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Another view...
View Image
and no "for sale" sign in the yard... guess the owner had it designed prob by one of those guys who does that sort a thing for a living....
Got to love those "spillway" aprons off to the side (and the washout "riprap" holding the top of the slope, too).
That could be some parts of Austin, that's what's scary to me. "Blame" would go to huge national builder who all seem to assume that lots have no elevation (Super on the site gets to work out how to get the job in, on time, and under budget, in order to save his "bonus").
I saw some LV fixures the other day that look like landing/taxi lights--might be appropriate for that drive. Maybe that's it, the new owner is a former Naviator--he's used to those sorts of approach angles . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
"That could be some parts of Austin, that's what's scary to me. "Blame" would go to huge national builder who all seem to assume that lots have no elevation (Super on the site gets to work out how to get the job in, on time, and under budget, in order to save his "bonus")."
Actually, the guy who posted these pictures in the first place is from Houston, so I suspect they are someplace in Texas.
is from Houston, so I suspect they are someplace in Texas.
Poster might be from Houston, but that much hillside is not. My suspicion is still NW Austin, in Williamson County.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Im with you on that one Cap. West Austin indeed.
The driveway is not the problem just try to figure out how they got the concrete truck up there to place the house floor slab. Wht they didn't cut the elevation under the house some.
The best employee you can have but you wouldn't want him as a neighbor " He the shifty type"
Has anybody noticed, I don't think those pictures are of the same driveway.
Good point- different houses - sidewalk ends in one, not the other -2 car agr in one, 3 car in the other.
I guess that indicates someone knows good design when he sees it!
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
red clay maybe hotlanta??
Any advice on backing my 18 1/2 ft bayliner into the garage?
advice on backing my 18 1/2 ft bayliner
Two words: Gantry Crane.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Yes, I didn't notice until after I posted the photos that they are two different houses. They do appear to be in the same development though. Looks like the whole neighborhood will be parking on the street.
And the next time someone here complains about building codes and inspectors, we've got some great photos to show 'em!
_______________________
Tool Donations Sought
I'm matching tool donors to a church mission to Haiti - we're shipping a bus converted to a medical facility in January (we hope) and can fill it with clothes, tools and all sorts of stuff needed in that poorest of all countries. A few hand tools or power tools can provide a livelihood for an otherwise destitute family. Please email me if you have tools to donate.
But wait, Bob! That may pass requirements for code, but not for common sense. I'm not that fond of the codes, but I've never done anything like that!Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
it be great when you washing out the bed of the pickup
The best employee you can have but you wouldn't want him as a neighbor " He the shifty type"
Just like you guys, always picking out the negative aspects.....let's look at some of the pluses(besides the snow removal)
1. taking the trash to the curb...easy, give the can a push.
2. Trick-or-treaters... they look at the climb and say "oh F-it"
3. Jehovahs witnesses....they look at the climb and say"oh-F-it"
4. Girl scouts, and pretty much every other door to door salesmen, they look at the climb and say "oh F-it"
5. Good excuse to buy the biggest bad azzed trucks, always 4 x 4's.
6. When the kids are late for the bus, give em' a kick out the door, the next 50' goes fast.
7. No driveway puddles.
C'mon let's here em'
When the starter goes out or the battery is weak, you can still make it to work on time.
Wait, maybe that's not a positive for everybody.
Judging by those stains streaking down, it is a self cleaning driveway..
Excellence is its own reward!
Dead battery - roll starts.
Visitor limitor - less moochers dropping by.
Skate board ramp - know where the kids are all the time.
Test ramp - perfect the soap box derby racer.
Sports - Perfect your mountain climbing skills.
Sports - Perfect your motor cross riding.
Sports - Wet it down and hang 10.
Sports - Preseason pratice for snow boarding and skiing.
Sports - Cross crountry track in your front yard.
Save money on those exercise machines - A couple of times from the sidewalk to the garage should do it.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Visitor limitor - less moochers dropping by.
LOL Is that why you live in such a remote location? Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
It's the driveway....
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Sell tickets!
Okay imaginations, start wandering...~ WebTrooper ~
"But dont take my word for it. I was wrong once and it could happen again!"
Dry - it's the Baha...
Wet - it's a mud boggers dream.
Snow - don't bother.
That's my driveway we're talkin' bout not the one in #1 posting..
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Dry - it's the Baha...
Wet - it's a mud boggers dream.
Snow - don't bother.
Before I rerouted my 400' rise driveway, the "professional" road builder left me slopes as steep as the photos. Kind of a challenge, if good sledding (car included). I was once approached by a bicycle club wanting to race up my driveway and then down, cross-county, the back of the mountain. I thought they were joking until they explained you need a way to separate the men from the boys when you have a large group all starting together. OK
My 1/2 mile driveway certainly qualified in that respect. Whenever it rained I had to get the tractor out to drag my wife's van up. She learned to make a pit stop at the local gas station, not knowing how long it might take to get to the house. Tried a stretch of concrete with formed traction bars. Worked great until it got wet, then worse than the gravel.
She was a happy woman when I finally figured how to get the slope below 15%. Snow is still interesting. Sleet's a riot. Once encountered some ice in my (not chained) 10 wheel drive truck and started heading downhill backwards. That's a real pucker-factor. Had a happy ending.
Don't understand why people find it strange we want to live here. In 15 yrs, one steak salesman and one van-load of terrified Jehovah's witnesses. Neither came back.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I got to see a picture of your driveway thats just to funny.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
I got to see a picture of your driveway
Here you go. First one is my wife checking my well-being while cutting the replacement driveway (that still terrified the Witnesses, and a few invited guests). Second is the unsuccessful concrete experiment on the original driveway, 30% slope. Third is my considerable effort at getting electricity up here, 2 months total, and nowhere close to the driveway.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Man, that driveway is nearly as steep as mine.
But a whole lot longer.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
Man, that driveway is nearly as steep as mine.
Hill is more than a little steep, but the driveway is only 14%. With the normal, cut on the high side- fill on the low side, everything was going fine until the fill slipped downhill. Twice the tractor was at such an angle I couldn't back it up on the "road". Found out how much winch my truck really had, parked at the top of the slope, nose into a tree, pulling the Cat's #### sideways. Gotta have some fun occasionally.
Had a Porsche 911 come up that driveway not long ago. No snow at the time.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Had a Porsche 911 come up that driveway not long ago. No snow at the time.
Now what you really need is a Subaru WRX Turbo, and see just how fast you can get up it. Make sure it's not your car, though....
Now what you really need is a Subaru WRX Turbo, and see just how fast you can get up it.
Thanks, but that's a little tough on the guy doing road maintenance, me. Bring your bicycle if you like. I'll cheer you on.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Ohhh, ohhh can I play this game? Just measured for curiosity and my 400' drive is a bit over 15°. Plenty of white-knuckle friends. Do I win anything?
Just measured for curiosity and my 400' drive is a bit over 15°. Plenty of white-knuckle friends. Do I win anything?
Uh, oh, now we're mixing degrees and per cent. I've gotta get to a chart for that one. 100% = 45*. Per cent is easier for me to measure when laying out a driveway. Not that I don't sometimes mistakenly use the wrong term.
