Poor man's concrete - any good for RV parking?

We have a few companies locally that offer "poor man's concrete". I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I've seen it in driveways and such. It's a white powdery material they dump and flatten out and when it gets wet, it's supposed to harden like cement. But, it's not as pretty and won't get as hard. I was wondering if anyone has used this to park their RV on. I have a Bighorn 3580 and I'd like to put something down to the side of my house to park it on and I'd have to have a lot of cement to do so. The area is currently just grass and when driving a vehicle on it when wet makes tracks. Plus, I'd have to have it from the road to the house and cement is expensive. Anyone else know what this stuff it or have used it?

Thanks,
Cory

could just be this:

http://www.contentmart.com/articles/20280/1/Poor-Mans-Concrete/Page1.html

that would probably crack under the weight of a trailer.

In Colorado a lot of people use "breeze" as a road base.

http://www.pioneersand.com/landscaping-supplies/gravel-landscape-materials.htm

It's neither one of those things. The "poor man's concrete" is some sort of other stuff. I will see if I can get a picture of a driveway done with it. I can also get "bottom ash", but I think that wouldn't compact very well as my father in law uses it in his driveway, but it takes a long time to compact and be drivable.

If you can't afford concrete, I'd recommend just pea gravel.. at least 2" thick to hold the weight. For my RV pad, I poured a 5" base of concrete 60' long and 12' wide.

I got a great deal on asphalt millings. In fact, many times you can get it for free. It locks together tight (it should be compacted) and you don't get the dirty splash wash that you would get from crusher run stone. I got about 100 tons to build my parking pad up several feet. I know that sounds like a lot but a regular dump truck load was 20 tons. I needed 5 loads for a pad about 4 feet high and 40 feet long. It has held together very well (stays tight) and best of all, no dirty stone dust on the camper.

Around here, they practically give the stuff away. If you can find where they are milling a highway near you, talk to the contractor. They save a lot of money in trucking time and disposal fees by giving it to you if you are fairly close to the road they are milling.

John

Call around and check prices on recycled asphalt, its $9 a ton here and if you can get a roller it won't look bad.

Another option is Bituminous Macadam, essentially compression gravel packed and then finished with tar treatment.

The of course there is asphalt and concrete.

I myself park on a dirt pad, but to stabilize the rig better for storage I'm planning to poor 2' x6' pads to set the wheels on. Gives the support with out the high cost. The nicer option would be to make the drive compression gravel and line the drive with brick/paver/mo strip.

Cheers

If you use anything that is relatively small in diameter it will move around on you and created ruts. You need some 2-3 inch crushed rock for the initial layer. Then if you are going to-wards something like pea gravel, a layer of 3/4-1 inch and the final layer the finer material. Works great and will lock in place.

Cory, I'd go with the milled asphalt. I have 5 " of double milled asphalt (put through the grinder twice). Looks nice and uniform and holds up well. Prior to that I used single milled asphalt I got for free when the PA Hi-Way Dept. milled the shoulders out front. The were happy to un-load it so close and they rolled it for free too, can't beat free ! My BH3670 has no impact on the double milled (single mill is buried now), makes little waves if I turn the unit, my swiping shoe fixes it. By the way, moisture coming up from the ground rust chassis and destroys things. I suggest ordering a blue tarp from Harbor Freight and put on the ground as a vapor barrier BEFORE you put any stone, cement or asphalt. When I built my pole barn I spread tarps, then stone, then concrete. In fact, a tarp may help you now with the mud problem. Finally, you can often get old pool liners from swimming pool contractors for free and they are heavier then tarps. Just my 2 cents. Tom

Sounds like you might be talking about "wash out". It is where they wash out the concrete trucks and then it dries and becomes a powdery white substance. No one recommends it around here, it is very dusty all the time. Just a thought...

I`m thinking it might be the stone they use under interlock bricks called "screening" after it gets wet it turns hard almost like cement but not as hard. It works ok my friend did it and had no problems but you need it about at least 4" thick. and frame it in with 2x4`s.

Our driveway is covered with "403" stone. I call it "chips to dust". It is limestone and when it is laid out and compacted it is like concrete. It is reasonably inexpensive but dusty. I personally would not use pea gravel as it will just move all over the place and end up in the treads of your tires.

Mark

Pea gravel is about the worst base you could use.

In New Jersey we use what is called 3/4 blend.
Basically it is up to about 3/4-1"gray stone. From dust to larger pieces. It can be compacted into an almost solid base. And after a few good rains the "dust" portion is washed away, mostly into the stone and helping to lock the larger pieces in.
Also qualifies as a non permanent structure here. I can't use anymore concrete or paver's on my property but I can put down the blend.

Computeraces, if you don't want to spend the "big bucks" on concrete then I would suggest going to a rock yard and get a price on LA 610 (that's what it is called in Louisiana). Measure the area you need to cover, including thickness, and then go get some. Once LA 610 gets wet it hardens up like concrete. Sandstone and Limestone are available in Louisiana at various rock yards. If you can't haul it in large quantities yourself, there are haulers available to deliver it to your home. --If you want to make it perfect after putting in the LA 610, then get a small load of #57 to spread around over the top surface. All of this will be less expensive than forming, pouring, and leveling concrete. Good luck on whatever you choose. GEAUX TIGERS !!!!!

Have to add to the pea gravel (aka Jersey Shore front yards) story.

My part time job finished up a building project last year. The idiot building engineers of Brick Township made it an absolute - "no permit without it requirement" to put a "small white pebble" 6-10" base in the rear storage yard.

This would be where we are building racks to store boats and will be driving in and out with trailers and a fork lift for the boats!

Have you ever tried to move 16,000 pounds of boat and trailer through pea gravel?
Now that the building is done we have been paying someone to take a couple hundred tons of the crap away.

Yea, if you go to the end of a run away truck ramp you find a nice bed of pea gravel. For driving and parking, you want stone that locks together tight.