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bthombs_gw

how much weight can I put on a 4' thick driveway

bthombs
19 years ago

This is kind of a random question.

I need about 2-1/2 yards of gravel delivered to my house. Assuming the gravel is 125 lbs. per cu. ft., that figures to be approximately 8,500 lbs of gravel. If I get it delivered, is this weight, and the weight of the truck (probably a flat bed) going to crack my 4" thick driveway?

Comments (11)

  • meldy_nva
    19 years ago

    What is the driveway made of? And was it made by a contractor -hopefully following standard guidelines, or was it put in DIY? 4" of asphalt on a 6" bed of gravel can probably handle the weight; 4" of un-reinforced concrete poured on the ground will probably crack, especially if the ground is damp or sandy. Actually, that weight is about the same as three full-sized cars or vans. Is the gravel going to be dumped on the drive, or is the truck going to use it as an access road?

  • bthombs
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    It was a new house I bought in a subdivision 2 years ago, so the builder should have followed standard guidelines. I do not believe the concrete is reinforced, and I don't believe they put gravel down before-hand. I was planning for the gravel to be dumped on the drive. However, if it is at risk for cracking, I may have to think of another option. Maybe they can just dump it in the road right before my driveway and I can wheel-barrow it down to where I need it.

  • coonx
    19 years ago

    Bthombs, have him back up to the drive, and keep the rear axle off the drive(10k to 15k lbs axle weight). Dumping on the drive should be alright. From what I've figured out the psi of the gravel on the drive is on average less than 5 psi. Do spread the the higher gravel out a bit to lessen the psi weight.
    Hope this helps a bit, Will

  • REID1975
    19 years ago

    If the delivery guy comes i a simple one ton (i.e. Ford F350 of GMC 3500) with a mason dump, the weight will range between 9,000-12,000 pounds. If your driveway is concrete then it should be 4,000 pounds per square inch. This is more then enough to support the weight of the deliver.

  • plantman314
    19 years ago

    I used to deliver for a nursery i managed, and never cracked a driveway. It was a single-axle Isuzu flatbed, and I used to deliver upwards of 4 tons. I would almost gaurantee your driveway is rebar reinforced, and therefore the truck should be able to pull on, dump and pull off with no poblems.

    Also consider that the rock will be covering a appprox. 10' x 8' area, and unlike a 2 ton SUV that sits on four contact points, the rock will distribut the weight over the entire area.

  • gardeners_hands
    19 years ago

    I am quite certain this is not helpful, and only vaugely related to the original post... but I'll post in case someone may be amused!

    I just had a major move. This included not only personal goods but also my business of 1500 books and thousands and thousands of yards of quilting fabric - both of which are VERY HEAVY.

    With s-i-l and daughter helping we loaded a 24' moving van and drove over an hour to new house. Too late, too tired to unload we went to bed deciding to unload in the morning. I woke up early and took dogs out to tinkle, all was fine. I took them to corner and back... and our moving van was sunk through the driveway on rr wheel to center of wheel. S-i-l couldn't get it to back out. Stuck but good.

    Neighbor driving by (looky-loo from next street over) tried to pull us out with a woven towstrap - it snapped. He went home and got a towchain and yanked us out of there. I promised to mention Ford F250 everytime this episode comes up. It looked like a Chihauhau pulling a Mastiff by a leash... but it worked.

    Driveway is about 4" thick asphalt, clearly a DIY jobby.

    I'm trying make this the 'brief version' but gotta tell the rest:

    Within about an hour the city crew came by, claimed all responsibility for the hole (said storm drain was down there and it should have held a moving truck). Patched up hole nicely.

    4 or 5 days later we had a substantial rain. Driveway collapsed, twice as big now, about 18" across, and same depth. Glad I wasn't parked there. City came, dug it out bigger (little front-end scooper machine) and patched with just gravel this time.

    Week goes by, another rain, driveway collapses even bigger, now I can hear running water in the hole.

    City crew arrives, not so cheerful now. Digs it out bigger, could drop a VW beetle in there comfortably. Now we see the problem. (my nose is usually in the house but I do have to monitor what is going on out there ya know) Years ago when storm drain was installed ends of 20" cement pipe did not meet... so they threw a scrap of thin galvanized and a big blob of concrete over A FIFTEEN INCH GAP! The galvanized was nearly gone from rusting away.

    They fixed it up with a slice of similar pipe and more blobs of concrete. I hope it holds. Doubt it can fall in quite so spectacularly again. Photos at 5:00. Kidding, don't know how to post the photos... but I got 'em!
    GH

  • hc mcdole
    19 years ago

    Depends on your substrate. If it is packed, probably OK. I had 5 tons dumped (truck looked like it could've carried 30 tons - if you're going to kill a mosquito use the sledgehammer mentality on the rock company) on my 18 year old driveway - no problem. Next door neighbor had a full size (semi truck size) dumpster put on his with no problem, then he had a truck come in to dump some soil in his back yard and cracked a big spot (different area than where the dumpster was placed). This area had some voids under it. Rebar will bend. He just mixed some concrete and poured it in the sunken area. Other than color mismatch it did the job.

    So it depends.

  • Benedicto Lisama
    8 years ago

    Can anyone help me. I am building a koi pond. The thickness of the concrete is 6 inches, How do i achieve a 12,000 psi for that 6 inches thickness and what are the mixtures that i need to follow?

    Benedict

  • hc mcdole
    8 years ago

    12,000 PSI? Where did this number come from? Looks like it would take some very special concrete according to this website.

    http://www.cement.org/cement-concrete-basics/products/high-strength-concrete

    This site

    https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=2233

    seems to answer questions about depth of water and pressure. A couple feet of water would get slightly above 15 PSI.


    If you are in a deep trench of the ocean then you can expect very high pressures. The deepest part of the ocean has a pressure of 15,750 PSI for example. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench)


    This site looks like it might help on thickness of concrete.

    http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-8370.html


  • Darren Mcentire
    2 years ago

    well said sir, bit more to the point and to answer the man's question. usually if concrete is poured over rebar and sand it'll hold about four tons. if poured and stressed over rebar and gravel that was well compacted and about four to six inches. it should hold closer to 15 tons. The average weight of a cement mixer filled with product is nearly double the weight for either application.. as most all cement trucks are two axle with a small amount of them having a tag axle under the output auger on the rear that when fully loaded only holds about eight to ten tons . you still need to place some serious four by four pieces of wood where the rear tires touch the driveway to distribute the weight a little more or cracks would be a real drag...this is my opinion of the situation as you described it..good luck and cheers mate...D.McEntire