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My new Driveway.

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Godiva, Jul 22, 2007.

  1. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    When I moved into my new old house 20 years ago the driveway needed to be replaced. It had been poured in 1949 when the house was renovated. At that time they added a bedroom, remodeled the bathroom and kitchen and added the garage. The driveway is short, only 10 feet, as it opens to the alley.

    Well it was badly cracked and was worn down to the aggregate. I couldn't afford to do anything at the time. Good thing. I've since determined that there must be a small fault that runs slightly diagonally through my property. So it's a good thing I didn't just have a new slab poured as eventually it would have cracked too.

    I looked into pavers a few years ago but the cost was almost $8,000 because no company would lay less than 400 sq feet and I only needed 232 sq ft. I also didn't like the company (Systems Paving in San Diego). So I put it off.

    Then I saw this product on TV. And a few months ago my Mom and I were going to Home Depot and there was a brochure. They stocked the stuff. It's called Drivable Grass and in Southern California it's distributed by Soil Retention.. And some of the Home Depots are starting to carry it. It's a 2 ft x 2 ft grid of small concrete blocks connected by a rubber mesh so it is solid but flexible. Perfect just what I need. One grid square is $10.00. That's a lot cheaper than pavers.

    It's listed as DIY but no way I can jackhammer up my driveway or even install the stuff. Each square is 45lb. So I found an installer.

    It's done. Cost about $4,000. That's half what the pavers would have cost. I think it looks nice. It will look even nicer when there's some green in between. You can plant grass by I decided to try dicondra because I hate to mow. I've put a drip system out there on timers so it will be extremely low maintenance. I've already driven on it.

    Take a look.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. formerVWdriver

    formerVWdriver New Member

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    Looks very nice. Much nicer than concrete, especially if you get green things to grow.

    I've never heard of that product. Keep us posted on how you like living with it. There may be some places I'd like to use it.....

    I'm shocked at the price. (Then again, I'm shocked at the price of everything.)
     
  3. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Your driveway is smaller than I thought. Personally, I would have spent the four grand on something else and just used a sledgehammer on the old concrete, but I suspect we have a few physiological differences. :)

    You've put an amazing amount of work into your house, Godiva. The before and after pictures are impressive. It looks like you're just about done - whatever will you do with yourself when you retire?
     
  4. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(formerVWdriver @ Jul 22 2007, 07:35 PM) [snapback]483325[/snapback]</div>
    Well, it's $10.00 for 4 sq feet. I don't know what the cost is on pavers but I'll bet it's more.
     
  5. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Jul 22 2007, 09:39 PM) [snapback]483387[/snapback]</div>
    Sledgehammer. Yeah, I can see me out there with my two herniated discs breaking up the concrete. And what do I do with it after it's broken? Put a few pieces in the trash each week? And how to lay the new stuff. It's almost 50lbs. But other stuff I can do. I spent the day putting in some PVC and extending my sprinkler system to cover the driveway. It's in, on timers and I don't have to do anything except drive in and out of my garage. (I've also hung a ceiling fan and sweated copper pipe for a hot water line. I can do electrical but prefer plumbing.) I also lay tile and do drywall.

    LOL. I *could* retire in 5-6 years. The plan is to get it all done so it's so low maintenance that I can rest during my retirement. I have a lot of needlepoint kits in the attic I'm waiting to do and I have a lot of afghan patterns just waiting to crochet. My sewing room closet is full of fabric waiting to be made into quilts. Of course I'd like to do a little yardwork but I don't want to have to spend hours a day every day maintaining it.

    What's left?

