Temporary Driveway Fix - Ideas Welcome!

[Kristian87]

Hi All,

I announced a while ago my house purchase, pleased to say that as of 2nd June, we're in!

Project driveway/detailing bay is underway, but the first hurdle is making the space fit for parking in. There is space for 2 cars here, one under the lean to attached to the shed and one just inside the gates.

First step was to remove the surplus timber the old owner had left behind, of which there was a lot! A lot of usable wood too which I may use as a mid term fix to make the current lean to a bit bigger. The challenge at the moment is the old screws and nails mixed up with the gravel, not ideal. I have a neat magnet broom thing which worked well at picking up a fair amount, but it's the ones I can't see that worry me.

Long term, I have visions of a nice resin driveway with a timber car port for the Stang, but that's a way off. A brick garage sits just to the left of the lean to, and needs to come down.

My current thinking is just to go over the gravel several more times with the magnet so I can get the Mustang in, but obviously worried about puncturing a tire. I could stretch to a tonne of gravel, but that's about as far as my budget will stretch for the moment. Also considering what washing the car would be like on the current surface, not really washed cars on gravel before. It's not deep at all, and I'm reluctant to do it if I'll make a mess. Maybe extra gravel will help with drainage? I don't know.

Any ideas or tips very welcome, keen to get the stang in as it currently doesn't have a permanent home!

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[GR11M]

Knock it down, build a palace, your car deserves it

 

[Kristian87]

Knock it down, build a palace, your car deserves it

Oh if only!

Other announcement then, whilst I'm at it. Baby girl on the way - due September. Hence the budget restrictions lol

Lucky to have a lady that's in favour of the Mustang staying. Lot's of short and long term home projects in mind, very little funds for it

 

[Egparson202]

Groom the gravel you have to get the last of the screws and nails. A rake should do the trick along with your magnet. Then try washing the car with the gravel you have there. It may be fine as is. The tire contact patches will be the biggest challenge. There’s likely some lumber you could roll onto to elevate the car a tiny bit.

There will be a lot of opportunities to spend money on a new to you home. Take your time.

EDIT: Oh, and now there’s a baby on the way! Congratulations on all this. You’re living a good life. Let it come to you. Just enjoy it.

 

[GR11M]

I'd be tempted to extend the roof to the building to the left and have a solid floor, so you can work under your car and not have to worry about dropping parts and tools into the gravel.

 

[sk47]

Hello; Washing a car over gravel is no problem. Did such for years at one place. Should not be a mess.

As for the metal in the gravel. First all may not be ferrous ( magnetic). Second is the old fashioned back breaking way but is cheap. If you have a wheel borrow or some buckets, a couple of different shovels. Maybe a hoe or other similar digging tool. Dig up a section of the gravel or maybe all in the parking area and pile it up away. Then basically sift thru it a shove or two at a time.
Would be nice to have or build a platform about waist level on which to spread the gravel while sifting through. Maybe with built up sides (2x4) so you can dump the cleaned gravel back into the wheel borrow. Put the sorted gravel back in the parking spot.

If you happen to be ambitious enough to dig out the entire spot all at the same time you will have a chance to improve the parking for the car. That would be by putting a vapor barrier down before covering it with cleaned gravel. Something to keep ground moisture from coming up under the car. Now days a layer of foam board is put down under concrete. Foam likely will not hold up under loose gravel tho. Some heavy plastic sheeting ought to work. The sheeting will wind up with some holes to be sure but will still control the moisture a lot.

 

[sk47]

I'd be tempted to extend the roof to the building to the left and have a solid floor, so you can work under your car and not have to worry about dropping parts and tools into the gravel.

Hello: Having worked on gravel for a lot of years I agree with this. Not only do you lose tools, bolts and stuff but your back will not have red spots and bruises after a days work.

 

[sk47]

Hello; Another way might be to attach a magnet directly to a heavy rake or similar tool. That way you can rake the gravel every few days and get the magnetic stuff at the same time.
I rented a house for years. The owner had a new roof put on. I push mowed the grass. Mounted some strong magnets on the back of the mower that dragged thru the grass just above the ground. For a long time I kept picking up roofing nails.

