simple(?) home driveway engineering problem

[Jim Beaver]

A new driveway was installed at my home. The driveway has an approximately

45-degree incline, then levels off. At the time of installation, I drove a high-clearance SUV. There was no problem clearing the angle between the incline and the level section. But now I no longer own an SUV but two sedans, both of which hang on the angle where the incline meets the level. I need to do something to alter the driveway, as neither car can be parked there now. One car drags as it goes over the angle, the other car (with a longer wheelbase) will not clear it at all.

I have posted an illustration with complete measurements at alt.binaries, under the subject line "driveway".

The length of the driveway in the illustration is also the maximum amount of space available for the driveway, and the entire frontage of the property has the same basic slope pattern as the driveway illustration.

Can someone suggest reasonable alternatives to the configuration currently in place? I need alternatives to the slope pattern, not to the direction or location of the driveway. I've included measurements for the vehicles' clearances as well, so precision-minded individuals can if they so choose provide precise measurements in their answers. My contractor -- not an engineer by any stretch -- suggests just "cutting the angle" out, thus making two smaller angles, I suppose. But I'm not sure this would work. Any advice would be most welcome.

Jim Beaver

[tbasc]

A "blend" should be built into the top and the bottom of the slope. That length should be - say - half the slope of the main drive.

10'-0" or more is probably needed. TB

[default]

It's not an engineering problem, it's a geometry problem. Work it out with graph paper.

[willshak]

On 12/7/2004 6:06 PM US(ET), Jim Beaver took fingers to keys, and typed=20 the following:

A 45=BA incline? That's 14 degrees more than the high bank at Daytona,=20 and 12 more than the pitch of my roof (8/12)!

[MUADIB®]

Just as a way to try different angles for your vehicle, you could try wood blocks till you get an angle that works, then have the concrete corrected to match that angle................basically, just build up the low spots in the approach till you get a clearance you can live with. Wood is fairly inexpensive if you don;t go buy furniture grade supplies.( I didn't say cheap , so don;t read it that way, just less than doing concrete forty times to get an acceptable fix)

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

one small step for man,..... One giant leap for attorneys.

[nicksanspam]

It's similar to the classic differential calculus problem of determining whether you can move a ladder of length L around a right angle corner in a hallway of width W.

Good idea. Make model cars and move them over a model of the present driveway contour and snip off parts of the contour where the cars bottom. The cost to fix the driveway increases with the weight of the snips :-)

Nick

[Jordan Abel]

ITYM "around a corner of angle THETA[1] from a hallway of width V to a hallway of width W"

>

[Hactar]

Change the driveway by adding something narrow like paving stones (+ small concrete ramps at their ends), so that it goes from this:

[effi]

do you mean cutting out a section of the driveway, filling it in with dirt, then pouring a new slab section with the angle of approach you want? seems that could work

maybe you could find other angles in roads or driveways in your area to measure the angle your cars need for clearance, then use that angle in re-doing your driveway, instead of doing it on paper then finding out your calculated angle doesn't work in the real world

[Blinky the Shark]

Fer heaven's sakes, just dig the slope smooth. Nobody's said that the driveway has to conform to the shape of the rest of the yard.

- - - - -

(Not quite to original V/H proportion due to ASCII limitations that don't apply to digging and paving.)

[Waldo Point]

approximately

How about installing a lift kits on your cars? Air powered cost's less than hydraulics and has a smoother ride.You could raise the car to get over the hump and then lower it back down to stock height

bad you don't own Citroen's they could do this without any modifications with their Hydroponic suspension. They did look like upside down bathtubs. I don't think they are sold in the U.S. anymore.

[effi]

then they could probably only resell the house to persons with a certain vehicle clearance, meaning a limited market, unless the buyers didn't want use of the driveway as a parking area