    Well, I still have to hang the new french door for the kitchen. The house gets painted (again) next week. That happens every 10 years. I'm having PV installed the week of Aug. 6. After the house gets painted the front fence iron gets powdercoated (to last a long time) and the front gets landscaped (again). I still have some planting to do in the back yard. After the garage is painted I plant to espalier fruit trees on that south facing side. I'll need to reconfigure the irrigation for that area when the trees go in. I have to replace the pump in my fountain. I have another small fountain I need to tile the inside of and get going again. I have a few planter beds still to do. I've decided on a climbing rose bush for the back corner with either blue agapanthus or a hydrangea. There are a number of places that need some hanging baskets. After the pergola gets painted I need to extend the drip irrigation system there. Then no more hand watering hanging baskets. That's why most of them are dead. (Except the geraniums.) I have an old lady yard. Roses. Geraniums. Fushcias. The inside is mostly done too. My microwave hood combo died so when that is replaced a new custom cabinet is going above the stove; shorter so the microwave can be hung higher and paint grade wood so I can paint it to match the rest of the kitchen. The only other thing I've really planned on is to put a closet system in the master bedroom closet. I've done the other two bedrooms (library and sewing room). I'm putting a nice Elfa system in my bedroom.

    That's pretty much it. I am going to experiment with a sash trim kit for my library windows. The sash cords have broken and the windows are difficult to open. I can't remove the trim to get at the sash weights and their are no doors into the pocket. There is a new system with springs in the sashes. You have to trim and router the windows to fit. I'll be doing two windows this August. If it works out, I may do all of my windows. Or not. Depends. but those two windows are definitely getting done.

    But what I'll be doing immediately after the door gets hung is to fix the furnace. There's a leak in the line between the control box and the pilot. The pilot got smaller and smaller and then went out. There was a faint smell of gas and now it's completely gone. That tells me the box shut off the gas when the pilot went out so the box is good. And the leak was between the box and the pilot because the pilot was starved for gas. So...I'll be crawling under the house....again.

    And I guess I'll be crawling under the house one more time before I get too old to extend the phone line up into the TV cabinet so if I should ever want digital phone service through my cable company I'll be ready.

    Have I mentioned I'm 52?
     
  6. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I've often seen auxiliary and emergency driveways leading into subdivisions that look like normal grass from a distance, but close up you can see that the grass is growing between a sort of lattice of concrete. This provides support for vehicles when needed and still looks nice.

    It looks very nice, Godiva. Please take pictures when the grass starts filling in.
     
  7. pewd

    pewd Clarinet Dude

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    products like that could make a big storm water runoff impact in cities.
    that particular product is only available in california and nevada.

    around here, they just pave over everything in sight. pity, i could use something like that for a few projects around the house
     
  8. formerVWdriver

    formerVWdriver New Member

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    My grandmother's house had the coolest driveway. It was too strips of concrete placed where the car tires would go. The rest was grass. I wanted to do that. Can't remember why I couldn't. There's probably more variation in the distance between tires today (SUVs vs. Minis, for. ex.). But that wasn't it.
     
  9. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Look'n good!
    I'd stay away from dicondra though, unless you're ready to become its slave. Takes a ton of work keeping it in good shape.
     
  10. Pinto Girl

    Pinto Girl New Member

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    Sweet!!

    Agreed about the dicondra, though. There might be natives which would do well in this situation (and could survive with or, in an emergency, without drip irrigation).

    I've been faced with redoing my driveway for...oh, ten years...now. Have considered just two strips for the tires with plantings in between (as mentioned above; that's what the house had originally in the 1920's), also gravel...

    Thanks for posting! This is a nice solution that I, for one, wasn't aware of.

    I've actually rented a 60lb. jackhammer for removing some walkways in the back yard, but driveways can have rebar added to them; I was afraid to tackle *that.*

    As far as disposal, there is a site here on the Peninsula in the SF Bay Area, which will grind up your concrete for free if you drop it off at their location. That's what I did with mine; it was a pain and many carloads, but it's better than dropping it in the trash.
     
  11. daronspicher

    daronspicher Active Member

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    Looks nice... but...

    400sqft / 4sqft per $10 = $1000 for the materials.

    Did an installer hook you for $3000 to install it?

    Since your a DIY person, maybe get a temp kid who can do the work and spend the time telling him what to do... maybe some tool rental from a rental shop and some high school kids to move heavy things?
     
  12. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    Looks nice. Does your Prius like it ? :D
     
  13. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(huskers @ Jul 23 2007, 09:38 PM) [snapback]483904[/snapback]</div>
    Yep. Likes it just fine.
     
