Ok guys, need help on boat/driveway work...

So, my wife and I bought a new house 8 months ago. Great location (end of a cul de sac), right school district for our newborn, great part of town, etc...all great, except that I can't get the boat in the garage! My last place had a 22 foot deep garage. With my custom swing away tongue, I could get the Nauty in there with about 3 inches to spare in front and back. No luck here, only 19 feet deep.

So...I put the boat in storage. Total pain in the hiney, not to mention it's running me $360/month for covered storage (Orwood much cheaper, but still no openings available there yet). So, I decide that we're going to put it on the side of the house. We clear out a ton of oleanders that we had there, but in a fence with a 10 foot wide gate, and I'm planning to buy one of these to store the boat, they make them in a perfect 12' x 21' dimension:

http://www.carolinacarportsinc.com/carports/regular5.html

So, here's my dilemma...I'm trying to figure out how best to pave the pathway for the sideyard, and not spend an arm and a leg. I've looked into redoing the whole driveway including the sideyard with pavers, and the lowest cost for that is $15k. Not out of the question, but steeper than I'd like to go right now. Second option is to just put pavement in for the sideyard, cheapest quote I've gotten is $5.5k. Quite a bit cheaper than pavers, but not nearly as nice, and still not cheap. I don't know why, but I've had a damn hard time getting pavers to come out and give us a quote, i've only had two that returned my calls, $5.5k was the far cheaper quote.

Last option is to just lay down gravel, though I'm not sure I'd be able to power the boat up the incline through it. this is obviously the least attractive option, though seems as though it would be the most cost-conscious way of doing it.

Here's a few pics of the area in question, we're looking to pave the sideyard up to 20 feet or so behind the gate. Not sure if anybody has thoughts or expertise here, but thought i'd reach out before dropping some coin here. All thoughts and feedback appreciated...







We're looking to pave basically a straight line from the right hand side gate opening (as you look at it) to where it intersects the existing pavement if that makes sense.

I understand your pain. I just had cement work done on my side yards.

Three patches:
38'x11' boat parking (5" thick; rebar; drains; water/power sleaves)
25'x5' side yard (3" thick; rebar; drains)
8'x5' side landing (3" thick; rebar)

$4500. They did a great job too.

Gravel works just fine. I used a 1/2 inch rock on the side of my house and personally I like the way it looks more and be it that it is only 2 inches deep, I have no issue moving my boat as I want. I could easily move it by hand if needed. If you really want to get crazy with it, use a half inch rock and then fill it with smaller rocks to pack it tighter. I paid 165$ to do my side and I'm perfectly happy with it. Not to mention the fact that I can hear people walking on the side of my house. I bet people would argue this all day, but I'm happy with it and it saved a ton of cash. I forgot to mention that my total rock count was 18 ton. I'm not sure if that was a good price or not, that just seemed cheap.

(Message edited by aep6475 on October 24, 2005)

Heres an idea... you should just lay some concrete in the area that you are planning to use.. and buy a driveway coating..like an epoxy finish that you lay in your garage, that way it looks really nice and blends everything together.. It is really easy to clean. There are no marks left, and everything like oil marks or anything just wipe right off



I have this done in my garage and I will never own another house without it..

Concrete is best, but not the cheapest.

One option that you have is a reinforced turf system. You can then fill it with grass, or pea gravel. Both look good, and then you have the option of having grass on the front side of the fence and rock on the back. The plastic grid prevents your tires from sinking down, its like driving on concrete.

http://www.sim64.co.uk/ground-reinforcement.html

http://www.invisiblestructures.com/GP2/grasspave.htm

There are many available in your area I am sure, and its cheap.

I have a similar set-up, and use the gravel thing. I did pour some pads for the tandems and the tongue wheel. Those pads were small enough that I poured them myself.

GD, does your guy do work in the east bay?

Anthony, do you happen to have any pics of the gravel on your sideyard?

Do the math on concrete. With the three patches of cement, I have 583 sqft for $4500 or $7.70 per sqft.

