inch slab of cement, with 1" rebar running end to end. I park my diesel dually on the "path", and no wear / cracking at all. Clay heaves as it dry's out and gets wet again, which is why I went with rebar.

[chag67]

The cap blocks do not have any aggregate in them and are very weak. You can prep the ground sufficiently with thick layer of stone and then place the pavers. They may last depending on your location and subsurface preparation. Plus they allow grass to grow through the cracks. Grass under the RV while being stored is a no-no (so I've heard).


I am a civil engineer (my license is in geotechnical). Your subgrade (dirt below the pavement profile) is the most important factor in determining how long your pavement will last.

If I was doing an area on my property, in the Alabama area, to support a parking load of an RV with a weight of about 14,000 - 20,000 lbs, I would first have about 12" of compacted soil (non plastic clay/sand mixture - this is typical in my area). Then I would place 4" of crushed stone. Then a minimum of 6" of 4,000 psi concrete.

Remember that you will also be stopping, starting, and turning on the pad. This adds additional forces that will impact the soil under the stone and concrete. If the soil under the stone and concrete is not prepared properly, potholes and rutting will occur.

[down_home]

Those cap blocks crumble pretty easily. They are porous just like cinder blocks.
They adsorb a lot of moisture and will freeze and crumble and break.
They have little strength and can be broke with modest impact or pressures.
Someone may make concrete blocks however.
Depending on the part of the Country you are in you may be able to get thick slabs of stone from a quarry. I say that on my Uncle in the fifties using that for a walkway and patio. They were six inches or so thick and very heavy, of course.
A firm base down at least to frost line and top six inches of the new mix that is rock and concrete dust or dry concrete leveled and tamped down you can put just about any pavers including paving brick on it and remove broken ones over time if any develop.

[fpresto]

There are different types of pavers. Walkway pavers which, depending on the size of the trailer, number of axles, etc., will probably not last too long without cracking and driveway pavers which are designed to handle higher loads and would probably work.

[afidel]

Tom/Barb wrote:

lots2seeinmyrv wrote:


Will they hold the weight or crack?

Thank you.

I tried These and they cracked, looked bad, so we removed them and made a pad of crushed stone. 18" deep 12' wide 45' long.

Huh, we used some at my parents house to widen the driveway when I got my license, put down stone dust and pea gravel as the base over the near ubiquitous clay we have here and 21 years later they're still fine despite freeze thaw and all of that time. Of course you can't see them except in the most extreme of droughts because the grass has overgrown them and soil washed over them but the last time we had a bad drought followed by a heavy rain some were exposed and I saw no problems. Perhaps like many things they were made better back then.

[ksg5000]

I use simple some cheap 12x12 concrete squares (purchased at Big Box store) which sit on gravel - your goal is to get the tires away from water etc not to survive Armageddon. They are small enough for me to move and adjust to keep the rig level as the gravel compresses. Has worked for 15+ yrs.

[TNGW1500SE]

Pour a pad. The blocks are going to move around. If one side of a block has weight it's going to sink in on that side and pop up on the other side. Just pour a pad. By the time you buy all the block and screw with it the pad will be worth any extra cost.

[lots2seeinmyrv]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I think the bricks are a good idea too.

[mobeewan]

lots2seeinmyrv wrote:
Has anyone used the Cap Concrete Blocs to use as a Pad to park the trailer on?

I wanted to make it big enough to just put the tires on and off the grass.

Cap Concrete 3.6" x 7.6" x 15" wide

Or they have the Concrete pavers 12" x 12" Square.

Clicky Lowe's


Will they hold the weight or crack?

Thank you.

I placed several side by side in lieu of end to end on top of the ground in 2 rows to park the trailer tires on. This made it a little easier to crawl under the middle of the trailer and under the waste tanks. I also made the curb side row I little longer so it would tip the trailer to help dump the tanks better. Then I would push the trailer back onto the other blocks to level it out while parked. I also added the 2 inch thick concrete cap blocks end to end for about 10 feet leading up to the 4 inch thick blocks.

I was starting to make ruts in the ground moving the trailer in and out of theyard when the ground was soaked after raining.

Some of the 2 inch cracked but none of the 4 inch have cracked but my concern was stopping the ruts. Where I didn't put blocks I placed crushed stone in the rest of the ruts. Grass has covered over the stone.

[2012Coleman]

Why not build your own? Make a form with 2X6's, dig holes, get the QuickKrete mix, maybe get some rebar and rebar chairs, line the bottom with pea gravel, mix up the concrete in a wheel barrow, set the rebar and pour in concrete.

[goducks10]

I would just pour a 4" pad using 3000 PSI concrete the size that you need plus some extra. Make sure the ground under is hard packed with some 3/4 minus.
FWIW I park my 5th wheel on a gravel pad. It's never totally level. This spring/summer I'm going to pour 2- 2'X 5'X 8" deep pads 8' apart.
I could see those concrete blocks cracking pretty easy.

[westend]

The concrete pavers sold at the big box stores will only support foot traffic. As they weather, they will crack, even if left unloaded. This is because they are formed out of weak material and are semi-porous.

[drmopar]

Use bricks. They will support all the weight you want.

[Alabama_Jim]

I used the 3 inch thick pads and they held up fine. It was not easy for me to drive on them as they are a small target. You could build a frame to the size of pad you want and pour in sacks of cement.