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What ho.
I have a drive/hardstanding at the back of my house, which is accessed via a short slope. The slope has two impressions for the car tyres which previous owners have impressed some gravel into. It's not massively steep but there's a slight kerb at the top, which means if it's wet and there's two cars at the back, the one parked on the slope can slip, not get enough traction and bump into the kerb, meaning it gets stuck.
I know this because I had a good few minutes this morning trying to get a hire car off the slope, and because of the kerb the front wheels just kept slipping.
I was wondering if using a reinforcement mesh such as [url= http://www.boddingtons-ltd.com/products/grass-ground-reinforcement/grass-reinforcement-protection/grassprotecta-grass-reinforcement-protection-mesh.php ]this[/url] might give vehicles more grip. Does anyone have any experience of using them? It does appear to me that it might just make it more slippery when wet but stop the ground cutting up.
Otherwise I was considering digging up the vehicle tracks and putting some of [url= http://www.boddingtons-ltd.com/products/grass-ground-reinforcement/porous-permeable-gravel-retention-paving/bodpave-85-grass-pavers-gravel-pavers.php ]these[/url] down, filled with gravel to provide a grippier surface.
I'd really rather not tarmac the whole lot as a) it'll be expensive, b) we'd need to run some proper drainage down it and c) we don't technically own it.
Any thoughts?
If it's c can you not just add soil/gravel to build it up so that the kerb is far less pronounced? I'd be doing as little to draw attention to it as possible (although two muddy tyre tracks is a bit of a give away I suppose)
To use the mesh you'd need to fill the tracks and any other hollows, so it's still a bit of effort. Filling the whole lot with gravel will just see your gravel migrate down the slope over time. Using one of the more robust cellular meshes would give a better solution for a slope.
I've recently laid some of that terram grassprotecta to give a year round turning and parking area in a grass field. For anything needing traction on a slope I'd step up to the turfprotecta mesh as a minimum. The bodpave option is the belt and braces but some well compacted scalpings or hardcore might be cheaper and less work. You'd still need to do the groundwork to give a decent durable finish though.
Consider the snowy season that will soon be upon us. Gravel and a gradient is awful
I've got the mesh down on my lawn as I didn't want a path
You can't see it now as the grass has woven itself to it. You need to have a good dig around to see where it is. I can't see it providing much extra traction if it's so well buried within the grass
Hmm, thanks everyone. It's fine if you can get a run up off the flat hardstanding, but if you park on it you can really struggle.
Looks like I may be digging the whole thing out and replacing with the bodpave stuff then. Or would laying some slabs down each track help? I guess not in snow etc (where we live if it snows we're boned anyway) but for wet/slippery conditions?
How far is it? A couple of sets of waffle boards might be all you need. My mate has them laid across his lawn to his workshop and you cannot see them now the grass has grown. Drive the mower over the top. And will not mark the ground in any weather.
Like these. Enough in this add to do 12 feet
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Pairs-Waffle-Boards-1200x300-/171943944916?hash=item2808a862d4
Hmm, that might be worth investigating, thanks.
Had a look at waffle boards, not quite sure they're what we're after.
Has anyone had any experience with using textured concrete? Considering whether it might be better to lay barface slabs in the wheel tracks, but I wonder whether the concrete might just end up as slippery when wet?
Would those waffle boards help me get my van off muddy grass, with a caravan behind it? Being a van and front wheel drive, we very often have difficulty getting moving. Would some of these set me on my way?