Colbyt wrote:
"Jim" wrote in message
...

Learned a new lesson about car care yesterday, the hard way. My car has
accelerated corrosion of the chassis which the mechanics say is a result
of my parking the car for extended periods over grassy areas.

I've got about a half acre lot. Driveway is single car wide. Although
I could extend it I can't widen it very easily.

Instead I'm considering building some sort of parking pad in the
backyard where I was parking the car. Likely concrete, concrete pavers,
or perhaps asphalt.

Any recommendations or suggestions? Low cost, low maintenance, and
durability all a plus.




I will throw this one out for your consideration. Minimal cost and a DIY
project all the way.

One of the neater things I saw a picture of in a very dated "concrete
projects" book was a casual parking pad built out of concrete blocks and
filled with earth so that you had green space but a durable surface. In the
example shown they pretty much had the blocks butted together end to end and
side to side with the opening up. For what I am going to suggest you might
be able to decrease the block quantity by spacing them apart a bit more
except around the perimeter.

For your purposes I would modify that concept like this. Excavate to 6" or
so, making sure to allow for drainage as you site lies, lay down a heavy
layer of plastic, sit the blocks on a finely crushed rock base which has
been spread over the plastic, fill the blocks and all gaps with "road grade"
crushed rock. You will have some weed growth after a few years but an annual
application of a herbicide will control it.

Let me know what you think and how it works out if you do it.


I used something vaguely similar on a yard shed I erected a few years
back. The Home Depot type where they want to also sell a wooden floor
kit. Others prefer a concrete pad but in my area that qualifies the
shed as a permanent, aka taxable, structure,

Instead I excavated the depth of concrete blocks. Using the blocks has
been quite handy in the winter time because as the snow thrower thaws
any water easily can drain away.