I hear that simple 3" deep rebar'd concrete is $6/sqft and stamped colored fancy concrete is $10 or $12/sqft. Bigger jobs cost less; smaller jobs cost more; complex jobs cost more.

You might want to try looking at just two concrete strips with pea gravel texture. In my opinion it looks good with grass coming up in the middle.

Most asphalt guys don't want to do that job since it's still pretty small and they can stay busy elsewhere.

What is your tow vehicle? If you even have a 1/2 ton I don't think you will have trouble backing up that drive, even when it rains.

The guy I used is out of Brentwood for a house in Discovery Bay. He did a great job but you need to babysit the job to make sure it is all done as you want. I worked very well with them (his workers) and all was good. Never a raised voice. I can get you a number if you like. I'll get some pictures of the work too.

GD, if you could get some pics, that would be great. Understand about keeping an eye on them, that always seems to be the way.

I am going to look into the reinforced turf system, that doesn't really sound like a bad idea. I'd love to see any pics that folks have of this.

This isn't the most clear, and I've actually taken some rock out since, but you get the idea.

if it were me and i was laying gravel down i would use whats called "road crush" its waht they lay down before they pave a road way and if you can pack it down (rent a tamper or drive over it a few hundred times with teh truck youll have a pad that is just as hard as concrete... our road out at the lake was laid down by hand and in a 15 - 25 degree angle in pouring rain no one has ever lost traction... and it dosent look too bad either

Check your local building codes about the gravel. When I lived in Brentwood, I was told no way on the gravel if I was gonna use it to park any vehicle. Not sure about Walnut Creek. Glad I don't have that problem anymore.

I used Russo's in B.I. for boat storage last year while I was selling my place in Brentwood. It was like $125, but it was only covered (was open on the sides.)

Man do it your self! It's really not that hard. Just get one or 2 of your freinds to help. That task will only take you a day max. All you have to do is take some 4by4 planks and set them up as a templet. Then secure them in place with some wood spikes on the out side. Make sure your ground is level and do it in sections. Order a truck or mix it your self. Its really easy to do. Just work the concert slowly, and angle it slightly for run off. It sounds complicated but its really easy. I've done a few driveways this way and they look like we spent thousands for a perfesional to do it.

Just also think of resale of your property, now it has RV and Boat access..

Tommy,

Earlier this year I had my rear decking poured and last month I had the driveway done. The guys that did my driveway kicked butt. They jackhammered out the old one and set forms on Thursday the set the rebar and poured on Friday. Nothing like raising the value of your home in two days!

It's really nice having a flat solid concrete pad for the boat to sit on. It looks like you live in a nice neighborhood, pour the pad and give yourself a useful service area.

I believe the contractor's name was Iglesies Bros., they are out of Antioch.

Shoot me a note if you have any Qs.

mikeskiw@gmail.com

If you need to move the Condenser I might be able to hook you up with a HVAC guy too.

My roommate had this done in his backyard for about half of your 5.5k quote. That included the concrete strips, car/boat port, and fence gates. Pretty much everything you see there. Obviously not as nice as other setups, but it works well and I couldn't fathom spending 10k for a place to park a boat.

A 4" thick slab, formed, on a base provided by you, using 6 sac mix with fiber reinforcement and 6x6 mesh (basically a commercial quality slab) should cost no more than $3.00 per square foot. I had 15,000sf poured, on a huge slope, all curved...basically a nightmare. I paid $2.50 per foot 6 months ago.

Guys, thank you all for all of the ideas. this really is tremendously helpful.

I really like robert's idea of the reinforced turf system, I'm going to look into that, see if there's anyone local who could do this for me.

Mikeski, thanks for the referral on the Iglesias Brothers, I'm going to call them today and see if i can get them to come out and give me a quote.

I just paid about $6k for 1700 sf of driveway and boat/RV parking. Complete tear out of pavement and some existing concrete that sank. Made the mistake of using the neighbors In-law for the job. Took 3.5 weeks and about 100 beers for him to get it done. Slab came out pretty nice, but the finish is bad. Luckily there are great systems for coating and coloring concrete.