But more importantly, what's the drop-off? I've got 100+' down to the bottom of a 60+* slope. That's the real pucker-factor for most people here. You're living on a real mountain, IIRC, unlike my little 400' one.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I think we both used degrees. For % you'd divide the degrees by 90 I think. I have about a 60' rise for a 400' long driveway give or take. Front "yard" is a 90' rise over a 225' run. Actually, our drives are pretty similar. Your one picture looks almost exactly like my driveway when it was rough cut.
Percent slope is just the (tangent of the angle in degrees) times 100. Angle in degrees is arctan (percent slope divided by 100). The arctan function on your calculator (You do have a scentific calculator, don't you? I like the TI-30X Solar.) may be labeled as TAN to the -1 exponent.
Guess I should stick to degrees, huh? Sometimes the synapses ain't firing quite right...
Well, like Tom said (I think it was Tom), percent slope is a lot more common in dirt moving. Maybe it's time to install that espresso maker on your tractor. :)
I think we both used degrees.
Clearly not, but I only understood part of the explanation. I use trig tables and tangents to find the degree, which is generally of benefit only when talking about slopes in excess of 45*, to avoid issues like 150% slope (causing eyes to glaze over). Another factor here is a prohibition of building on slopes at or above 25%. I do measuring just like you did and then it's a whole lot easier to deal with %, especially without a scientific calculator.
Found the following on a slope chart.
100% 45 degrees50% 26.6 degrees
45% 24.2 degrees40% 21.8 degrees35% 19.3 degrees30% 16.7 degrees25% 14 degrees20% 11.3 degrees15% 8.5 degrees10% 5.7 degrees5% 2.9 degrees
That's a steep "yard". Something you mow?
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
We terraced the front and only sometimes hack at the paths.
I thought you used the degree symbol ° and took my cue from that. For officialness, my drive is 15° or 26%+. Could get a bit steeper and not fall off the face of the earth, but not much.
You know, after thinking about this again this morning, I figured out that your driveway probably has the equivalent of my driveway in it somewhere. If not several times over.
I have a safer entryway scoped out. Just have to clear a bunch of large logs, a stump, and do the clearing and grading by hand. Then bring in the gravel.
The rest of the driveway will have to remain what it is for a while. But I'll be able to drive in safely. Park where I already park. Then drive back out on the steep side.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
I have a safer entryway scoped out. Just have to clear a bunch of large logs, a stump, and do the clearing and grading by hand. Then bring in the gravel.
Either your back is a lot younger than mine, or less abused. I know you're not long on cash at present, but hydraulics sure work well. That crawler has a maybe-replacement living here in a rubber-tired loader, not quite ready to work. Around here the older large industrial rubber-tired loaders have almost no demand. I was looking for a larger farm tractor, with bucket, until I ran into the industrial variety at half the price for four times the tractor. AWD of course. 4-in-1 bucket not unusual. Much lower operating expense than track and doesn't chew up the driveway when you turn.
I also found that, after buying a tractor for my use, people were happy to pay me to bring my machine over to their place and play. That was after I learned how to operate it of course. First rule is to not get too close to anything you don't want to move until you really have a good feel. Well, maybe that's the second rule, behind "keep it right side up".
Gravel's not a small issue for anybody with much to buy, but the rest of the road is very manageable if you don't have to pay a king's ransom for machine time. The other part is surveying where you want the road to go. My pro road builder told me he always "finds the driveway while he's driving". Yep, and that was a $20k one that I've mostly replaced. Expensive lesson.
For our new one I started with measurement of slope on stretches that worked pretty well. Came up with 15% for the magic number. Over that just doesn't work. The last couple who wanted me to give them an estimate on the driveway were told that an estimate was fine but until they paid for a survey, it wouldn't mean much. Then I told them what the survey would cost. No problem. It's not rocket science but I have to measure slopes, turns, and figure where the water is going to be channeled.
The driveway before that, the owner showed me where to cut it. After measuring the slope I spent the next hour arguing that it was a hopeless location and he had to go around the hill the other direction. That guy now sings my praise. But until I measured, I didn't know he was wrong. He didn't gravel the road for 2 yrs. Got his BMW stuck a couple of times, but with good drainage the driveway held up.
Good luck with yours.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I have metal plates in my back. And bolts.
Still, a back, I have. Money, I don't.
It has already taken me a long time to get the new drive entry to the point it is at now. It will still take a lot more time to get it finished. But then, time is something I have, as well.
: )
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
I have metal plates in my back. And bolts.
Yikes! You win. Good that you're at least dealing with a slightly shorter driveway. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I'd like to submit mine.......18' wide 600' long but at least 45-50 degrees, not sure but its steep!! Only drain tile now(3/4" stone) but plans are coming for blacktop. Just completed 1600 cu yrds of fill to bring the original 8/9' out to 30', the full 600' length. The entrance is level, but close to the house the 'evel kinevel' (sp?) ramp starts....straight up!!!! I'll take a pic and find a scanner or whatever is needed to post it here.
After this past weekend snow (S.E. CT) I'm ready to install the ski lift!!
Edited 12/9/2003 8:44:47 PM ET by bob
I'd like to submit mine.
Length - 1.92 miles
Straight line - 1.51
Rise - 1,870 feet
1 grade @ +100% (47*)
3 @ 70%
2 @ 60%
The other grades are a piece of cake.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Your stats alone "snow" me away...lol
Wow 47 deg! it's got to be close to the point where rubber just doesn't grip. How long is it?
Ian
Either I figured this wrong or my concept is aray....
0* is horizontal. 90* is vertical and a 12/12 is 45*.
As for length 40/50' (2 truck lenghts) tops. Looks intimidating. For the unitiated first timers, it never fails to get some sort exclamation. For others, they won't go over the edge. I'll meet you at bottom. Aw.. can I walk this? Can't full stop on it on a good day either direction. The very fist time I came upon it I stopped the truck at the top and got out to look to see "where'd the road go" and asked the realator "you sure about this?" Just before you "go over" all you see is sky and the hood of the truck.
The realator thought it was funny even though he said he did the same thing the 1st time. I've softened the aproaches several times which was a mistake. That segment of road is now a bit of depression which drifts in because it thought it was going to snow and it is a real bear at times to get thru come winter or when it's wet. (muddy) Learn how much inertia you need to get up it and it's a piece of cake.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Umm. I've climbed 50 degree rock faces. That's really, really steep, as in if you fell you'd roll all the way to the bottom. I dropped a belay brake one time, and it only pinged five or six times before we didn't hear it anymore.
