Can I park here?

dotnmarty · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:28 am Post subject: Can I park here?

My house is on a hill. On one side, next to the attached garage, the hill went down at quite an angle until the end of my property, about 12 feet away. Son Joe built a wall along the property line behind a row of arbor vitae. He used these semi-triangular 70 lb cement blocks and the wall is two and three rows high. I filled in the area with, well, fill. When we kept our 22' boat in the water we stored out trailer there. Perfect. Now that I have the wonderful 16 footer and keep it on the trailer I want to know if it is safe to park the boat and trailer there.It would be perfect. Joe says no. He says it would be too heavy and the wall. blah, blah, blah. He pointed out to me that he has two degrees in civil engineering. I told him I would go to the source, and ask you guys.

Captains Cat · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:43 am Post subject:

Marty, is it level? And how long has it been there If it's well compacted and level, the weight of a 16 on a trailer, distributed over two tires and a tongue shouldn't be too much for it. Hopefully the blocks forming the wall slope up towards the house and aren't just straight up and down....

If your tires don't sink in when you're backing into it, it should be OK...

On the other hand, kids usually get smarter as they get older. Mine did... I did too, they tell me. Shocked

Charlie

dotnmarty · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:53 am Post subject:

Charlie-Its been there about 3 years. I put pavers down where the wheels go.
Each wall block has a little lip on the back so each successive top one hooks on to the one below. The wall is level, as is thefill, maybe a one degree downward angle for runoff. How come you're not raking leaves.?

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:21 am Post subject:

Marty-

How deep is the fill on the average, and at it's deepest point?

How saturated would you guess the fill can become with water?

What composition is the fill?

Is there anything it it to resist flowing like the crushed rock in roadbed gravel?

Is it of a kind that, when saturated with water, would flow easily?

If you're going to ask amateurs to make a recommendation, a photo or two of the site would be very helpful!

Is there a Soil Engineer in the C-Brat house?

Joe.

dotnmarty · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:11 pm Post subject:

Joe-Good questions all. It's gonna take a while to get the answers together, but I will try. And I won't park there until I do get an OK. Is there a specific kind of professional I could go to to have this area checked? I have very good neighbors and I wouldn't want my boat falling into their yard.

Alyssa Jean · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:32 pm Post subject:

Picures would be good.

tom&shan · Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 316 Photos: Dakota

Da Nag · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 12:59 pm Post subject: Re: Can I park here?

flapbreaker · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:01 pm Post subject:

SEA3PO · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:07 pm Post subject:

The absolute best thing you can do is.......TRUST your son...and agree with his assesment.... even if you think it is wrong... he has a degree and if you go against his advise you will really hurt his feelings, and damage your relationship...big time.
I know this for a fact....my father would trust some guy working in a gas station before he would ever trust anything I had to say....even though I taught auto mechanics at a community college.

Joel
SEA3PO

wailedcentipede · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:12 pm Post subject:

we have a house around the block used the landscape blocks .. build up front and side of yard .. to walk past it has to be close to six feet at center has been their now for quite a few years ... filled to the top with earth and looks as good as the day it was built ...not a answer really but the point is those landscape blocks on good footing don't budge that easily their a good product .... wc

Captains Cat · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:56 pm Post subject:

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject:

Marty-

It seems you've got several questions or groups of questions to deal with here:

1. Technical questions about soil type, stability, structural integrity of the wall, etc.

2. Personal relationship questions about whether to trust you son's judgment, expertise, etc., and what will happen to your relationship if you don't.

3. How much risk taking you're comfortable with concerning the boat in view of the uncertainty posed by the landfill, etc.

First of all, you really won't get an accurate and definitive answer from a bunch or amateurs like us looking at a few emails, with or without the photos we requested.

It would take a Soil Engineeer with on site observations and lab tests to give you the best answer, and then it would still be a guess based on the information gathered and some probability estimations. And it would be expensive.

I seems to me at this point that if you want to protect your relationship and strengthen it with your son, you should put the burden of the decision making back on him by asking him what changes would have to be made to improve the stability of the site. Does it need paving to keep the water out? Would metal stakes driven into the deep, firm underlying soil, help the top fill from moving? Do the blocks need to be tied together better?, Etc., etc.

This way you'll put your trust in his judgement, and may well get the corrective work, if any, done for the cost of the materials, and improve the site until you trust it much better yourself.

This approach is not without risks, however, as he could say that the site cannot be made safe.

In that case, I'd suggest you let it rest for awhile, then test it by putting some weight similar to your boat on it for a few good wet months or a season, and then if it doesn't show any movement, declare it safe by testing, and park it there anyway!

Good Luck!

Joe.

Captains Cat · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject:

Damn Joe, that's too hard. Maybe put your boat there, it's heavier!!Marty, just park the sucker there and see if it's there tomorrow...

Charlie Wink

thataway · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject:

As always some great advice. We faced a similar issue. Our house is bult on a mound of compacted earth--and the neighbors yards are at least 4 feet lower (the difference between having 4 feet of water in your house and none in hurricane Ivan).

We built a wall--poured footers about 1 foot deep, and then up to 4 feet of concrete block--with Rebar going into the footers, folder over into the 4" cap drive made of 3500 PSI fibre reinforced concrete. We park a 20,000 lb RV, and a 9,000 lb truck on this structure, with no cracks or sliding, despite being flooded over the top of the drive during storms.

I realize that is much different than your situation--but it shows that you can build a structure which is resistant to slipage. (I'll have to admit we didn't have an engineer do the design--just some good old boys who work with concrete all of the time.)

So in your case, you might ask your son, if there is anything you can do to strenthten the wall--such as putting in rebar, different footings, change drainage--to keep the relationship--and get the boat on the drive. My guess is that the boat will be fine--but you have lots of considerations...