Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 11, 2025 ...

Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

October 27, 2011, 11:50:14 pm

We are in the process of building a winter home in Tucson, AZ and are about to pour the concrete driveway.  We have installed a sewer dump, 50amp line and a water line so our 36' FT (GVWR~35,000 lbs) can be parked next to the house for loading and unloading, etc.  In order to reach the connections, the coach will need to be on the concrete driveway. 

Question....  does anyone have any suggestions as to what concrete specs should be used (i.e., thickness, compressive strength, rebar or no rebar, etc.)?  The builder usually uses concrete with a compressive strength of 3000 psi, 4" thick and no rebar.  I'm concerned that this is not enough.  Thanks in advance.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #1 – October 28, 2011, 12:08:39 am

I would go for more strength.  Cost should be minimal. Remember, our coach weighs 44K so where would we stay??? Sure don't want to break up your new driveway....

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #2 – October 28, 2011, 12:13:14 am

The one my buddy poured in N.Florida was 6inch with 1inch rebar and 4000psi concrete, it is now 5 years old with no cracks.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #3 – October 28, 2011, 12:56:47 am

I talked to a contractor about building a barn with concrete floor to house part of our fleet of vehicles. I gave him specifications regarding axle weights for which to design. Had we proceeded, he would have worked with his concrete contractor to customize the pad. He talked about pouring extra thickness in the areas where the tire tracks would run.

If we do build a barn for an RV, we will probably design it to accommodate a 45' coach weighing up to 60,000#. We are not likely to ever have such a beast, but the incremental cost is probably moderate.

I recommend that you seek the advice of a engineer who is qualified to design to your requirements.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #4 – October 28, 2011, 06:14:12 am

Too many years ago to remember the thickness poured, but it was re-inforced concrete with some sort of fibers. We now have multiple tiny cracks and I wish I had specified re-bar or some sort of embedded steel for additional strength.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #5 – October 28, 2011, 06:51:44 am

You will want 6 inch thick with rebar 5 bag mix is normal here in Illinois, I would not use wire or fiber glass strands. at 6 inches it will hold 55,000 # with no issues.Very important to have a good compacted base.

Hope This helps.
Craig

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #6 – October 28, 2011, 08:48:18 am

Five inches of 3000 psi concrete over a compacted base with 3/8" pencil bar on 12" centers.  Unless you're pouring concrete over solid rock you absolutely want reinforcing.  The pencil bar is only slightly more expensive than having wire mesh reinforcement.  Nine times out of ten the wire mesh is displaced during the pour and ends up under the concrete instead of embedded in it.  Properly placed and worked by a competent contractor, you can drive any coach on the road on it. 

Chuck

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #7 – October 28, 2011, 09:00:41 am

George, I pretty much agree with Chuck but I always recommended that you talk to the concrete supplier. They have their own experts and will do the engineering for you. It they won't, find another concrete supplier that will.

I've been out of the business for over three years but that is what I would have tell my customers when they asked. 

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #8 – October 28, 2011, 11:55:28 am

George,
When I had our concrete pad poured for the coach, 21'X40', the concrete cntractor recommended 6" thick with heavy fence-like rebar laid down, and 18" wide, 12"-16" deep footings with rebar around all 4 sides tied in to center fence rebar. This was for the sandy soil we have in our neighborhood. It has held up well for 8 years of continuous usage.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #9 – October 28, 2011, 12:05:08 pm

Make it thicker than necessary for the IH-45 than may be in your future.    Also the edges need to be thicker than the center part as that is usually where it breaks first.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #10 – October 28, 2011, 12:58:00 pm

combination of correct answers posted already. 6" thick with up to 10" around the outside for a foot wide (tapering to the 6" not a sharp change as that is a weak point) Minimum 5k mix and 5/8" rebar every 12" tied in criss cross pattern. The most important part is the sub base. Depending on your soil (?) a good base soaked and compacted with vibrator and then the re bar to be fastened to pins driven in it and make sure that the re bar stays in the middle of the mix for max' strength.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #11 – October 29, 2011, 06:45:45 am

I vote along with both Don and John, My garage floor is min 6" more like 7-8" super smooth finish of 4K mix with fiber, re bar wire tied, sitting on plastic stands. in real life there is 72 yards in a 40X60 floor.  Outside apron 40'X18' used another 24 yards.
This is the 2nd garage floor, after 25 years on first no cracks and last floor 8 yrs old no cracks.
Reason for heavy floor, you never know what the DW's next buffalo will put on it, so make it correct, cracked sloppy concrete slabs do not add to anything, sooner or later you will want to redo it.  Now your talking real money to solve the original mess.  Always cheaper to do it correct first time.

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #12 – October 29, 2011, 09:09:22 am

I have you all beat. Rather than excavate and blast the rock we used the rock in the middle of the driveway that is gravel as the start point and put the garage footers  and driveway off that. So instead of blasting the rock we poured concrete in two piers. The are build to commercial bridge standards and the depth of the floor is 12 inches and it is reinforced deeper and stronger at the beginning of the garage.  I know that it is fully reinforced with rebar that was tied and looked to be half inch thick.  The inspector laughed and said I could park a fleet of trucks on this...  The 50 foot apron is the same way. It was cheaper than blasting and hauling the rock away.  There is a benefit to living on rock.  I know they had to blast for my foundation too. 

Quote Selected

Re: Concrete driveway specs for parking a Foretravel coach

Reply #13 – October 29, 2011, 08:22:24 pm

George If you would have the builder or contractor build it to commercial specs you shouldn't have any problems in the future. Most of the commercial specs include 6" through the middle with bigger beams around and through the center of the  concrete pad. They are usually guaranteed for 25 to 30 years instead of 10 years like residential specs...you have to think commercial specs will withstand garbage trucks that weigh 56K.

When we built our pad we went 6" thick and tied 3/4" rebar tied in 1' squares instead of wire mesh for strength, we also placed interior beams where the tires would be parked at on the pad, this cost us a little more for the steel or rebar and about 3 yards more of concrete....we were going for spend a little more for doing it once and not having to do it again.

Quote Selected