Driveway or storage?

[Branden221]

Hope I picked the right area for this question! So I currently have a popup but the family has grown and so have our camper needs and wants and are looking at getting a Sabre 36QBOK around February or so. The issue is that the city we live in does not allow parking campers in the back yard unless it is on a concrete or asphalt pad. I know the camper is 41' long and have plenty of room to a pad put in but we may only be here for about another 2 yrs. Storage costs here run around $150 per month so depending on what surface you go with the break even is pretty close.
What I am trying to consider is:

1.) Would asphalt be a good idea being that we are in Texas and I know sometimes you can have issues with things sinking in over time

2.) Has anyone put in a pad or extended their driveway and sold their house had much issues with buyers not wanting that feature?

3.) Which do you prefer, storage or keeping it at home?

4.) If you did put in a pad did you add any electric service by the pad to hookup the camper

Any help, ideas or tips are appreciated

[robert elling]

We live 15 miles SW of Dallas. We owned a Casita and had a concrete drive way put in next to the regular drive way for the Casita. In February of this year we bought a 22 foot Mini Lite travel trailer. We had the trailer parking pad extended for the longer trailer. The longer concrete pad keeps the trailer level, and makes going under it pleasant. My creeper does not have a rough surface, (Asphalt), to go over.
We keep the trailer at home, as it is plugged into a special circuit, in the shop, for the trailer. Also it is easier to load prior to a trip. Our town said the tounge of the trailer has to be behind the front of the house. With the extended pad, we are quite far behind the front of the house. We also have the benefit of having H2O for the trailer.

[Lynkage]

As above the trailer is much easier to load, security is better, you have guest quarters and you can store all your camping gear in it and not need to worry.

Most here in colo are an improvement instead of degrading the price of your home.

BTW I would always add an RV circuit if I could, also add a sewer line if you can then you can have full hookups as well as your own holding tank dump.

[Itsthetwoofus]

We live in Mi around the Lansing area and have a 42 foot Ceder Creek 5th wheel. We had another 8 foot wide extension added to our driveway making it about 18 feet wide and it's almost 60 feet long. We park the 5er in the driveway in front of the single car side of the garage and can still use that bay for all my yard toys and that leaves the other double door side open for the truck. I had a 30 amp plug put in the garage just inside the door so we can plug in the 5er and use the TV, Fridge, lights and it keeps my battery charged. Sure glad we don't have to store it. That sucks when getting ready for a trip. It's nice having it in the driveway and accessible when needed.

[Twisty]

Here is why we like ours at the house.
It cost less than $1000 to prep the area
Secure area
Quick and easy access for unpacking and packing and cleaning and playing
Water
Power
I can hand carry the waste water if I need to empty a tank
Today we had the house carpeted.
I ate dinner in the TT
I watched 3 movies and made some phone calls too

[fast murray]

I'm not generally an advocate of breaking the law but I'd probably park the thing in the yard until someone told me not to. Heck, bury some cinder blocks under the tires and tell them it is parked on concrete! Sometimes It's easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. We have a 24 hour parking ordinance on the streets here but several people store their RV's in the street all summer.

[Branden221]

Yeah I already got in "trouble" with the popup. I couldn't believe that they would rather have it parked in the driveway!

[Terier]

I almost added an extension to the driveway where I could park my TT legally (within city codes) but opted to keep my parking spot at a storage place. I encounterd lenght & weight limits as well as the first 9 ft of the driveway being city property. Tossed in the required distance beween curbs it can become confusing.

The reason I kept the storage parking space is that I can drop the TT off by myself without any problem, unlike at home. There's no entry after hours and the RVs are not visible from the street. In my case the TT is more secured off site than at home. While I like having the TT at home I like it better being out of sight especially after 3 break-ins in the neighborhood. Since I camp solo I can pack up the truck easily enough and load up the tt at the storage place without rasing a red flag that I'm away from home.

In my city the driveway extension has to be concrete. We can get a ticket if we park on the grass or dirt. If I decides again to extend the driveway then I will do it right so I don't have to take care of business on the city's timeline.

[jamesroadking]

Could you just lay down 16 inch square paving bricks that you can buy at Home Depot?

[jimh]

I put in an asphalt pad and was told to let it cure 48 hrs before i parked on it. the trailer still has a tendency to sink even a year later. chose asphalt because it was cheaper than putting down concrete. i'm not so sure of that claim now.
my choice would be to keep it parked at home for the same reasons stated above. in addition, we stayed in ours over a weekend when the home air conditioner went out (they tend to go out on a Friday afternoon around 6pm for some reason...).
I still use an extension cord for electricity. 2 years? i would use an extension cord.
can't help u on resell value. would think it would increase it because it offers an extra paved area to park a car.
if u have a coal fired plant near by, they have a byproduct that can be spread easily. spray water on it and it hardens like concrete when it drys. it looks like powered cement. cost was somewhere between top soil and fill dirt. (i'm not talking abt bottom ash).