Well... 50 could be pushing it, but 45's got to be close. A number of years ago I rented a case extendaboom? 550 maybe? Got a good price but the knucklehead operation (as I learned) sent this up using a 1 ton dually (couldn't believe it) and about 1/2 or 2/3 's up it broke loose...tires that is...so he stopped. WELL, then the thing started sliding backwards with ALL brakes locked!!! A few feet later it stopped, but still creeping. The knucklehead driver jumps out scared to death! I asked him now what? His reply "I don't know but I'm not getting back in THAT truck".....he was still shaking, probably had his pants full of ****! After some tense moments, I ran to my rock pile for boulders to block the wheels...now I know what "Strongestman in the world" competitors feel like!!! With the truck/trailer secure now (I hoped) and he regained his composure, I asked him are you going to unload it? His reply:****NO! You want it you unload it, I'm not. My reply: If I unload it , Im not responsible for damage and I want to use it rent free for the weekend if its still in one piece. He called his boss/owner and got the ok. I knew 'verbal agreement' was shacky but I needed the machine and was on a tight time schedule, so here I go young, dumb, and full of ***,remember its an extendaboom hoe...#### heavy and the hoe on the low end of the slope. Started it up and started backing off. But, as fate has it, tooo much backend weight, away I went......!!!!! Man what a ride!!! My life DID flashed before me or whatever it is. Almost flipped over when the hoe hit the ground and the front end came up and I MEAN UP. The second bounce bounced me outa the seat so now no ones driving...Slid about 50' at an angle (almost sideways) backwards! At the bottom the hoe hit the hit the slope on the side of the driveway and abruptly stopped...but I did'nt...and tumbled out, bounced a little more and I wondered if I was alive or what. Well it was my lucky day, a few bumps and bruises and a free machine for 2 days. The owner at knucklehead rental honered his word and all was well. Though the **** driver still would not get in the truck! So I backed it down for him. He left but I couldn't under stand why HE didn't come back on monday. Needless to say they used a 10 wheeler that time.
p s...It took a while to type this, I only type with 2 fingers. wish I took typing in school
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
Bob
Edited 12/9/2003 10:21:11 PM ET by bob
thanks for the story, bob - a good word picture - - our old orchard had lots of hills - I remember trying to drag a 500gallon 'speed' sprayer up them, and the feeling when the tractor wheels started chunking out sod while the rig slides back down the hill - - not on the scale of your adventure, but still an adrenalin rush...
Fun story about your "ride" on the free machine. I've got two.
First one: T'was thanksgiving eve about 8 years ago. Riding a Cat 977 loader(big #### momma). Finishing up some fill build behind the mm$ house. Got a little too close to the new edge and went sliding down sidways. I was watching the lower track dig in to the loose soil and thinking awww Sh** this is gonna go greasy side up. Well when we stopped, a boulder had wedged against the lower track and some how stopped me from going completely over. There is something about seeing the ground at a perpendicular angle while you are strapped in to the machine. I had no idea my pucker could hold like that! Lots of equipment and a lot of cursing and we got it out.
Second: I was helping a friend of mine bring in some very good straw this summer. I was out in a new field I had never been on before, running the bailer and a wagon towed behind. If you can picture a JD 4230(large farm tractor) pulling a large bailer, pulling a half full wagon with maybe 120 bails loaded and counting, on a slope of about 30+- degrees(sideways along the slope). What do I come a cross with out any warning? a F'n ground hog hole the size of Wyoming. First the front wheel goes in. Then out. Then my teeth crash together. Then the rear wheel goes in and out. Then my teeth crunch again. By the time I got stopped I had the bailer half in. The moral of this second story; always carry a sidearm when working the fields. That way you can shoot the little bastards when you see them.
Curly
Keepin' it greasy side down.Hand Hewn Restorations Inc.
Restoring the past for the future.
re: The first one< I can relate...but on a rubber tire machine.
re:# 2... Now that I understand slope angles/FEAR factor better...30* with that load and the 'Grand Canyon', must have been a MAJOR FEAR facter! Still have any teeth?? and sideways?.....I'd probably have the pant load like "knucklehead driver' did.
Man... that brought back memories I'll never forget! Wish I took videos or pics of at least the "after" but who thinks of that after going thru what I did? Wish I had a driveway pic now but sit tight all, its coming. I would like to know the angle....I just based it on 90* and judged by eye. Maybe its not even close to 45 but it is steep!! and 3/4" drain tile top coat makes it even hairy'r!!!!!!!!!!.
Well, you're a manlier man than I am, or maybe you were just hungrier at the time. When I worked for the lawn sprinkler company, I used to get the flutters just driving the trencher on and off the trailer.
Climbing was different, nothing between me and the rock but my shoes, and I knew they weren't going to start rolling down the hill backwards.
I always wondered how you climbers handled it mentaly? It took me a while to handle 30-35' up, and thats on equip or bldgs, not rock faces. Do you climb those that are just about straight up/90*? Also know anything about that slope chart posted by vatom? I do somewhat, but......
Edited 12/10/2003 12:53:19 AM ET by bob
>> I always wondered how you climbers handled it mentaly?
Well, I'd say, "I'm not afraid of heights, it's falling I'm afraid of." And my buddy would say, "I'm not afraid of falling, it's hitting the ground I'm afraid of." And then we'd laugh like idiots and go on. It also helped that we always used ropes and seldom climbed anything real desperate.
>> Do you climb those that are just about straight up/90*?
Yeah, we climbed vertical rock. Even some that leaned back a little.
>> Also know anything about that slope chart posted by vatom?
I know the math that generated it. I posted how to convert back and forth from degrees to percent slope in message #88 above. What do you want to know?
Edited 12/10/2003 12:51:52 AM ET by Uncle Dunc
I was just rereading those prior posts including yours @ #88. I'm trying to understand/figure out the angle of my driveway slope and not quite sure of the formula, compounded by the fact that my guess for the elevation is just that.. a visual guess. Ive heard of some' crude' ways to determine, but would like to know more precisely...not that its critical. I don't have any measuring equip.....and a water level won't quite cut it! Possibly a 75' elevation drop, but?
geez it must be getting late-3 edits for typo's
Edited 12/10/2003 1:35:52 AM ET by bob
Edited 12/10/2003 1:36:31 AM ET by bob
Edited 12/10/2003 1:38:08 AM ET by bob
OK, let's set up a right triangle with the numbers we've got. The vertical leg is 75' and the hypotenuse is 600'. The ratio of the vertical leg to the hypotenuse is the sine of the angle, so we're looking for the angle whose sine is 75/600, or 0.125. Take the arcsin of 0.125 on the calculator and we get 7.18 degrees. The percent slope is the tangent of the angle times 100, so we find the tangent of 7.18 degrees to be 0.125988, multiplied and rounded is 12.6%.
It looks like we need a better number than 75' to match your report of the steepness.
If you can find a topographic map that shows your house and the end of the driveway, you can read the elevation change off of it, but unless those two points are right on a contour line, you could end up with a number plus or minus 20 feet.
You could borrow or rent a GPS receiver. They're not accurate to the foot, but you don't need absolute altitude, just altitude difference, and the GPS measurement isn't going to change much in the time it takes to drive up your driveway. You could do the same thing with a high resolution barometer, but I suspect the GPS unit can be read to a much finer resolution.
You could measure the elevation change with a level and a tripod. Starting at the bottom, set the top of the level at 5' (or whatever height is convenient) from the ground, level it, sight along the top of the level, mark where your line of sight hits the ground, move your tripod to that point, and repeat. The boring part is walking back and forth making sure that your mark really is at the point you're looking at before you move the tripod.
