Making yard more firm to allow vehicle passage without digging trenches

[mook johnson]

I need to drive on part of my yard without tearing up the grass (St aug). This will be for getting to and parking a boat so traffic won't be that freuqent. Maybe twice a month max.

The yard is sod over a few inches of sand. :( I need to hardne this up so my truc wheel dont sink into the sod.

I'm thinking that I just drive over it a few times slowly to pack it down them put down some clay and sod over that part again.

The softest part is in front of a house in a subdivision so it needs to stay "pretty".

Also can't pour a slab connectiong the driveway to this area because it would violate the HOA rules of being seen from the road.....:(

What do you guys think?

[Pete C.]

Concrete with astro-turf on top :)

Really, most anything you can do to "firm it up" will also kill off the grass. Grass doesn't grow well in hard packed soil.

Can you use the plantable pavers? The ones cast in a lattice type pattern and intended to have grass planted in all the openings disguising them a fair amount.

[aemeijers]

Beat me to it- this is just the kind of application they were designed for.

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

..

That is what they were made for. Under my local condtions they do a good job.

[mook johnson]

Thanks I'll have a look.

[mook johnson]

Thanks I'll have a look.

[mook johnson]

Ahhaa this is pretty much my exact setup

thanks

[RobertPatrick]

"mook johnson" wrote in news:ElRrn.40397$ [e-mail]:

Grass protection:

[DanG]

There are two products that do what you want. One is plastic, one is a CMU block product.

Look up "sod block" or scroll down to the bottom of this page for one example:

There is a plastic version:

We used the plastic one once, but did not have good luck standing up to buses and trucks. The CMU version we used was full 8" deep, but worked well. The same results could be had by turning regular CMU upside down and spacing them out.

[dadiOH]

Flop down some plywood when you need to go to/from the boat.

[hrhofmann]

My vote is for plywood, a 4x8 sheet split in 2 or 3 should work fine if you can steer straight, and won't take up much space if stored vertically in the garage.

[John Gilmer]

Try some crushed rock. I would suggest 3/4" to 1" in size. Don't get carried away but you should "walk" it into place.

The traffic will force it below the grade but it will definitely still have some firmness.

If you do it EXACTLY right, you will have a matrix of the crushed rock with organic soil in between the rock. The rock will transmit the vehicle loads downward while the soil will maintain the viability of the grass.

DON'T bring in any "fines."

[Larry W]

Depending on the distance, type of vehicle, configuration of your yard, etc, you may be able to just buy a couple PT 2X10s or 2X12s to lay on top of the grass that you can drive over on the way to the boat.

[Steve Barker]

put a hitch ball on your lawn tractor and use that to park and stage the boat