I’ve got a job coming up that will require bringing in ~400cy of fill dirt to build a pad. Lot is wooded, narrow, and somewhat steep so the paved asphalt driveway is the only access in. Not sure on the thickness of the driveway but it looks to be in good condition except for a few cracks in one small area. Homeowner says he’s had tandems/tri’s on it before, but one or two trips is entirely different than 40-50. The homeowner realizes that there may be damage done to the driveway and that I won’t be liable(which I will get in writing), but regardless I’d like to not wreck his driveway if I can help it. The one think I think I have going for me is it’s been very dry lately and it’s not the middle of summer with hot temps. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this project? What can I do to mitigate any damage as much as possible? Thanks in advance.
Road plates?
Lower tire pressure to lower the ground pressure
Mats
If its steep, I don't think you will ever hold mats on it, unless you stake them in. The trucks will still try to move the mats. I've seen a flat asphalt parking lot covered with gravel, to keep a large crane from damaging it. There's a cell tower site at the back corner of their lot. They spread the gravel as a road and a pad, for working on, then took a skid loader and cleaned it all back up. But that won't help if its steep, the trucks may just spin out. One of the tracked dumpers (mooroka) from the outer road/street and a dump spot? Would put a lot less ground pressure. Dump the trucks at the street and reload into the mooroka? Everyone's definition of "steep" is different.
Maybe just the lot is too steep for an alternate path. Road plates in the turning spot where you leave the pavement, and where you see it is a little sketchy now. The problem is you can only haul so much and set so big with the iron that you do have. If you can get a hot deal delivered with a knuckleboom that is different. Since it is not a DOT plate situation over trenches, perhaps you could find 3/4" plates to rent. That helps a lot. 1" 8x10 are 3267# and 3/4" are 2450#. The guys I rented from made me a deal on 6x10 for $52 a week. I don't know what your availability is.
How long is the drive and how steep? How far away is the fill source? Depending on the haul distance you could cut the load in 1/2 on the tandem. It may be cheaper to pay the extra truck time than repair asphalt. $50K worth of asphalt repair can pay for a lot of truck time.
I need to go back and look at the site to see if there is somewhere at the road we could have my fill dirt guy dump at. If there’s room to unload and reload trucks there I could conceivably load it on my old F600 single axle (lightest truck I have), lower the tire pressure and ferry it in 4-5yds at a time. I’ll have to re-bid the job as this will more than double the amount of labor on what should be a simple spread and compact job.
If 6 steel sheets would fix it for $ 500, that would save a lot of monkey motion and would be directly billable as the driveway saver.
I will see what is available, I could lift the 8x10x1” with my backhoe or CTL if need be. At the very least I was planning on building up the area where the trucks are leaving the pavement with compacted crusher run gravel to protect the edge.
Do that and grade it carefully and lap a couple of sheets across that area. It will take two to make the turn off.
Do a search for "composite swamp mats". There are several manufacturers that make interlocking lightweight mats that are for rent or sale. They use these type locally when working on the TVA electrical towers and run all sorts of equipment over them on some fairly inhospitable terrain. They work on hard surfaces as well as soft. I had researched these a few years back for some swamp work that I was looking at. For exact placement of your fill materials, if it is steep or swampy, it's hard to beat a tracked dumper. I've dumped 50% loads while sitting sideways on a 30 degree slope many times over. I've run full loads up and down 35-40 degree slopes all day long. It takes my C60R 4 passes to wipe out a tri-axle load (25-26 tons) but it allows me to work difficult jobs with ease. I think it puts out 3-4 psi fully loaded. If you can't get within 100' or so of your fill area with road trucks, the dumper is faster than shuttling with a CTL.
I don't think lowering tire pressures would make that much difference if there's 40 or 50 loads. Less than full tandem loads would be better than single axle loads. Typically paved driveways are no where near as thick as roads so the driveway may be damaged no matter what you try so putting plates or other material on it may be the only way to prevent damage. Would it be possible to use a few loads of the actual dirt you're hauling to build up the driveway and clean it up with a skid steer or CTL after everything else is hauled in?
Correct WD. A 1/2 loaded tandem will spread out the weight more than a loaded single axle. However if the asphalt, base and sub-base are in poor condition it could be damaged regardless of precautions taken. MG you might want to reprice the job bringing in smaller loads on a tandem or a rubber tracked dumper and present it to the customer as an option. What's the extra cost for equipment and labor (Plus O&P of course) compared to the owner having to repave his driveway? Part of business is operating, marketing and engineering among many other items. This falls into an engineering/marketing situation. Sometimes customers say things like "I understand it may damage my driveway" without fully understanding it could cost them multiple thousands of dollars to repair it.
I’m going to go back and look at the job again and see what I can figure out. I agree the customer says they aren’t worried about the driveway now, but after seeing it reduced to rubble they may change their mind. I might look into those composite mats if yall think they would help. I’ve been thinking about investing in some to use with my tracked equipment on lawns, didn’t know if they’d be sturdy enough to hold up to truck traffic.
My 4’x8’ composite mats are just under $300 each . We’ve used them more than I thought we would when I bought them.
What brand do you have?
Would putting some of the fill you're hauling on the driveway be an option?
Possibly, these are all things I need to talk to the homeowner about.
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At $8/SF for mats, how long and wide is the driveway?
FWIW. I just finished a fairly small pond. Made a deal with the neighbor down the road for the extra dirt. He commented that he knew we would mess up the entrance of his fairly new asphalt drive but was ok with it because he wanted the dirt, We hauled 150+ VERY full tandem loads to him and did absolutely no damage to his asphalt driveway. There was even a bit of a drop off the edge of the asphalt and still not a bit of damage. I was literally amazed. In your situation, for 40-50 loads I would just load light loads and go with it.
It really depends on how thick the asphalt is and how good the base is. Some driveways are only a couple inches thick.
Went back and looked at the site again with the homeowner and I think we found a path to build a haul road. It will mean extra labor, materials, and hassle but we should be able to keep the trucks off the driveway entirely. Which is good because the asphalt appears pretty thin, maybe 2” in some spots and already has some cracks.
Good plan. If the asphalt is already cracking the driveway would be destroyed pretty quickly unless it had some serious reinforcement.