Or you could measure the angle directly with a protractor and a plumb line. Park the car on a level surface. Mount the protractor with the plumb line attached at the pivot point. Adjust the protractor so the plumb line is exactly on zero degrees. Stop at various places on the driveway and record your readings.
Why not just build a much smaller right triangle with a long straight edge using something like an 18 foot 2x6 and a level? Set one end on the ground, level it and measure the distance from the ground to the bottom of the other end to fill in the blanks on the formula. Take repeat measurments and average all the way down the drive if you want the overall average grade.
Sure it won't be dead on but this is just driveway grading we're talking about here, not rocket surgery. :-)>Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
That would certainly find more of the low and high spots. Actually, of all the ideas I listed, surveying by sighting over a level would be my last choice. The protractor one would be first, followed by the GPS.
Rocket surgery, eh? I like it. Is that related to brain science?
Rocket surgery, eh? I like it. Is that related to brain science?
No, they are completely different fields but I think you've demonstrated sufficient math skills to excel at both. :-)>
I stole the rocket surgery from another poster here a while back. Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
Greetings what a long/hectic day!....The protractor is my choice for now. I've heard of wrecked angles 'smaller right triangle' and have used it for correcting lo/hi as you stated. But in a smaller degree...lawn area. Never thought of using it as kevin stated (thanks kevin) for the driveway.
More importantly.....I need to clarify my previous posts. The total length is 600+/-, but the first 375 is level +/- to the street. The remaining 200 some is the length of the 75 rise.....maybe even closer to 100??(I looked again this morning) But just a guessestimate. I tried to borrow a digital camara today, but its needed til next week and I don't have the software anyway. Looks like its time to buy one, maybe! Meanwhile, tomorrow am I'll snap a few pics, have developed and post with a scanner. I hope by this weekend?
BTW....your real sharp with the math!! I understand no problem, but slowly....have to think and follow each step to comprehend!
Where can I rent the GPS...Equipment rental store? Sounds like something I'd like to play with!! expensive to buy? hmm, maybe a new toy!!!
If you know a place that rents surveying equipment, it couldn't hurt to ask there. I know backpackers and campers use them, so I'd ask at an outdoors supply store. I don't know that they rent them, but they might. Pilots use them, if you know any general aviation pilots. Montana State University will rent you one, but that only helps if you're in Bozeman. If there's any college around you that teaches surveying or geographical information systems, they might do the same thing. Or you could go into a dealer, tell him you're going into the driveway grading business and you need to test drive one of their units. I just Googled for dealer "GPS receiver" and got 12,000 hits. An eBay search gave almost 2000 hits. I didn't look at the details on any of them, but I noticed the current bid on one unit, with less than an hour to go, was $36. Maybe there's some Breaktime reader who lives near you and could lend you one.
$36.00 thats all? I'll take 2. I was rereading(again) the previous and believe me I want to know my slope % or *. Based on the stats and pics, it will rate with those, not in length but rise. Did you read the post or thread(which is the correct name?) #37450.113 I sent? The clarified stats are 200-225 run , 75-100 rise. My daughters calc is at her job so I can't use it now using these #s. What do you come up with if possible?
Worst case, 100' vertical leg and 200' foot hypotenuse, is a 30 degree angle and a 57.7% slope. I agree that's pretty d@mn steep to drive on.
The steepest road I ever drove on was Lickskillet Road, which runs from Gold Hill, CO more or less straight down the side of the canyon to Left Hand Creek. I was going down. I don't believe my Toyota PU would go up it, certainly not with me driving. Afterward I looked it up on a (not very large scale) map and discovered that it was about a 1000' drop over just less than a mile, which is a little under 20% slope, or 11 degrees.
The steepest hill I ever drove up was quite a bit steeper than that, but a lot shorter, maybe 50 or 60 yards. It was unpaved, and I had to take 2 or 3 runs at it before I got up it.
I hate to say it....either i'm brain dead(LOL) blind or I need my eyes calibrated. Your 30* reply according to you is HAIRY right? Yet my 'guess' of 45*.....based on 90*/vert & 0*horiz is even worse??? I do know that if you stop on the slope, forget it all you'll do is churn up the gravel and the 3/4" stone top coat....laid thin like 1"+/- thick. If it was blacktop I'm sure it wouldn't(I think). yet UPS, 24' box truck, 18 wheeler dump body or water tanker(pool water) could NOT back up it...They tried and only dug serious ruts. The 24' box and ups can drive up but no can do with the 18 wheelers. Going down is the hairy part, but after 13 years here its normal to me. Going up you just need to keep the momentum going and your fine. If I fell down maybe/maybe not you would roll. But if you fell down when on the lawn at the top you would roll.....I have, so I know!! You'll see what I mean when I post the pics but I will measure one way or another to satisfy my need to know. Were you for real about $36.00 for the GPS? I want to buy one so I'll start looking local. Even if a few hundred its ok .$36 sounds too cheap! I just realized something...I think I might be backwards. Is 30* worse than 45*? when figuring slopes?
Edited 12/11/2003 2:40:42 AM ET by bob
Edited 12/11/2003 2:50:55 AM ET by bob
Well, like I said earlier, there's nothing between me and the rock except my shoes, and I know they're not going start rolling back down the hill. I also don't have to look over the hood when I'm climbing.
Look at it this way, would you be afraid to climb a vertical ladder if it was bolted solidly to the wall and you could clip a safety harness to it?
>> $36 sounds too cheap!
Considering that was eBay, $36 may _be_ too cheap. I'm no expert on GPS receivers, but just from the quick look around I took this evening, it wouldn't surprise me at all if you could buy a low end unit for $50. It would surprise me if you had to spend $200 to get one that will do everything you want. You can spend a lot more on bells and whistles, but for basic functionality, they've gotten remarkably cheap.
"Look at it this way, would you be afraid to climb a vertical ladder if it was bolted solidly to the wall and you could clip a safety harness to it? "
NO not at all. Last year while siding my house on the gable end I climbed up 4 6' ladder type scaffold sections without a safety harness. I know, probably dumb, but remember my "tractor ride"/knucklehead rental?.....Well still- young, dumb and full of ****! Though alittle older and wiser.
Where's the time go? 3:30 am-4 hrs left before its time to head to work, So I'll cruise on out of here for now. I''l be in touch. and thanks for the info.
Edit time:>LOL....I want to reverse that back to you. Climbing 90* +/- is a feat I wouldn't even consider!<
add: "on rocks" to that line.
Bob
Have good news and bad....bad-no pics today, pooring rain in AM and 1 hr late for work! Hmmm, Breaktime/3:45AM, I wonder. Tomorrow is suposed to be dry, so I will shoot then.
good: Bought a GPS today--"Garmin GPS 72" Trying to learn how to 'drive" it.! Did anybody write the book >GPS for DUMMIES< yet?...Just kidding. Doesn't appear to be too dificult after I learn all the function keys.
