Steep driveway costing me my marriage

[Ferdinand]

On the length and poking out into the road, some said would that be a problem.

 

Checking your drive as is is 5.7m long, and I think you are getting a bit more at the house end, but losing a touch by the shallow angle.

 

Since a huge estate in this country is under 5m, I'd say you will be fine unless you plan to obtain a Lincoln Town Car, a Humvee or the Batmobile. The Panther Six would fit.

 

So for the length one, I'd be inclined to use a variation on the old tyre in garage on a rope trick, and have something initially soft then solid than can be nudged, so that you know the rear end is not outside your boundary, yet they don't appear in your lounge.

 

I'd do that as a supplementary to two ridges in the surface - say at 2m and 1m from the end, chosen as appropriate. So normal cars could either just utch up to the first, over the first, or up to the second.  

 

If you want to stop tyres at ridge 2, it could just be a set of your driveway blocks on edge or on end.

 

F

[Adsibob]

Just by way of update, we are going to go (or at least, try to go) for the sump plug access option:

Now starts the hard part!!!

 

[ETC]

Looks very complicated. I’m sure there is a much simpler solution.

[Adsibob]

1 minute ago, ETC said:

Looks very complicated. I’m sure there is a much simpler solution.

Very happy to hear your suggestions, but we have a lot of constraints:

1) we don’t want to move the staircase

2) we don’t have anywhere else for the bins

3) with the bins in their existing position, we like the ramp to get the bins up

4) given the bike storage in the planter to the right of the plan drawing, ramp is also useful for the bike.

[SteamyTea]

11 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Just by way of update, we are going to go (or at least, try to go) for the sump plug access option:

What is there to stop someone falling down to the lower, more sloped, level from the upper, less slopped, level?

Road crossings use a textured surface to help the blind.

Edited November 5, 2022 by SteamyTea

[Onoff]

How are you going to ensure you don't half drive off and end up with one wheel in the oil change lane?

[Thorfun]

57 minutes ago, Onoff said:

How are you going to ensure you don't half drive off and end up with one wheel in the oil change lane?

I wondered this. bikes are pretty light so can be carried up the steps so I guess the ramp is only needed for the bins. 

[Iceverge]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

How are you going to ensure you don't half drive off and end up with one wheel in the oil change lane?

 

It all boils down to the dimensions of it. 

 

I had a good play around with resizing things. 

 

To have a wheel in the lane you'd need the other one in a planter or on the steps. Hopefully you'd notice before catastrophe struck and you became beached. I would echo @Ferdinands comment though.  A robust method of not allowing the car end up in the living room is important. 

 

My idea was to make the last kerb from reinforced concrete. The car should bump off it to let you know to stop. And if it jumped the kerb it would only end up seesawing perilously over the ledge like the end of the Italian job. 

 

[Onoff]

18 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

And if it jumped the kerb it would only end up seesawing perilously over the ledge like the end of the Italian job. 

 

 

Don't tell me, you've got a plan?

[Russdl]

How about getting out of the car, is there room to do that? Driven in forward, will the drivers door open over the planter? Will the passenger have to step down to the steps or is there enough room to walk along the ramp to the pavement?

[SteamyTea]

20 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Don't tell me, you've got a plan?

[SteamyTea]

More to the point.

 

[Iceverge]

8 minutes ago, Russdl said:

How about getting out of the car, is there room to do that? Driven in forward, will the drivers door open over the planter? Will the passenger have to step down to the steps or is there enough room to walk along the ramp to the pavement?

 

Yes, it'll be the same as it is at the moment. 

 

With the bin ramp to one side it'd have been too tight. 

[Iceverge]

5 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

More to the point.

 

 

Delboy will just have to learn to reverse park !

[Adsibob]

I agree with iceverge. The reason for the bin only needs to be about 75cm wide maybe even a bit less. The overall width of the driveway is 3.7m at the top and 3.5m at the bottom (between planter and staircase). The width of the bin wheels is 58cm. So that is almost 1.5m width either side of the ramp  for each wheel of the car!

[Gone West]

On 14/09/2022 at 01:04, Adsibob said:

A lot of effort went into designing our driveway, planters either side, lighting and steps. A lot of money as well. Unlike some other features of the build, SWMBO was consulted on every aspect. She was also home when they were laying it, because we moved in before it was done.