I kept a careful eye on the project so I basically learned how to set up, pour, and finish a concrete slab. From the looks of your area it should be fairly easy. Concrete costs about 100 bucks a cubic yard, which covers about 80 sqft of 4" thick slab. Remesh reinforcement is about 100 bucks for 750 SQFT.

Personally, I would go the concrete route. A good , well cured slab will last forever and can be resurfaced and made to look like new at any point along the way. Asphalt may be cheaper up front, but it needs more attention over it's lifespan.

Looks like you have a nice slab poured behind the gate for relatively cheap. Or spend a bit more and extend it down to the asphalt. If you eventually get the whole drive done, consider keeping it seperate from the driveway for now so they can mate it properly later if you have the driveway poured.

Another really inexpensive route would be to just have two strips done, wide enough for the wheels and and a couple feet to walk on. But if your plan to put up a boat port, just get the whole thing done.

A good concrete guy could have that done in a couple days. I would figure 3 bucks a sqft and they would have to remove about 3 inches of dirt and sod.

With the "reinforced turf system" won't you need to pull the boat out every 3 weeks to mow the lawn underneath? That sounds painful.

$3 per sqft? Good luck finding a good cement guy who will do a small job for twice that rate (especially in walnut creek).

What would look nice and not be too expensive would be to get a curbing boarder on each side of the drive way and fill the drive with 1/4 minus gravel. The 1/4minus packs super hard after it gets wet a few times and looks good for gravel. The curbing just gives it a nice clean driveway look and keeps the grass out.

great timing with this post - i am about to have this same exact problem and have been pondering solutions.

i like the reinforced turf! but, mowing underneath the boat is a good point. you would have to deal with this with concrete strips too. also, if you do put down gravel, make sure you put down a good impervious layer, or you'll be mowing your gravel too.

how about a combination of the reinforced turf across the yard (outside the fence), and a pad and carport for the boat? this might also minimize problems with the neighborhood assoc nazis.

Why do you need to do anything?
Just put up the carport.

yeah, I'm really liking the reinforced turf idea. As Robert pointed out, you can do grass or pea gravel. i would likely do pea gravel behind the fence, either grass or gravel in front of it.

I'm looking to park our SUV in front of the gate, so pea gravel may be the way to go there as well. Then, we'll just have to put up some bushes or small trees along the side of it so my neighbor doesn't have to look at me every time he looks out his front door. Tearing down those oleanders really made us a lot more visible to our neighbor...

I agree with the gravel idea. It's not permanent, and could be converted back to a yard if you, or future owner wanted it that way. I wouldn't go with pea gravel though. It's so small and light it doesn't pack well, and it will scatter all over your driveway.

John, no way i can get it up into the sideyard right now as is, it's steeper than it looks in the pic and the dirt is not packed very hard. I backed the jeep up on the dirt when it was wet a few weeks back, and I started losing traction with nothing behind me.

Mike, as for the HVAC, thanks for the offer. Just had that put in over the summer and made sure it was far enough back. I actually planned ahead for once in my life...

another idea which I haven't seen posted, use the crush and run (ABC at the quarry) for the whole pad, then cover it with some sort of mulch, looks like a big planter. I had a customer do this with his motorhome driveway.

I took pictures of my recent cement work today. Will up load them later tonight.

Save yourself some $$$$$ and talk to a concrete finisher that works for somebody and ask him if he does work on the side. You can form it all up and order the cement then have him come poor it and finish it. One guy like that and you can finish 9 yards no problem. If you need help setting up the forms let me know and I can tell you how to do it. About 90% of all workers will do stuff on the side.

offering to pay in cash (off the books) helps too.

My recent cement work.

$4500. Fully drained, sleaved, and rebar'd.

1) wide side yard

boat/trailer parking - 38x11





4x4 steel gate post (one of a pair)



2) narrow side yard

landing - 7x5



dogrun - 30x5



side cement - 25x5




(Message edited by greatdane on October 31, 2005)

It looks like you driveway is balck top, why not just go with that, from what I can tell you should be able to get the done for around 4 grand. I just had 2 driveways done that were side by side and they wer bother larger then that area and it cost me 5200 even.