Got a 2nd opinion today...driveway slope about 30-35* and rise about 60-70'. But front yard(I mow it with a New Holland TC21D & 60" belly mower, talk about FEAR factor-its REAL!) has got to be close to 40* at the steepest point. The front yard slope is perpindicular to the driveway slope. Like: cut into a hill above the valley. I wonder what the rise is from valley floor to the peak of the hill, where my house is...couple three hundred maybe?(guessing again) I'm going to have some interesting fun with this GPS and maybe learn alittle more about slope angles. He did say that before the 1600 cu yrds was laid, the driveway could have been close to 40*. But that was just that... an opinion. At least in my previous posts I did say 'guesstimate' if he's right. Got the 'tool' now so time to measure.....tomorrow or the weekend.
BTW, vatom...you gave me another idea--the story pole. I could have used that. Never even thought of it. But now I have the GPS
Thanks
Edited 12/12/2003 12:15:04 AM ET by bob
Edited 12/12/2003 12:16:26 AM ET by bob
Edited 12/12/2003 12:22:53 AM ET by bob
Walkin'(aka:Talkin') lightly now.................don't want to burn out this thread. What is the norm' for thread length?....#130 now!
Update re: driveway pics...film being developed now and pick up tomorrow. I'll check on them tonight due to another Nor'Easter for tomorrow around here!
Any thoughts about a new thread for war stories re:big guns/earth machines?? Uncle Dunc, VaTom, Curly, All??? I have a few more, but small scale adventures...not as exciting as "knucklehead rental".
Any thoughts about a new thread for war stories re:big guns/earth machines??
I rented an all-terrain forklift, with tilting cab, to raise a concrete bucket over my 16' tall wall for my last wall pour here. Driver dropped it off and ran through the operating options very rapidly. Well, the biggest thing I'd operated was a compact tractor so I told him to leave it in 4x4 and forget the rest.
Fought that sucker from the get-go. Four wheel drive and steering but I could never figure out how to get to go where I wanted. Practicing before the readymix trucks showed up, I managed to hit a soft area (fill) with a rear tire. That sucker went over and I bailed out. Bad day to die.
After I found my glasses I saw that the forks had hung up on a 80' poplar and it sat with 2 wheels (one side) in the air. About that time the mud showed up with the second truck on its tail. Great drivers who coached me through raising the bucket up and down the tree trunk and rocking the forklift back and forth until it finally settled down on all fours. Amazingly enough the tree's still fine, if scarred badly from the forks removing a 25' length of bark off one side.
Mud was more than a little warm by that time so we hustled to get it into the forms. On the way down the driveway, exhausted, I noticed that the back tires weren't following the front ones. Hmmm.... Shifted the lever into "crab" whatever that it, and then back into 4x4. Damn thing straightened out and steered like what I'd expected that morning. It'd been in "crab" all day. Probably would have been fine if the operator (me) had known what he was doing.
Here's a picture of a better solution, the one one the left, than that forklift: PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Good story, thats xactly what I like to hear about. So later on I'll start a new "post/thread?" But meanwhile.... I'm kinda pizzed off rite now. That Garmin GPS/72 is a piece of flame'n #*#*#!! JUNK. I feel like I just walked 20 miles including a little slip/slide/fell/roll action and I almost thru that piece of $hit GPS into the pond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Know anything about this model? Its just a >basic < one.
I turned it on, it initialized and wala....I got elev readings(after I scrolled to the rite page) but it shows anywhere from 18-40% accur....couple times got 70-80. It does state in manual bout clear 360* no obsticals to setup/calibrate.....which I have. Can't get much better than hill top like I have...standing in the middle of the yard on the west side of the house. I would THINK that 50,000 sq ft of nothing but grass is considered clear.
Also this thing is dumber than me...due north is due north, so why does it get scatter brained when I rotate 360 in 1 spot...north, is now: south or east or get my point. I did on off the thing many times and each time it had different readings. One time it said that from the valley floor to the top of the hill was 978'...........HOGWASH, I DO know thats BULL! I've never used a GPS so is it me or this piece of 'work'? It says in the man' that you need 4 sat' readings to get elev readings.....so since it shows elev, I would think 4 are talkin' Any help??
signed
Pizzed and outa patience!
Edited 12/13/2003 3:30:57 PM ET by bob
Edited 12/13/2003 4:10:17 PM ET by bob
Hey Uncle Dunc...any comment??
Pizzed and outa patience!
Remember, KISS. It's up to 12 bucks now. A couple of our home centers even carry them. Should have taken maybe 1/2 hr and no elevated blood pressure, other than from the hike.
http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2003121317180554&item=807&catname=survPAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Sorry I was a little frazzled...slipped on some dog crap while inch'n down the bank using the strap to tree method.
Not clear on "kiss"? and I have something similar to your link, but ??....use it with the storypole??
Not clear on "kiss"? and I have something similar to your link, but ??....use it with the storypole??
Keep It Simple, Stupid <g> Also applicable to avoiding obstacles, especially slippery ones.
I use the lock level (no, I have no idea why they're called that) on a stick so that it's a constant distance off the ground. Then you sight, using the internal bubble level, to the calibrated story pole at a measured distance. A pole marked out in feet works fine also but if you don't have a magnifying instrument, a little difficult to read. Tape works great in that case.
For your situation, I'd use the longest pole I could find and have a helper take it down the hill until I could just see the top of it, and then measure the distance. It's the hypotenuse you're measuring. In the woods around here, seeing 100' can be a challenge so the measured distance is close enough for % calculations.
If this isn't accurate enough for your sensibilities, there's always the transit or surveying instrument, just more time consuming. I used an inclinometer with a surveyer once, but had a bad experience. Probably not the instrument, but if I'm going to lose or step on something, 12 bucks is preferable. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Kiss--should have known>G< but didn't. My storypole use would have consisted of the calibrated pole and a laser level. That would have satisfied my sense'LESS'bilities!! I've used this before with satisfaction, but not at the height I'm checking now. Then this GPS toy came up and now I want to see how high my house/yard is from the valley floor, besides the driveway slope angle. What irked me was I did stop at several points on the driveway, waiting for stabilization and it never read consistently-not even close. Add the accuracy error and I realized I was just wasting my time. You know...precious weekend time!
VaTom
I wasn't trying to vent on you. Its not very pleasent to have dog 'meal' smeared down the front of you.....one of those dry heave kinda things! Sad thing is I was the one who'winged' it there in the first place.......it blends in real good with wood chips!. The 20 mile hike was due to my repeated attempts to read the elev from the floor to the top(I don't give up...perfectionist in my blood) and chose the shortest route: straight down. It would have been a 40 mile hike if I went the long (easier) way. Anyway all the running around trying to get this GPS to work/read consistently, combined with above kind of popped my cork. So I hope its mello' here.
So I hope its mello' here.
Absolutely. I had no idea you were interested in measuring such a long distance. Topo maps are my choice for that. The only time I measure through the woods is to lay out a driveway and set the stakes. Even then, 1/2 mile is a very long one.
You were clearly, and justifiably, frustrated. It's been a long time since I differentiated between weekend and other time (often don't know which day it is), but it would be very difficult to not be disgruntled after investing a lot of time/effort into an unsuccessful project.