Had a new roof on my current home a few years ago. I keep finding roofing nails on my asphalt drive. Finally looked in the gutter of my back porch awning. Lots of nails in the gutter. Could only figure the birds were tossing the nails out. Cleaned the gutter with a strong magnet.

Good luck.

 

[WD Pro]

Other announcement then, whilst I'm at it. Baby girl on the way - due September.

Congratulations !

WD

 

[Kristian87]

Spent a happy 20 mins going over the gravel with the magnet, satisfied myself enough to park the car inside the gates. Amazing how much smaller the space seems when there's a big ol Stang parked in it!

 

[WD Pro]

Yeah I remember the conversations about space ...

My space isn't big, it's 6 x 4.3 (open at one end when the gate is open) and whilst it's 'just' enough to wash and detail the car externally, I need to pull forward onto the open part of the drive to get both doors fully open to detail the interior etc

In my opinion and if you can stretch to it, 7 x 6 (or larger) would be an ideal area allowing for a full detail without moving it around

WD

 

[Kristian87]

Bit of a brainwave this morning once the caffeine had kicked in.

What i'm thinking of doing is removing the lean to currently attached to the shed, then flipping it round to be attached to the garage. More than enough good 3x3 timber beams to build the main structure - all left by the previous owner.

That could be a 5m x 4m covering then, instead of the 3.2m x 2.4m that it is currently.

Would still need to lay down a better surface but gravel grids and more small (20mm?) gravel might do the trick for now. I'll be happy if the stang is under cover before winter hits

 

[WD Pro]

My sister is on those gravel grid things (generic picture so we are talking about the same thing) :

They have been down years and they are much better than gravel alone.

I know that she didn't cheap out though, they were quite an expensive type that they put down (and they have been good enough to serve multiple lives - some are now being used as a shed bases etc).

20mm gravel is fine (based on the grids that my sister bought). I have 20mm (Staffordshire pink) in the back garden and that would be ideal.

Pick a round gravel if you are washing a car on it as it doesn't compress as easy as some of the flatter types and it remains 'open' so it will promote fast draining.

Pick a gravel that doesn't dust when moved / run over / compressed if you want to keep some sanity for your detailing lol.

20mm staff pink for an idea on size and shape :

That stuff you have down actually looks ideal (more of it in grids)

WD

 

[Kristian87]

Time for an update!

After clearing the scrap timber from under the car port, it was promptly filled with ~4 tonnes of soil and rubble! The back garden demanded a larger patio so we had family help us put that in.

Fast forward a couple of months...didn't have any time spare as our new addition to the family arrived on 6th Sep, Amelie

Managed to scrape just about 4 weeks off for paternity leave, and in the last week, with an extra pair of hands, managed to achieve quite a lot. The demolition happened on Saturday and also got the canopy up. Got rid of the soil in the week.

It needs refining - steel fasteners on the corners, rather than the current rope, and some proper cross beams (need to purchase some 4.8m lengths), then it should be a nice temporary shelter. This is all done on a shoe string budget, by the time I've got the timber and steel fixings, I'm not much over £100 in, so super happy with that. How it survives the weather is yet to be seen, but the beauty is I can simply unhook the canopy. The primary goal here was to make the space I need to be able to wash the car in my own home

 

[Kristian87]

Excited to to share an update here!

I quickly determined the canvas sun shade was a no go, it's an engineering challenge just to get enough tension on something that large, let alone it not being properly waterproof! I did add more of a frame underneath it as a last ditch attempt, but that was never going to do.

Budget was always an issue, so it was a question of what's the best I can build for a minimum budget (around £500). Anyway, a few long lengths of timber later, and ~£300 worth of clear corrugated roofing...

Size wise, it's more than adequate. 5.6m in length and 4.4m wide! It's a wash bay as well as storage to keep the worst of the weather off. Still some finishing touched to go - need to add some vertical supports and braces just to be safe, and then a good tidy up. But importantly, it's ready for winter

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