  14. hycamguy07

    hycamguy07 New Member

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    Ohhhhhh, speaking of driveways (sore subject)

    I have a circular driveway it looks like a reversed "P" . I looked into pavers :blink: $26k. then concrete, :blink: $ 45k. then concrete with the holes for the grass to grow through, :blink: $20k.
    Then asphalt, : :mellow: $18k. or asphalt that looks like paver bricks $23k. then as one of my last resorts (Gravel or Mulch) I looked into gravel, $1600 err until the salesman came out and saw my house and property then the price jumped from $1600 to $11K. :angry: I told him he could pound his gravel..... I had to settel with mulch and leaves but that is a pain too as it floats during heavy down pours and goes everywhere.. :(

    Grass will not grow in the driveway area, due to 50 yr old oak trees and lots of shade.
    The driveway area is approx 2000 Sq Ft.
     
  15. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jul 23 2007, 01:19 PM) [snapback]483664[/snapback]</div>
    Check some of your local companies. We have one called RCP block and brick. They have a product called Turf-Blok. It's a big concrete block with holes in it. Looks sorta like Chex cereal or a Lego with holes. You can put anything in the holes.

    Whether it's Drivable Grass or Turf-Blok anything can be put in the holes. It's nice to grow something. But if worse comes to worse, you can always fill the holes with gravel (of any color) or even artificial grass. I looked at one local installer but didn't even call them because they said they install Drivable Grass with artificial grass. I certainly didn't want to do that as the point was to grow something. However I will say I saw some awesome artificial grass samples at of all places my local gardening store. The stuff really looks real now. Of course putting a petroleum byproduct down sorta defeats the "green" purpose of the whole thing. Then again....you don't need to water or feed it.
     
  16. Devil's Advocate

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    Nice, but not enough grass exposure. I'm going to be putting this stuff in at my girlfriend's place in Anahe.m, CA. She has a "pass-thru" garage with a parking pad in her backyard. I'm going to replace the parking pad with this stuff.

    http://hastingsarchitectural.com/checkerblock.htm
     
  17. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jul 24 2007, 12:48 PM) [snapback]484209[/snapback]</div>
    That looks sorta like the Turf-blok RCP has. I looked at that first. I didn't want to go that route because I need the flexibility. I am positive there is a small earthquake fault that goes right through the driveway, garage and house. If you connect the cracks in the driveway, garage slab, house and front sidewalk, they are almost a straight, slightly diagonal line. That's why I didn't want to use a more solid product. The steel reinforced part is going to make it really interesting to cut. The Driveable Grass was easy. I could do it with a brick chisel and hammer. Where the reinforcing was exposed I simply cut it with a pair of scissors.

    I can see this being very nice to replace the pad in the back yard.
     
  18. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    i think its a great idea, and i find it hard to believe that anyone would be shocked at the price. sure the installation cost was a bit high, but as a do-it-yourself project, you will be hard put to find a cheaper project that fits the need and looks good.

    i put in my concrete slab for my garage and this was 17 years ago, i did ALL the work, (the concrete truck just delivered and poured it. the guy never lifted a finger and the concrete place was less than 5 miles away)

    and that cost me 2.60 a square foot. mind you, gas was about 89 cents per gallon and the average home went for $125,000.

    today we all know what gas goes for and homes now go for $300,000

    *edit*

    ok i admit i did not do all the work, had 2 helpers. but all the labor was free (other than pizza and beer that is)
     
  19. daronspicher

    daronspicher Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Jul 24 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]484145[/snapback]</div>
    I can't imagine things being that much higher in Florida than Chicagoland. Our driveway was right about 2500sqft. They put in steel and 5" concrete then cut the fault lines back across it... all done at just under $15k. I didn't feel like that was such a sweet deal.

    Do they have to build it up the side of a mountain or rip it all out and put down a 36 inch base or something?
     
  20. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Jul 24 2007, 11:54 AM) [snapback]484246[/snapback]</div>
    picture looks pretty flat to me. my slab for 36' by 24' garage plus apron out front was about $2700... at the time, i thought it was a rip off since i built a two car garage with shop wired for 220 and plumbed with water and that only cost me $2100....

    guess prices have changed