Another inch of snow and coming down steadily here. Finally lit the stove so it's cozy. Freezing rain predicted sometime tonight. I'll be happy to be a pedestrian tomorrow. You're where? PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Glad its mello...wasn't sure.
>>I had no idea you were interested in measuring such a long distance.<<
The 20 and 40 mile refs' were just figures of speech, but it did seem like 20 miles....up and down up and down, some of which I had to use a strap to hold on, due to the steepness. The valley floor is about 1000' walking distance...the 'short cut way'. Easily double it '+' the long way! Not great lengths, but multiple trips combined with slopes sure seem like 20 miles.The GPS was a new toy and I got a little carried away with the valley floor thing. The driveway slope angle was my main objective, which I hit first, but soon got replaced by the 'floor' and shouldn't have. Besides, I never used a GPS before. When I brought my driveway up to its current state, from a 'rough narrow cut in', I only used the basics. No fancy stuff and it worked pretty good. It was an ego thing getting compliments from people who saw the 'before'. With the GPS I wanted to check my work and see what degree my eyesight could achieve. That's the perfectionist part of me, always looking for improvements!!!
S.E. CT About 25 miles from the coast. Looks like another messy day here too. Last weekend was a 'white' wash out and now it looks tomorrow will be a repeat, with a little ice and rain mixed in.
due north is due north, so why does it get scatter brained when I rotate 360 in 1 spot...north, is now: south or east or get my point.
Ah, that's due to the sampling rate. To keep the information load down, the lower end units will sample the data less frequently--this helps keep a stable display while 'stationary.' Also, as you are turning, the rate of turn seems to make a difference, too. As the unit is reading the satelites, the data streams are kind of flooding in--the unit has to "grab" a set of data to display.
The Garmin units are ok, but I prefer Trimble & Magellan. With Magellan, you can even get software updates for the units. The stock commercial units are only accurate to 5-10 meters (a bit more with some units). MilSpec units start at 1 meter or less. Even then, you can't really sweep them in circle. You can, however, do a "doesy-do," though--you take readings at the ends of a 2 pace "x". That gives enough position change to update the info, and enough 'static' time to get one reading, too.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
>>You can, however, do a "doesy-do," though--you take readings at the ends of a 2 pace "x". That gives enough position change to update the info, and enough 'static' time to get one reading, too.<<
Ahhh 'I see' said the blind man. That makes sense. Time for "GPS for DUMMIES" I thinks!! Are the lo end units worth anything for elevations? All I'm trying to do is achieve a good # to measure a driveway slope angle. Maybe I'll toss the GPS(return to vendor) and use the storypole or protractor method.
Thanks for the lesson
BUT................will the hi end units give a closer to perfect # without the accuracy error that the lo end units exhibit. Had to ask--I'm a perfectionist, it runs in my blood!! Also will the consistancy of elevation readings improve.....this one varied each time I went up and down a BIG BAD hill??
Edited 12/13/2003 7:25:07 PM ET by bob
will the hi end units give a closer to perfect # without the accuracy error that the lo end units exhibit. Had to ask--I'm a perfectionist, it runs in my blood!!
Depends upon the perfection (as with almost everything else . . . )
Higher end units usually just give more data selections/choices to the end user. My Magellan 200 will let me add or subtract or modify the navigation screens. I can also update the software, or import/export waypoint data & routes from the unit to the computer or vice versa.
How accurate is accurate? If you are looking for a fishing spot, you only need to be within a boatlength. While flying, you need to know your elevation to about the height of the a/c (most altimeters read only to a whole foot). When I was taught surveying, distances were measured to a decimal place beyond the required accuracy--so if 0.01' was the minumum accuracy, you read to 0.001' (and recoded it that way, too). Had to learn all sorts of obscure formulas for stretch & temperature deformation on steel tape, too. For your drive way, I'd take a reading (save it as a landmark in the unit) at, say, 4 points (having a stake or other repeatable land mark might help, too). Read the locations twice, probably won't be a foot difference in elevation, but it will only be to a even foot.
I'm going to go eBaying to see if I can find one of the Magellan Map units for what I can afford this Christmas--I know my dad has been keen to get one, just hasn't got one for himself.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
>> Is 30* worse than 45*? when figuring slopes?
Nope. 30 degrees is like a 7/12 roof. 45 degrees is like a 12/12 roof.
>> Is 30* worse than 45*? when figuring slopes?
Nope. 30 degrees is like a 7/12 roof. 45 degrees is like a 12/12 roof<<
Gotcha....good thing though, for a moment I thought I was losen' my mind. Probably am due to the time---3:45 AM......Later
Your 30* reply according to you is HAIRY right?
Certainly would be. I built our house using a 30% driveway, almost 17*. The readymix company only sent out the very experienced drivers. And they could only bring 5 1/2 yds at a time or it'd slop out the back. Even then if the driveway surface wasn't close to perfect I couldn't schedule a pour. The Cat did tow duty on many occasions. More than a few delivery trucks couldn't make it up due to lack of power/insufficient gearing.
When I rerouted our driveway and got below 15%, the difficulties pretty much disappeared. Not that we don't still scare a few visitors, but the problem is not traction.
Forgot to mention that I use a $10 lock level and a calibrated story pole (on a stand if I don't have help) for my measuring. Plenty accurate for a driveway.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Edited 12/11/2003 9:00:39 AM ET by VaTom
>trucks couldn't make it up due to lack of power/insufficient gearing. <
Bingo! Heard that many times!
>or it'd slop out the back.<
Change 'back' to 'top'--Pool water did and lots of it!
Edited 12/11/2003 11:33:47 PM ET by bob
"Well, you're a manlier man than I am, or maybe you were just hungrier at the time."
LOL....I want to reverse that back to you. Climbing 90* +/- is a feat I wouldn't even consider! Even when I was younger....45 now. But I have to admit once I almost bungi jumped(close enough to taste it) but wimped out due to the numurous(back then) failures of hardware/straps.
Man I thought I had a steep driveway but yours takes the cake. Nice looking woods what part of Va. do you live in.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Man I thought I had a steep driveway but yours takes the cake. Nice looking woods what part of Va. do you live in.
Maybe that's why Virginians don't tend to live on mountaintops.... We're near Charlottesville. Actually, I used to have a running contention with the guy I later built an underground house for, about who had the steeper driveway. After I rerouted mine, he won- no contest. But my hill was/is steeper. Then he sold the house and I put in a reasonable (15%) driveway to his new house.
We have had more than a few guests who won't come back. Flatlanders!!!!
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Went to school in Charlottesville in the ealy seventies,( ROCK HILL ACADEMY) long since closed.I lived in Mineral and rode the bus for an hour each way.This is some of the most beautiful country there is. Istill remember my bus ride thru mountains.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
I remember having to park the family station wagon on the county road and wade a mile up the muddy trail we called a driveway to the house during the Colorado spring thaw every year. Sometimes we would have to make the last half of the trek barefoot because our boots would become so thoroughly stuck in the mud they could not be pulled out.
