I am planning on putting in a carport and I will be installing (putting in, pouring, ect.) a driveway, or maybe I should call it a drive strip, you know, 2 strips-one for each tire. I was thinking something 16-18″ wide, but I didn’t know how thick to make it. If I make it 4″ thick will I be repouring it in a year. Or will 4″ x 16″ x 10′ (with some mesh) last. just normal cars, minivans, will be using it. Thanks.
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I am no concrete expert, but I would dig down and put atleast 6 inches of base material and compact. I would then pour it 6 inches thick with wire mesh.
Dan
"Life is what happens when you are making other plans." - John Lennon
Every residential drive I've seen around (central Illinois)here is 4" thick.
The politicians don't just want your money. They want your soul. They want you to be worn down by taxes until you are dependent and helpless. When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both. [James Dale Davidson]
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=43357.1
My driveway will hold a concrete truck, it has 4" of concrete. The secret is concrete trucks were driven over it before it was poured. Drive your cars on the dirt before you place concrete. Any soft spot that wont support the concrete will end up as a depression that you will compact dirt in those low spots.
car as steamroller good idea,
thanks Sungod and others.
The base must be well compacted. Driving on it is probably not enough. I'd make sure you use crushed stone (the sharp stuff) not rounded gravel, and use a jumping jack tamper. Plate tampers are for cosmetic, not structural, work.
Rebar should be 2" from the bottom of the slab.
If I am doing a 16" wide strip, should I have lots of expansion joints (say, every 3 feet), or should I go longer (say, every 10 feet)? Compaction, compaction, compaction.
I can't give an authoritive answer. Old "driveways" had frequent joints when they used strips. I'm picturing my grandfather's house.
But they were mixed by hand.
You can use strips up to 16' long if you go 5 1/2" thick and use 2 @ #3 rebar.
SamT
Sidewalks around here (Southern Ontario) - loads of frost and salt. Are poured 4" thick between drives, 6 inches at driveways. There is to be a compacted 4 inch gravel base under them. Expansion joints are every 25 feet with a sawcut or pressure relief joint every 5 feet. (Expansion joints are to be lined with fibrous material, pressure joints are just controlled cracks). On the job we aren't too picky about measuring off distances between joints. Most concrete guys use a rake handle to measure off the 5 ft joints, and put in expansion joints every 5th joint and at either side of every driveway.
I would imagine that these specs are more than adequate for a residential driveway, however, if it were my own house, I would pour before it got too hot out, and not drive on the new driveway for about 3 days.
The most important thing for your drive is not so much the concrete, but what you have under it. A good base makes a good driveway.
DagwoodView Image
It should reach from the bottom of the tires to the top of the substrate.
I can post a diagram if you need one.
Mr T
Happiness is a cold wet nose
Life is is never to busy to stop and pet the Doggies!!
"Happiness is a cold wet nose"
Ever hear of a commedian by the name of Jerry Clower? He told a story once that your tag line made me think of.
It seems a country boy showed up rather late for school one morning. The teacher met him at the door and asked him why he was late.
He said early that morning his Pa thought he heard a noise in the chicken house. So he jumped up, grabbed his shotgun, and headed outside wearing nothing but his nightshirt. He snuck aound the corner of the chicken house, thinking there was a fox in there.
As he slowly pushed the chickenhouse door open, one of the coonhounds walked up behind him and stuck his cold nose up under Pa's night shirt.
And well, Ma'am, we've been cleanin' chickens ever since.