Well she hates it. She says it's too steep. In part she is right, but it is within the manufacturer's tolerances for steepness (we laid Marshall's drivesys pavers). 

 

On 14/09/2022 at 01:04, Adsibob said:

There are basically three issues that SWMBO complains about:

 

1. she has to do a hill start / hill stop every time she uses the driveway
2. the kids slip on it because it is so slippery (this has only happened once to each kid in the last month)
3. the kids could get crushed by swinging doors

 

On 14/09/2022 at 01:04, Adsibob said:

So the options are:

 

1. divorce
2. lift up the pavers, relay the sub-base at a different angle, and then create a trench for our house. This seems mad. It will ruin the look of the front, make the bike shed a little inaccessible and possibly look very weird. At most it would reduce the gradient by about 1.5 degrees, to about 11.5. This just seems like a very expensive option for not that much benefit. I reckon it's at least £2000 worth of work, and that's assuming the pavers come up easily, though hopefully they will as there is just the jointing compound laid on top which is holding them down. i.e. no adhesive underneath.
3. ignore wife's parking, let her park in the road and make her pay the fines when she gets fined.

Bear with me because I haven't read all six pages. The obvious answer to me is to add "4." to the options, which would be to trade your old car for a modern car that doesn't have a conventional handbrake, just a button, and has automatic hill start. That must be easier than redesigning your front garden and changing it all when it seems you are happy with the look of it and you spent so much achieving that look.

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, Adsibob said:

I agree with iceverge. The reason for the bin only needs to be about 75cm wide maybe even a bit less. The overall width of the driveway is 3.7m at the top and 3.5m at the bottom (between planter and staircase). The width of the bin wheels is 58cm. So that is almost 1.5m width either side of the ramp  for each wheel of the car!

 

What are the odds of your Council issuing wider bins just after you have built it ? 

 

😛

[Adsibob]

8 hours ago, Iceverge said:

 

Yes, it'll be the same as it is at the moment. 

 

With the bin ramp to one side it'd have been too tight. 

Indeed. I should emphasise that the only thing wrong with the driveway is the steepness of the slope. All other aspects work well.

[Adsibob]

7 hours ago, Gone West said:

 

 

Bear with me because I haven't read all six pages. The obvious answer to me is to add "4." to the options, which would be to trade your old car for a modern car that doesn't have a conventional handbrake, just a button, and has automatic hill start. That must be easier than redesigning your front garden and changing it all when it seems you are happy with the look of it and you spent so much achieving that look.

Incidentally I test drove a new SUV today, and that had some clever anti roll system handbrake. But that won’t fix the fact that sometimes the car’s wheels spin when trying to get out of the drive. Okay, that’s only happened once, in rain, but it wasn’t even cold. In winter it will only be worse.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Adsibob

[Adsibob]

4 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

What are the odds of your Council issuing wider bins just after you have built it ? 

 

😛

I think there would be uproar. Lots of people have built in bin storage. In any case, 75cm allows a bit extra.

[Kelvin]

7 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Incidentally I test drove a new SUV today, and that had some clever anti roll system handbrake. But that won’t fix the fact that sometimes the car’s wheels spin when trying to get out of the drive. Okay, that’s only happened once, in rain, but it wasn’t even cold. In winter it will only be worse.

An SUV with AWD. 

[SteamyTea]

16 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

An SUV with AWD. 

Or Uber

[Onoff]

If you're going to dig the drive up anyway is it timer to look at UDH? 😂

 

Maybe a couple of lines of trace heating where the wheels sit! 

[Gone West]

8 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Incidentally I test drove a new SUV today, and that had some clever anti roll system handbrake. But that won’t fix the fact that sometimes the car’s wheels spin when trying to get out of the drive. Okay, that’s only happened once, in rain, but it wasn’t even cold. In winter it will only be worse.

Our car and most modern cards have traction control so wheel spin is unlikely.

[SteamyTea]

49 minutes ago, Gone West said:

Our car and most modern cards have traction control so wheel spin is unlikely.

I took my driving test in High Wycombe, so ever start was a hill start.

I failed first time, must get around to redoing it.