The bus picked us up at the county road too so I did, quite literally, walk home in the snow, uphill, barefoot several times as a child. Nothing like a Colorado spring thaw to make you love living in the country!Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
How about throwing a blue tarp down it, get out the garden hose. That would be one wickedly cool slip-n-slide.
"I remember having to park the family station wagon on the county road and wade a mile up the muddy trail we called a driveway to the house during the Colorado spring thaw every year."
We never had to walk - We put a livestock carrier on the back of the tractor with an old couch on it. Mom would haul us out to meet the bus, and be there to pick us up in the afternoon.
Maybe us Illinois rednecks were smarter 'n you Colorado rednecks....(-:
BTW - Did the package make it there yet?Give a man free hands, and you'll know where to find them. [Mae West]
Sorry, no sign of your package.
You must have sent it to the address I gave you. :-)>Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
I'll give it another day or 2 and see if it shows up. If not, I'll try to find the reciept and track the thing down.Q: How did the dumb blonde secretary get her ears pierced?A: Answering the stapler.
I'd have to put a lift kit in my car so it wouldn't scrape on the bottom to make it over those transitions.
Seems like they'd be hopeless in the winter. No way could you climb that with a little snow or ice on them.When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming. [Winnie the Pooh]
are the arrestor cables in the garage standard eqpt or optional? because you're gonna have to be moving about 35mph to make that incline in most vehicles! not to mention overcoming the front bumper hitting at the bottom when you start up- i have visions of "The Streets of San Francisco".
about ten years ago my brother had to have the garage floor of his new house broke out and repoured because the idiot who did it the first time gave it almost 2"/ft of drainage slope (i think it was supposed to be 2" per 10ft)- but that's nothing compared to those driveways. i can still hear him b!tching, "is my wife supposed to winch her car in?"
m
Maybe there is a slope to the garage floor to lighten up that driveway angle some.
That must have been a 1" slump pour.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
Edited 12/5/2003 10:24:53 AM ET by IMERC
First one looks like a Photoshop paste-up job to me, second one looks real.
Greg.
My thoughts exactly - I think a cable winch set into the garage floor could be hooked onto the frame of your car to drag it up there every evening when you get home. That's about the only way such a thing could be done at all.
Aint no way those shots are real.Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
I took a close up look at both images in Photoshop and they are definitely worked over. The sidewalks and drives in particular show significant pixel manipulation. It's most obvious when the blue channel is isolated.
Pretty dang funny as a joke though.Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
Obviously the owners are either skateboarders or skiers. I'm guessing skateboarders, since there's no tow line. And they believe as my father does, a garage is not for cars but for the workshop.
The really sad part is that I would love to have a lot like that so that I could drive straight into the garage and have space above it for workshop or whatever. Somehow the homes around here that are on sloped lots and have the garage below (at street level) seem to look less like a garage with a house attached. I see those pics as another opportunity lost.
hope it snows there so the kids can have some fun
Hey! Who put the house in front of the take off ramp? Evil's gonna kill himself for sure this time?
A shortcut is the longest distance between two points.
So what's your point? Obviously it meets the letter of the building requirements: "There shall be a concrete driveway connecting the city street to the garage..."
The deed restrictions in our neighborhood require a 2 car garage, and it can't be convertted to living space (game room, etc) Because of the sloping lots, there is usually a step or two from the garage to the house. One house I looked at had a 4 step rise, and the builder ran the steps straight into the garage about 4 ft, which effectively blocked one parking space (which was only big enough for a Honda anyway).
Do it right, or do it twice.
Coulda been worse...coulda sloped into the garage door.
Don't laugh...have seen it here on $1m homes using up that last undesireable waterfront lot.“When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.
"Don't laugh...have seen it here on $1m homes using up that last undesireable waterfront lot."
Common here. A lot of the house started house a summer cabins and have since been remodeled.
When I built my house in 79 we started with the garage level with the street. Before the house is near finished there was a snow storm and my neighbor, whose drive does slope down to the house, decided to park in my level (except that it was not graded) drive.
Then he get stuck and in rocking the car back and forth to get out crashes into my garage door.
I sure hope it never snows there!
bake
"I sure hope it never snows there!"
No Problem! With a drive way like that you never have to shovel.
It all just slides off.! This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, Thou cans't not then be false to any man Hamlet
Re: "I sure hope it never snows there!"
Exactly my thought.
Those drives are going to be sweet covered with a bit of ice. Leaving in the morning will be a slalom. Release the parking break and wing it. hopefully you backed in otherwise you do it backward. I guess if you like a thrill early every morning and living dangerously it might be a selling point.
Getting home with the drive iced will be a trick. I would recommend installing arresting gear. Come in with enough speed to make the hill and hope you catch a wire. Wife can guide you in with the paddles. Kids can act as the crash crew. Get the whole family involved. I could see this as a plus for certain naval aviators.
That is obscene! How can that be???? The approach and departure angle looks like 30 degrees...how do you even get IN the driveway??? And if you do, does your car get high sided entering the garage??
Sometimes the codes gat crazy, but it appears someone needs to insist on a little common sense in this case!
Jake Gulick
[email protected]
CarriageHouse Design
Black Rock, CT
It's the burb's. That's what SUVs were invented for.
Plus, you don't have to shovel the drive...it just falls off!
Beats a set of stairs. Wait'll the skate boarders spot it...
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
It is for a Jeep commercial. Trail tested tuff. :o)
I'd be willing to be the concrete guy said "we can't do this - come out and look at this - no way it'll work".... Then the developer told him on the phone "Just get it done"... and the result is a big Ph U for the developer, somebody the concrete guy never liked.
A gratifying kiss goodbye, methinks.
In the first picture, maybe they were trying to match the pitch of the roof, Curb Appeal. ;-)
Joe Carola
The house is an optional accessory when buying a Hummer.
In the interest of beating a dead horse one more time, Here is a crop from the second, more believable photo. It shows the digital information from the blue channel of the photo only.
See how the driveway pixels are blurred more than the surrounding landscape?
Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
Tell you what,put a basketball hoop on the garage front and you will have one heck of a calf workout.
The guy who originally posted these photos on another board is indicating they are for real...here's his latest post. If he comes up with more info I'll pass it along. It does seem too bizarre to be true.
"A little info. on those....It is in South Houston ,beleive it or not....A guy working for me knows a guy in the office where those came from....there`s a young engineer there (civil)that did this 'moonlite' job! Some people just shouldnt moonlite! Think he`ll not make much money on that job!"
Now we know the real cause of this.
He was trying to read the transit by moonlight and it was laidout in the dark of the moon.
Maybe he was trying to line up the driveway with the stars like the egyptians did.
Did the egyptians have 4WD chariots ?
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
Yeah they are called horses.
Analyzing photos by looking the channels in photoshop. Geez....
Well its nice to know I'm not the only one who does that.
So what's the real source of these photos? Do we know that yet?
Hey and yet again Kevin did you ever think of or consider the possibility that maybe the photos were manipulated so they wouldn't look as bad as in real life?
