Concrete Drive

[novis]

We want to extend our drive to park a heavy car on in front of the house. I get that we have to dig down, how deep to support a big car? The driveway is a slight slope and we want to shape it too will this cause us a problem?
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Moderator

Moved as originally posted in WRONG FORUM (general diy)

[2scoops0406]

See here

http://www.pavingexpert.com

[Julio]

How a driveway performs is down to preparation. The depth is an important factor, but if you went down a metre and the ground was poor, then you could still have problems. What you need is good loadbearing ground and one that is stable and won't move with wetting and drying (weather). As the last post said try the paving expert

[doc]

if you go down a mtere and the ground is un-secure what about youre house that would be unsafe also. if you have a normal mud base, dig down about 10 inches add a layer of hard core about 3 inches deep after you have prepered youre shuttering to siut the shape /slope of youre concreting then add apprx 6" concrete this will support the weight of a standard car with ease.

[masona]

More info here

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[Julio]

What I meant by my last post, is that you need good loadbearing ground. This may be 100mm deep or it could be more. The hardcore that you put down will only perform well if the ground below it is good. The main purpose of hardcore is to make up the difference between the ground below and the underside of the concrete, it should also be clean and free of sulphates etc.

Basically, if you are on bad ground that shrinks or moves, then the hardcore will move with it, potentially creating voids below the concrete.