[Lynkage]

Originally Posted by jamesroadking

Could you just lay down 16 inch square paving bricks that you can buy at Home Depot?

Pavers are about 1 1/2" thick and will crack easily. They also require good base prep. Concrete is cheaper. Pavers sound cheap until you do all the work underneath, then it cost's more than concrete.

[Lynkage]

Originally Posted by jimh

I put in an asphalt pad and was told to let it cure 48 hrs before i parked on it. the trailer still has a tendency to sink even a year later. chose asphalt because it was cheaper than putting down concrete. i'm not so sure of that claim now.

They probably did not do any prep to the ground (minus make it level).

That will lead to sinking problems every time.

[rattleNsmoke]

If you are going the side yard way, then do it right. Spend the $$ and hire a paving contractor to put either a concrete pad or asphalt driveway extension in the yard. Get a few estimates and get it done professionally. You won't be sorry and I seriously doubt it will affect property value since there's a lot of guys like myself that would see it as a plus to do oil and tire changes, added car parking or whatever.

[Cajun Po-Boy]

1. concrete only
2. Good resale feature
3. home is the best storage
4. Get electrical ( true 30/50amp) outlet by electrician

[MillerTime]

Being in oklahoma we have many of the same weather caracteristics.

Asphalt is not a good product for anything other than high traffic, high impact areas. Consult an engineer or someone in the construction industry( other than a potential contractor that you will use).

Asphalt is good for what I mentioned above and that is it, period. Anybody that says any different does not have any actual road or heavy construction knowledge at all. No matter how you prep the underlayment,- in 6" letts compacted to 95% at a depth of 18", stabilized with lime or flyash, depending on soil type, then a 9" compacted gravel base (which will cost as much as the overlay) you will still have problems with the adphalt sinking under load even under short term( even as little as a couple minutes). Think of asphalt as a block of tar- you can beat the fire out of it with a hammer with minimal displacement. Apply even a 20lb constant load in a fist size area for a short period of time and it will sink into the block. Asphalt never cures, not made to.

All that said to say concrete is a much better material to use as a parking area. Also a plug in would also be awsome next to the pad. Lowes has pre-made rv panels with a 30 & I think also a 20amp already installed in a box.
Sorry bout being long winded- hope it helps.
Ps. More cement is always nice!!! But I live in the country so it really beats dirt!!

[Branden221]

Originally Posted by jamesroadking

Could you just lay down 16 inch square paving bricks that you can buy at Home Depot?

Nope the ordnance says it must be asphalt or concrete, but cold be stone if it existed prior to the ordnances' imposition. However it wasn't and they know it since the house used to owned by the city manager.

[nuisance]

We have ours in a storage lot. Our city is so crazy that a travel trailer, motor home or any towed unit can only be parked for 30 minutes on the city street. Forget the driveway they have to be parked so that they can not be seen from the street, BUT not behind a structure. Must be in an enclosed structure, electricity to the structure is permitted but no sewer or water service allowed. Oh! did I also say the structure can NOT stick out past the front of the house and the neighbors have to agree to the structure??? Will be glad when start full timing it, can't start soon enough.

[Branden221]

Originally Posted by nuisance

We have ours in a storage lot. Our city is so crazy that a travel trailer, motor home or any towed unit can only be parked for 30 minutes on the city street. Forget the driveway they have to be parked so that they can not be seen from the street, BUT not behind a structure. Must be in an enclosed structure, electricity to the structure is permitted but no sewer or water service allowed. Oh! did I also say the structure can NOT stick out past the front of the house and the neighbors have to agree to the structure??? Will be glad when start full timing it, can't start soon enough.

To think I was mad about our crazy ordances! I defiantly feel for you. Some rules are good but some areas get a little carried away for sure.

[SimchaSabre]

I will echo the value of having the camper near the house. Not only is it easier to pack/unpack, but I can't tell you how many times we've gone to the store and bought stuff for the camper, bagged it sepparatly then thru the bag in the camper on the way into the house.

It's also come in handy for guest overflow quarters.

As far as resale..not a big problem here in Michigan, in fact it often helps resale....In these parts, if you don't have a camper, you probably have a boat (or both).

And if you decide to do it, make sure they slope the pad away from the house for rain water runoff.

[robert elling]

We had a pop-up, 12 years ago. We put it on loose stone, hard surface, and the town said NO. Has to be a hard surface, so.....we went to paver stones. The stones were all right for awhile until they began to sink into the soil. Trailer got crooked, sinking in one corner, and town said NO to the paver stones. Finally gave in and had a pad of concrete put in, and town made sure it was proper. Two years later we trade for a Casita 17LD. Had to go back to pavers for 8 inches more to get the tounge back behind the front of the house. Town did not know about the pavers. This year we bought the 22 foot Rockwood Mini Lite, and the pavers were no good as the new trailer weight drove them into the ground, and the code gang saw the trailer was on a angle. Good buy pavers and now everyone is happy with the extended pad.
So bite the bullet and put in the concrete pad.
Robert