View Image
ParadigmProjects.com | Paradigm-360.com | Mac4Construction.com
What I see in these photo's is the use of Photoshop's stamping tool with a soft edged brush. That IMHO is the reason for the bluring between pixels in certain parts of the image. The reason for touching things up is anyone's guess but these photos have been worked over.
The work aint half bad at all though.
By the way, the digital paintings on your web site are truly remarkable! I haven't checked in a while, have you been working on anything new?Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
Well yeah I'm working on a editing a photo of myself, taking off 60lbs so hopefully I can post it online and get a date.
Seriously though I am pulling out some old panels that I put drawing on a two years go and either never painted or never finished and I'm going to either paint them or screw them up miserably come hell or high water. Digital art is really kool but there is something really vital and alive about real painting that I am missing from my life so I need to get back to that and get "back in shape" art wise so to speak.
Today helped remind me again of that promise to myself too. It started snowing and snow is the artists precipitation of choice. (especially watercolor painters like I am at times)
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Everything inside the green lines, (in both pics), has been pasted, (stamped), brushed, softened, or otherwise altered.
There is no garage in the first pic. (altered 2.jpg) The end of the "driveway" is probably a sidewalk.
There is no driveway between the road and the sidewalk.
The garage doors on the side of that house have been pasted in and blended. There were likely windows there before.
In pic 2, (altered.jpg) , there is quite a bit of softening and blending inside those lines. WA pointed out some of the most obvious.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
The first has more mistakes in it. At least those that are easy to find.
The downspout disappears.
The driveway, sitting on the same slope as the other two, is more than half again as sloped as the closer two.
The architecture of the garage doors is totaly unnatural. As is the lighting on both the doors, and the fake driveway itself.
I do have to admit though, that it is a really good job. On both of them.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
C'mon inspector detector, you're taking all the fun out of this, next thing you know you'll be debunking and myth busting Santa, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy. My silver bell still rings.
So what's the diagnosis? The front of the house never had a garage door or driveway?
Do it right, or do it twice.
The pic with three houses in a row. The furthest driveway. That is fake. The garage doors are fake. They may be real somewhere else, but they were pasted into that wall. Same with the driveway. It, or at least parts of it may exist somewhere, maybe even in different slope, but the driveway, as is in the pic, is pasted in, or otherwise faked.
.....
In the second pic, where only one driveway is shown, there is a driveway there. And the garage doors appear to be real. But the whole thing has been altered. Near as I can tell right now, the front of the garage may have been copied, blown up, then pasted back in. In essence, stretching it. Making it closer to the road. The walls were then blended in to match. The driveway was also tilted, pasted, (some extra surface added.), and blended to match.
If you look at the sidewalk on the side, at the top, the driveway rises well above the level of that sidewalk. You would have to step down off the driveway, from a sloped surface, onto the flat surface of the sidewalk.
.....
My opinion is that the driveway in the one may have been more steep than normal, but someone wanted it to look even worse than it actualy is. The one with multiple driveways ? Dunno. Maybe it was faked just to lend credence to the first one ? It was originaly presented as being the same one. And they did go to the trouble of making the downspout similar.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
Well done Luka, as usual. I figured the stamping was obvious enough I didn't need to go further but you picked up on several things I didn't see initially. The .JPG artifacting another poster mentioned is all over the place in both images because of their low resolution. That's part of what makes the stamping stand out so much. It was probably done after the artifacting was introduced.
It is very well done though- second image especially.Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
"That IMHO is the reason for the bluring between pixels in certain parts of the image."
IMHO, it could just as easily be JPG artifacting...a normal part of saving files as JPGS. Not that it couldn't be fake, it's just hard to tell editing artifacts from compression artifacts on a low-res image like that.
There is a big difference between artifacting, and the sort of blurring/softening that WA is talking about.
Do enough graphic work, day in and day out, and you learn to tell the difference.
WA is correct.
Live, Love, Forgive and Forget
quittintime
To think, a level driveway would have given the owner a basement garage.
I don't have a vehicle that could get onto the drive without ripping off the tail, nor clear the hump at the top. Is there no code for "its just plain dumb"? Paul
I can't understand why these clowns didn't just put the garage in the basement.
I guess the stock plans didn't come with that option, or maybe there's solid rock under the homes?
All you photoshop experts, please have a look at this thread:
37632.1
(in the photo gallery) Is this foundation job too scary to be real?
-- J.S.
I was looking at that one, if you keep reading that thread, there are more pictures with more dirt removed. They look even scarier.
Don't know what that guy is/was thinking
Stuart,
This was in yesterdays paper. I've gotta go look at it.
Builder to remake the grade on steep driveways
BY MATTHEW WALTERARKANSAS
Home buyers interested in viewing a row of houses in the Fairfield Fayetteville driveway. driveways are so steep that the builder plans to tear them up and pave them again at a more gentle slope, and the city may enact a regulation that will prevent similar drives from being built again. row of six houses built on New Bridge Road look much like the rest of the houses in the neighborhood, which has 41 houses in the first phase that list for between $150,000 and $180,000.
The
The
They have handsome brick and stone facades, windows with shutters that overlook front lawns large enough to meet the
Edited 2/2/2004 1:25:34 PM ET by bob
The problem is that these houses sit atop a hill, and the short distance from the street to the garage door makes for a steep driveway. One driveway has a 48 percent slope, according to city engineer Gary Coover, more than twice as steep as the 18.18 percent slope on San Francisco’s famously crooked and steep Lombard Street. A road’s slope, or grade , is determined by its vertical rise over 100 feet traveled horizontally. A 48 percent grade rises 48 feet for every 100 traveled. The builder , Kevin Riggins, said that the steep drives were an accident, and he has a solution. Area residents, city engineers and urban planning aficionados from across the country have already taken notice though. Photos of the steep driveways even made it onto urban planning Web site cyburbia.org, under the "worst-case scenario" gallery.
While he was out of town, Riggins’ concrete layer was trying to work ahead and poured the driveways before he was supposed to, Riggins said. "It’s not a problem we have had before. The concrete guy got ahead of himself. When you are building as many houses as we do" these kinds of problems can happen, Riggins said. To remedy the situation, he plans to raise the sidewalks, and pour the concrete driveways again at a more gradual slope. The steep driveways in Fairfield, along with a handful of other drives in town built by individual home owners have prompted Coover, the city engineer, to propose some sort of regulation. Bentonville, Springdale and Rogers do not have driveway grade regulations. Several cities across the country do, though, and usually a 20 percent grade is the steepest allowed, Coover said.
Edited 2/2/2004 1:33:02 PM ET by bob
Before building the houses in the Fairfield subdivision, Riggins wanted to cut the land down to eliminate the problem, but the city wouldn’t let him do it, he said. Officials with the city Parks and Recreation Division and with city planning could not confirm that. "There is a big tree on the corner of that subdivision. Parks and Recreation wouldn’t let us bulldoze the tree down. That kept the corner of that land so high," he said. Riggins has been cooperative with the city Engineering Division on the steep driveway issue, Coover said, but any new ordinance that the city passes would not apply to existing construction. "They have contacted us to see if we can do some things with our infrastructure," Coover said. "Hopefully, there is a fix."