Digging up the flower beds for caravan parking.

[otherclive]

I have started to prepare an area of garden as a storage area for the caravan. At present the van sits at the side of the drive but whilst I can park three cars they all have to be moved in sequence to get the middle and front one off. Now for the first time in years I don't own a high ground clearance SUV so cannot drive straight over the lawn and pavement. So parallel to the side of the drive is an area of garden 1.7m wide and 7m long which I plan to use to allow the van to be moved over by about half of its width. I plan to take the soil down by 150mm (6inch) and back fill with 50m of ballast. Then there will be two rows of BSS (Council) slabs 600x400x50mm. One row will run immediately adjacent to the existing side edge of the drive. This row of slabs will take the nosewheel. Then further across will be a parallel row of paving slabs to take the caravans off side wheel. I plan to bed the slabs onto 50mm of fine concrete so they will then be level with the height of the drive. Then I will backfill the remaining excavated areas with 50mm of ballast and finish off with 50mm of slate chips.

Does anyone who has any experience with landscape/drives or has done a similar job think that my approach is sound enough?

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

You may need to check with the council that what you are doing conforms to the new(ish) rules for surface drainage.

Click here

 

[otherclive]

Thanks. I had checked the regulations and am compliant as the concrete pavers don't exceed the area required for permission, the total area concerned drains away from the road and towards a soil area, and the ballast and slate aggregate are both water permeable. Its reeky the strength of the construction to withstand the caravans main wheel weight parked in the same (ish) spot for periods when its at home.

 

[Dustydog]

Clive I did our previous drive using scalpings which we compacted with one of those "thumpers" Compactors you can hire at most Hire shops. All covered over with Council style paving slabs. Not the prettiest but far stronger than your usual patio slabs which seem to crack as soon as you look at them. That said your proposed groundworks will be pretty substantial and should tolerate smaller slabs without cracking. Be prepared for a back ache

 

[otherclive]

Dusty,
thanks I am hoping to avoid having to use a "wacker" as its quite a small area that the two lines of slabs will be covering. I agree with you that the slabs in most DIY places (all made by one of two companies) aren't suitable for much weight. In the main driveways have moved over to the sampler setts and blocks. I have some riven garden slabs at the bottom of the garden near the water butts and they are badly frost damaged without taking any weight I have found a clearance site which has either 50mm or 65mm 450X450mm slabs with inclusive delivery at a reasonable price. They are discounted lines direct from the manufacture.

What depth cement/fine mix did you bed yours in to?

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

We did virtually the same, but we constructed a "runway" of two 6" wide tanalised planks screwed to 3" square post "piers", which were concreted into the ground. Back filled with 20mm shingle. Copes easily with the weight of the caravan / car and was much cheaper than the slab option.

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Clive
I used a semi dry mix of 4 parts sharp sand to 1 part cement about 1" deep.
I did one slab at a time. Ensure the mortar mix supports the entire slab , not the old fashioned 4 or 5 spots.
Finish the pointing off with 2:1 sharp sand cement dry. You can sprinkle some water on the help setting.

 

[Gagakev]

Hi Clive, personally I think you need to go deeper and add more ballast and the "Wacker" is must.
Preparation is the key, you dont want it to sink afer a couple of years which it will do if not prepared properly.
When I did mine [ I did go OTT] a few years ago and it is still in situ as the day it was laid, but I finished off with block pavers.

 

[Mel]

Woz that the time that you nearly blew yourself up with the gas pipe Kev? Perhaps you should warn the OP about the dangers of not very well buried pipes.
Mel

 

[Gagakev]

Woz that the time that you nearly blew yourself up with the gas pipe Kev? Perhaps you should warn the OP about the dangers of not very well buried pipes.
Mel

Mel you are so correct, I'm shuddering just thinking about it hmy:
There you go Clive check for all your utility pipes and cables before digging.
My gas pipe was only about 2" below some old concrete I decided to cut up with a disc cutter and yes straight through it

 

[Martin24]

That's why Kev's 3bar :cheer:

Just a thought that I'm sure you've thought of but van being nose in helps from the security point of view.

 

[Gafferbill]

......I would personally extend your drive to the extra area you require to store the caravan.
I would construct the extension to the same specification as your current drive.

I agree with Kevin that this requires substantial excavation and compaction of the infill or problems will result.
This approach will add value to your property and will increased parking space in a way that is not caravan specific.
I have done this sort of thing myself with block paving on a DIY basis.
I distributed the excavated soil to other parts of the garden to save costs.
Ballast and other materials delivered to site in 1 ton bags or pallets (Wicks)
Wacker Plate hired.

 

[Hutch]

Kev, which pitch or you on at the Woosiefest, I will try and get further away. :woohoo:

 

[otherclive]

Thanks for the replies which are most useful. If I were to extend the drive using existing materials the area of concrete would require me to seek planning approval (£150) even though the slope is away from road drains and onto garden areas. I am sticking to my (mostly) original plan which is to go down to hard clay (about 6 inch down), 2 inch of scalping/ballast then lay the runways with 400x400x65 (not council but driveway/traffic suitable used in office and retail areas) concrete paving slabs which I am having delivered from the makers clearance sale. I will bed the slabs on cement using full area bedding. Where the runways go for nose wheel and off side wheel I will take out the clay substrate to a deeper depth and ram in more scalping/ballast. The near side wheel stays on the existing drive.
The caravan is normally stored nose in as I need access to the door and the Alko wheel lock. It also helps for when I need to jack it up as the hitch can be butted up to the house wall which keeps the van a bit steadier under jacking. But it still doesn't stop Postie taking a short cut to the neighbours. But that will stop when the new storage area is completed unless he can hurdle a three foot fence!

 

[DaveA1]

Hi Clive, personally I think you need to go deeper and add more ballast and the "Wacker" is must.
Preparation is the key, you dont want it to sink afer a couple of years which it will do if not prepared properly.
When I did mine [ I did go OTT] a few years ago and it is still in situ as the day it was laid, but I finished off with block pavers.

I agree with Sir Gag. When I moved into our present home the previous owner had laid slabs on a layer of dry mix straight onto a very thin layer of hardcore, just running the van over the slabs they moved and I could not jack the van up without doing damage to the slabs. I also did mine, dug down a spades depth, I used quarry waste, that was wacked down, then about two inches of sharp sand, again I used the wacker on the sand. I used brick sets and these were wacked down again. I also concreted in a Hitching post whilst I was doing it, for security. That was about seven years ago not moved since.
.

 

[Big S]

Hi Clive,
As others have stated I would go down to at least 300 - 350mm, using MOT type 3 hardcore. after all you will have around 1500 kg of caravan or car on it on a regular basis during it's lifetime.
I recently did over my garden using the grid force system (see www.gridforce.co.uk). I put in 300 mm of hardcore and around 100mm of coarse sand before laying the 40mm grid force system in. I then infilled it with top soil and seeded it. The grass has now established and blends in with the rest of my garden but is solid. Complies with drainage regs as well.
It was hard work doing it but well worth it in the end.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks but grid force is no good for me as the grass wouldn't prosper given a caravan parked over it. If it did prosper it would then need mowing.