Concrete driveway thickness??

[supercub]

I would like to park my motor home on a driveway that I believe is about 3 inches thick of concrete. I have a diesel pusher that weighs about 29,000. The greatest single tire bearing weight is 5500 lbs. Obviously I don't want to cause any damage in the way of cracks or other damage. To be on the safe side I think it would be best to keep my jacks up too. What do you think, would it be safe?

[Bill_Diana]

Standard concrete floor slab thickness in residential construction is 4 inches. Five to six inches is recommended if the concrete will receive occasional heavy loads, such as motor homes or garbage trucks. To prepare the base, cut the ground level to the proper depth to allow for the slab thickness.

[FloridaRosebud]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
I also prefer to use fiber-reinforced concrete to help resist cracking, which may happen anyway.

I'e been told by some of our Civil/Structural Engineers that there are two kinds of concrete; the concrete that has already cracked, and the concrete that hasn't cracked yet.... 😉

Al

[rgatijnet1]

As with any foundation, a driveway/parking pad should be designed for the application. Obviously parts of the parking pad will have no weight on it and other parts will bear the weight of the RV. To make the whole pad the same thickness is a waste of money. The edges need to be thicker because they will get the weight of the RV as the wheels pass over it or when parked. Where the leveler pads rest is also an area that needs additional support. Concrete should be reinforced with steel mesh and rebar where the load will be concentrated. It makes sense to make the supporting areas a little thicker, just like any building foundation. I also prefer to use fiber-reinforced concrete to help resist cracking, which may happen anyway. Rather than waste concrete by pouring the entire slab the same thickness, just design the slab for the coach that it is to support.

[tropical36]

Retired JSO wrote:

ppine wrote:
Concrete highways are normally 4 inches thick to stand up to truck traffic. Call some contractors and ask them. You might be right on the margin of safety.

Driveways are usually 4” thick. Concrete roadways are 8”-12” thick with lots of rebar.

It had better be a good re-enforced 4", if driving a big MH over it.
My next one, with be 6", just to be sure.

[Retired_JSO]

ppine wrote:
Concrete highways are normally 4 inches thick to stand up to truck traffic. Call some contractors and ask them. You might be right on the margin of safety.

Driveways are usually 4” thick. Concrete roadways are 8”-12” thick with lots of rebar.

[map40]

I have a 40 feet Alfa and a 4 inch concrete slab extension. One of the jacks broke the concrete in a month. I would say 6 inches.

[map40]

ppine wrote:
Concrete highways are normally 4 inches thick to stand up to truck traffic. Call some contractors and ask them. You might be right on the margin of safety.

Concrete highways are designed for military vehicles, and they are thicker than 4 inches.

[352]

:?:h

valhalla360 wrote:
The compression strength won't have a lot of impact. The stress cracks form due to tension not compression and concrete is lousy in tension. Thickness and a good compacted base is where it's at.

[miltvill]

I just had a new 112' stamped cement driveway installed. The first 15 feet are part of the city's easement. The city required the easement to be 6" thick. The rest of my driveway is 4" thick. The cement is 3000psi and contains fiber mesh. The city requires the cement to contain a certain amount of fiber mesh so the contractor had to provide documentation to the city before they would sign off on the driveway. The city also required the driveway base to be lime rock which is the same base used for all roads around here. I also asked the contractor to put rebar mesh down just to make me happy. If the city required their part of my driveway to be 6" then I would have gone with 6" for the entire driveway for a heavy coach. The distance from the cement plant to my home was 54 minutes and 4000psi cement sets up to fast for me to have a stamped cement driveway. It was 95 degrees when my driveway was poured.

[Ken_C]

ppine wrote:
Concrete highways are normally 4 inches thick to stand up to truck traffic. Call some contractors and ask them. You might be riI ght on the margin of safety.

I had a 90 Ft driveway and parking pad poured about 6 years ago. I specified 6000# mix with rebar on 24in center 6 Inches thick. Worked well for our prior coach that was 32K lbs and has performed well for over 2 years with our present coach for over 2 years which weighs 42K lbs with no cracks. I do use 1-1/8 plywood under the tires and smaller wood under the jacks, but so far it has performer well

[Joatha]

My Bluebird Wanderlodge weighs north of 20 tons (40K lbs). I just moved to a new house and we put in a pad to park it on. We did 6" of concrete with about 6' of rebar reinforcement on either end of the pad and wire mesh throughout the whole thing. The contractor also used 5000 PSI concrete.

I've been parking the Bird there for about 5 months (after waiting about 7-8 weeks before using it) and so far no cracks. I do recognize that its only a matter of time before it does crack (concrete always does). Also, I watered the concrete daily (or took advantage of rain) after he poured for about 2 weeks. That is supposed to help the strength greatly.

[C20]

Concrete: theft proof, fire proof and guaranteed to crack! We used a 4000# mix, 6" thick and rebar on 12" centers. Saw cut the next day and after 6 years all is good

[mtrumpet]

Bruce Brown wrote:
Add me to the list;

Concrete highways are 12" thick. A 4" highway wouldn't last 24 hours with any real traffic. Heck the 12" ones don't last around here. I'm not a fan a the thump, thump, thumping concrete highways for our part of the country. In the south, sure. In the freeze/thaw areas, not a good idea IMO.

When we built our garage we went with 6" thick, 4000# mix with 1/2" rebar on 12" squares topped with mesh holding the in-floor heating tubes. When it had cured we then did relief cuts so there is no span greater than 16' without a cut.

We live in a heavy freeze/thaw area, the garage was built in 2001. The floor looks as good today as the day we poured it.

With that said, I wouldn't expect good things to happen parking a DP on a 3" slab, but maybe.

X2

I had a brand new driveway put in last year, went with 6" thick, re-bar and mesh reinforcement and also added drainage around the perimeter to keep water from sitting underneath the slabs and freezing in the winter and damaging the concrete.

My previous driveway was supposed to 4" thick. However, when it started to breakup into pieces, there were places where the slabs were barely 2" thick. Turned out that whomever poured the previous driveway cheated on the concrete. As someone else mentioned, how do you know for sure? On my new driveway, I WATCHED them pour it. So, I know.

[Bruce_Brown]

JRscooby wrote:

Bruce Brown wrote:
Add me to the list;

Concrete highways are 12" thick. A 4" highway wouldn't last 24 hours with any real traffic. Heck the 12" ones don't last around here. I'm not a fan a the thump, thump, thumping concrete highways for our part of the country. In the south, sure. In the freeze/thaw areas, not a good idea IMO.

In years past I have made fair paydays hauling the slabs when the state decides to cut out 1 bump to put in 2.

:B

True!