ᐅ Driveway for a Single-Family Home – Planning – Elevation Differences
Created on: 29 Apr 2022 09:43
P
Prager91Hello everyone,
Attached is an older photo of our house, but it still shows the driveway layout quite clearly.
By now, the yard is empty, we have electricity, and we are already living in the house 🙂
Even the granite steps at the main entrance are finished.
However, we are a bit annoyed by the difference in height in our driveway area.
We plan to work on the landscaping next year (at least that’s the plan), but we could probably do some preparatory work this year to be able to use certain things (like our garage) correctly.
We have a slope from southeast to northwest. We need to add a lot of fill in front of our main entrance area (the current difference is about 50cm (20 inches)). Most of the fill work is needed around the front entrance (the street side is currently level and slopes slightly toward the west/street).
We would like to get the rough work done as much as possible before starting the detailed planning next year.
We will try to do most of the work ourselves, so we need the time to familiarize ourselves properly with the tasks.
Now my questions:
- Does it make sense to order a truckload of crushed stone in advance to fill and compact everything up to the final layers (gravel and ultimately paving stones)?
- We have two inspection chambers – unfortunately, one of them is somewhere under the crushed stone bed 😀 – should we expose this one, or is just one inspection chamber enough for maintenance?
- If we add about 35-40cm (14-16 inches) of fill, what is the best way to handle the inspection chamber? Do you simply buy an extension ring and raise the chamber to the new final height?
- According to the zoning/building plan (building permit / planning permission), no additional drainage is required. Since we already have a slope toward the street and away from the house, there’s nothing extra to consider here, right?
- The driveway should line up flush with the west edge of the house – to the right of it, we want a lawn (garden design will follow in the planning phase in autumn 2022).
- How is a slope properly stabilized with crushed stone? Are there any tips or best practices?
Are we thinking about this the wrong way and should wait to do everything at once after our final plan is ready? Or can we definitely do these preparatory works now to even out the height difference and possibly use the garage during winter?
I appreciate any helpful advice.
Attached is an older photo of our house, but it still shows the driveway layout quite clearly.
By now, the yard is empty, we have electricity, and we are already living in the house 🙂
Even the granite steps at the main entrance are finished.
However, we are a bit annoyed by the difference in height in our driveway area.
We plan to work on the landscaping next year (at least that’s the plan), but we could probably do some preparatory work this year to be able to use certain things (like our garage) correctly.
We have a slope from southeast to northwest. We need to add a lot of fill in front of our main entrance area (the current difference is about 50cm (20 inches)). Most of the fill work is needed around the front entrance (the street side is currently level and slopes slightly toward the west/street).
We would like to get the rough work done as much as possible before starting the detailed planning next year.
We will try to do most of the work ourselves, so we need the time to familiarize ourselves properly with the tasks.
Now my questions:
- Does it make sense to order a truckload of crushed stone in advance to fill and compact everything up to the final layers (gravel and ultimately paving stones)?
- We have two inspection chambers – unfortunately, one of them is somewhere under the crushed stone bed 😀 – should we expose this one, or is just one inspection chamber enough for maintenance?
- If we add about 35-40cm (14-16 inches) of fill, what is the best way to handle the inspection chamber? Do you simply buy an extension ring and raise the chamber to the new final height?
- According to the zoning/building plan (building permit / planning permission), no additional drainage is required. Since we already have a slope toward the street and away from the house, there’s nothing extra to consider here, right?
- The driveway should line up flush with the west edge of the house – to the right of it, we want a lawn (garden design will follow in the planning phase in autumn 2022).
- How is a slope properly stabilized with crushed stone? Are there any tips or best practices?
Are we thinking about this the wrong way and should wait to do everything at once after our final plan is ready? Or can we definitely do these preparatory works now to even out the height difference and possibly use the garage during winter?
I appreciate any helpful advice.
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