Steep driveway costing me my marriage

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Adsibob said:

question is what happens when the handbrake cable goes? Does it suddenly fail, or does one get prior notice? 

You get prior notice, a kind of strangled snapping sound.

 

Usually one caliper seizes up and it feels wrong.

But why worry about the brakes, the clutch is going to take the hammering.

[Kelvin]

She’s not going to wear the handbrake out in the car by parking on a slope. You must have better things to spend £6k plus on if you think the other two reasons are subjective. 
 

Putting sand down might make it less slippy underfoot but the first heavy rain will wash it to the low point. 

[joe90]

The only thing that would annoy me is doors closing due to gravity or flying open when on a slope.

[Onoff]

You can get various makes of non slip additive that you add to block paving sealer.

[Thorfun]

5 hours ago, Adsibob said:

She wants us to spend £££ redoing the whole driveway by taking up the setts, building a retaining wall and raising the slope so instead of a 12 or 13 degree slope, we have something much closer to flat (but not actually flat) and then relaying the setts. The setts are not stuck down to the bedding beneath them. They are just grouted in because these are Marshalls drivesys setts, so that’s how they are installed.

 

Part of me thinks this is absolute madness, part of me thinks that having spent so much on the house already, in the grand scheme of things this will be 1% more at most, particularly if not too many setts are damaged in the “ungrouting” process. We have about 200 setts spare anyway.

this would be my solution as well although it's easy to spend other people's money. you've also admitted that you're worried about delivery drivers/visitors slipping on the slope in the winter/ice so just get it fixed now for good and then you'll have a happy wife who's not dreading leaving the house when winter comes and you'll not be worried about a health and safety claim against you by an Amazon delivery driver (other on-line shopping websites are available).

 

to me it's a no brainer. but that's just me.

[joe90]

@Adsibob any chance if a photo?

[Onoff]

4 minutes ago, joe90 said:

@Adsibob any chance if a photo?

 

Of @Adsibob, his missus or the drive?

[joe90]

His missus of course!!!,! (No the drive you plonker Rodney)

[Adsibob]

48 minutes ago, joe90 said:

@Adsibob any chance if a photo?

[Adsibob]

39 minutes ago, joe90 said:

His missus of course!

was going to post something naughty, but thought better of it.

[Onoff]

9 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

 

She's a looker! 👍

[Adsibob]

the drain is an aco drain which runs the whole width of the driveway at the bottom of the slope. (we have one at the top as well). The bike shed is accessed in the bottom right hand corner of this image, which the camera shot has chopped off. That’s relevant because the access to the bike shed is fairly flat and level, so reducing the slope of the driveway will either leave a massive step up from the area of ground outside the bike shed door or we need to remove the bike shed, pour quite a bit of screed/concrete and then reinstall bike shed so that it will be level.

 

 There are 6 steps up to the street from the floor immediately outside our front door. Each one is about 76cm deep. From that floor, there is also a step down to the bottom of the driveway (which partly explains why you can see a bunch of leaves which have collected there in the image).

Current rise over run of driveway is 1/5.33.

I will post another photo in a minute showing other side of aco drain.

 

 Those three black things are wall lights and the white wall is a planter that houses the bike shed and one day will house soil and plants to partly conceal the bike shed.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Adsibob

[Adsibob]

Here is other side of aco drain:

Two rows of setts which are virtually flat, but with a slight fall towards aco drain, then a retaining concrete edging strip then a French drain before we hit the wall of the house.

 Originally, there was a patio here which was built up over the DPC and this wall had a massive damp problem as a result. As part of the refurb a surveyor designed this, which has obviously resulted in this bit of ground being quite a bit lower than before.

[Jilly]

It does appear steep and shiny...

[Onoff]

Bet the kids love it when it snows?

[Adsibob]

21 minutes ago, Jilly said:

It does appear steep and shiny...

Yes. I’ve worked out how to get the shiny coating off (which is wax the manufacturer applies to protect the setts (which are artificial) during transit) but it’s a least a day’s  work using solvents and elbow grease and I’m not sure I can be bothered if I will just be forced to redo the whole thing anyway.

[Thorfun]

Wow. That is steep!

[Roundtuit]

It does look great, and I can understand the reluctance to take it up.  Now crack on and get it raised, anything else is not really going to be a satisfactory solution I fear.

[ProDave]

My thoughts on the photo.

 

Wrong material, you don't want smooth and shiny, you want rough and grippy, probably coarse tarmac, or concrete with a tamped finish but that might be tricky on that slope, it would have to be pretty dry when laid.

 

I would not want to park on a slope like that, you either have to reverse down, or probably worse is reverse up the steep slope not being sure that is coming because you are down in a dip.

 

Does it lead to a flat area with room to park 2 cars and turn?  If not and that is your only parking I would want it a LOT less sleep which means the retaining wall and a flatter raised drive.

[SteamyTea]

If you raised it up, you could make a cavity/dungeon underneath.

[Adsibob]

It’s all very disappointing, because the setts are made by Marshall’s and designed for driveways, and I checked with them prior to ordering and their limit is 15 degrees, so I thought this (which is 10.8 degrees) would be fine.  But I guess the forum agrees with my darling wife, and we will go ahead and do it. 
 

Two questions:

 

1) This gradient 1/5.33 or 10.8 degrees is clearly not acceptable. But what is the maximum gradient that would be acceptable. I ask because the more gradient we have the less destructive we have to be to other elements of the front yard. For example, would raising the bottom by 40cm make enough of a difference (gradient becomes 60/533 or 6.5 degrees).

 

2) what height fence can I have against my neighbour’s property in a front yard situation. I ask because my front yard at the bottom nearest the house, is only 7cm or 8cm lower than my neighbours’. If I raise the ground level by 40cm I will be more than a foot higher. If I then erect my fence off that, could they complain.

[Goldeneagle]

Would think you could get it grit blasted for a few hundred pounds which would give a rough surface that would grip better. May not be best result for longevity of setts but a pretty painless option.

[ToughButterCup]

20 hours ago, Adsibob said:

...Part of me thinks this is absolute madness, [and] part of me thinks ...

 

Welcome to self-building.

 

We're nearly  at the  end of our build. Only one thing is true on every single self-build. Each build is an accumulation of compromises. Many (most?) of which are known only to the builder.

 

Visitors to our house never see them. Unless I point them out.

 

And  ten years from now,  who's going to notice the compromises on your build?

 

Except your wife who will allow herself a quiet smile...... 

Yes, Brownie Points cost.

[SteamyTea]

54 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

Except your wife who will allow herself a quiet smile

As she sit on a Caribbean beach wondering what all that marriage malarkey was all about.

Statistically, divorced men with children become financially better off.

[Iceverge]

You'll need a new car. 😂

 

 

Can you post a dimensioned plan of the drive please and I'll play with drawing something if you like. 

 

If you're going to do any sort of change I'd be tempted to make it level but to make it visually acceptable might need some work. On the plus side what I have in mind will give your Mrs somewhere very handy to change the engine oil on her fiesta.