In my neighborhood there are no curbs at the street. For most this is not a problem because they are the only ones parking in front of their house. But I live right across from a church that has a pre-school. Every day a swarm of SUVs land like locusts as the mom’s drop off the kids. Since many of the moms can barely see over the hood of their Excursions, they pull right up on my grass. If it’s a wet day they carve a nice rut. I put some 5 – 10 # river rocks along the street to encourage them to stay off the grass, but every once in a while someone hits one of the rocks and just drives it into the ground or pushes it through the grass.
I’d like to anchor the rocks somehow so if a car hits it, it will bounce off. Could I make a little pier in the ground with some concrete and somehow bond the rocks to the top of the concrete?
Replies
Anchor them with rebar pins, and leave the pins sitting about 2" proud of the tops of the rocks. After replacing a few $200 SUV tires, they'll either learn how to park, or find someplace else to practice.
Bob
Id tend to agree with Bob, at my place the mailbox post is a telephone pole about 7 ft in the ground.
Im in a rural area where the town uses big sheer type cutters in the summer to cut back the grass, I got sick of them hacking down my wild roses, and sunk some of those green garden fence posts with a sledge. They stick up about 2 ft. Ever since then the lift the cutter well before my yard.
As for the stones, its a bunch of work but I guess you could drill the bottoms and anchor them with rebar to a larger buried unit.
Or get much bigger rocks. Oh small excavation companies might give you big rocks that they cant fit in their rock crusher.
We have the same thing, got sick of the RVs turning in our wide drive. Its a pity to see them try to come down off one once they get hung up.
Not really.
-zen
Seriously, I thought about pinning them down, but I didn't think my hammer drill and a masonry bit would make a dent in a granite rock.
Could I epoxy the rocks to the concrete?
I wanted to try to make some nice looking ballards out of concrete, but my wife didn't like that idea.
Edited 3/12/2005 12:12 pm ET by rich
Big rocks. Car stoppers as I call them.
I'd go for bigger rocks or a decorative fence, perhaps a split-rail.
Have you spoken to the day-care about it? They obviously can't control their customers completely, but they likely will try to get the word out to their clients to stay off the grass of neighbors. If you wish to go further the municipality could get involved, even ticketing folks for a while for parking on your property.
I would NOT " leave the pins sitting about 2" proud of the tops of the rocks." This is a lawsuit waiting to happen if one of the toddlers trips on the rocks and lands on the "proud two inches."
I have no idea how big #5 or #10 rocks are. Maybe you need to build a 12" or 18" high stone wall. That's alotta rocks and work though.
Unfortunately a note to the school and respective parents won't do much good since the students aren't there for longer than a semester or two.
Before you do anything, you may want to check with the bldg dept to see if there is any regulation regarding how close to the street you can build. Does the curb have to be part of the street or can it be part of your property? If you guess wrong, you may be liable for the SUV damage repair.
F
I like Bob K's post well, totally what I was thinking. But there's a side of me that might email IMERC and see if he has any claymores sitting around.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
install parking meters.
Spread do do around where they step out.
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The easiest thing would be some rocks in the 200# range and up, the size of a small end table from the living room. Any excavator will be able to drop off a handful of them, or drive out into farm country and see if you can spot some rock piles. Get nice smooth round ones that look good. Easy enough to move with a couple bodies and a rock bar. Three or four of those spaced along your 'curb' and no one will swing onto your property.
I have several tons of really nice fieldstones that would work. Come by and grab a few, I'll even help you load!
Edited 3/12/2005 6:19 pm ET by davidmeiland
Don't know the size of rocks you are talking about but sounds like to are talk on the roads edge, the "city's right of way". Big libility I can see, be cautious. Car hits them, city snow plow causes damage, ect.......
First thing I thought of was big rocks but stonefever beat me to the punch....Boulders i think they call em'....plant flowers betweem em'
Be stoned
a...
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
Fences are wonderful.
Flower borders are beautiful.
Stone walls stunning.
But if you want to stop cars from running on your lawn, one puts a big enough rock that won't move when the fools hit it. And they will sooner or later. After all, why bother redoing the effort, get the job done right in the first place.
I'm talking 500# or more. A bunch of them.
I'm talking 500# or more. A bunch of them.>>>>>>I got a price for a buncha them for a back grade in my driveway I dug out......seems like they cost more'n gold.
I need to figger out another way cause I want em'!
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
I've done a lot of wrastlin' with those big honkers. Once I bought a backhoe to fool with a long boulder wall I did for my SIL. Whew!
I've found that staying in touch with some excavating guys and letting them know of your needs, that sooner or later, they'll have a job to get rid of a bunch. Then they're cheap.
yeh but I need some now!!!
Saw a road crew near hear with tons of fifty billion pounders they pulled up.No one would take responsibility to sell me one....whatever.
Anyways......I'll keep my eyes open and hire superman to fly em' in as long as they aint Kryptonite...although green might look good so I may call in the Hulk...lol...think he's been outta work for a spell.
Be well dude
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Two stakes a yellow caution tape and a hazardous waste spill sign should do the trick.
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
rock fences look nice. it would be a little work for you to construct this. Or you could do a small trench just deep enough to get the tires stuck in or atleast dislodge 1 starbucks paper cup from it's cup holder. Or you could 'turn the other cheek' and pave your front lawn all the way up to your door, painting yellow lines for parking spaces.
Have you thought of having the city, town or county put some NO PARKING THIS SIDE signs? That way you can call the police and have them charged with any or all of the following items:
1: Parking in a NO PARKING zone.
2: Trespassing on privet property.
3: Damage to privet property.
You can also make the vehicle owner pay for the damages that they do to your yard.
In this day and age, with the legal system the way it is, any thing that you put out there that may do damage to there vehicle, even thought they are in the wrong, you can be held liable for that damage.
About 20 years ago some kids were using a 4 wheel drive pick up to knock down mail boxes. After knocking down one in particular for the third time the own of the box did something about it. He went to the P.O. and got a P.O. Box, then went and bought an eight foot piece of 6 inch pipe. Buried that pipe so the top of it was at the proper height, then filled it up with concrete. Had the box mounted on the top and then panted the whole thing.
When those kids hit that box the one standing up in the back went flying, the passenger hit the windshield and the driver lost all of his front teeth on the steering wheel. They tried to charge the box owner with attempted manslaughter but was acquitted by a jury. So then the parentsof those kids sued and WON 1.3 million dollars.
Use the law against them. Don't give them an opportunity to us it against you.
Dane
I will always be a beginner as I am always learning.
As a much younger man I lived in a similar situation. One day my cousin and I let the air out of the tires of a bunch of cars parked on the front lawn. When the owners came back and were ready to leave, air from our compresor was $10 a tire.
Word spread fast and everyone started parking a block over from us.
I live on a well kept street in the city. Large boulders (besides being expensive) would look kind of funny. That's why I was trying to stick with grapefruit sized rocks. Now back to my origonal question: any way to anchor a rock to a small concrete pier? Epoxy? Mortar? I think the rocks are to tough to drill through to set pins.
My mom did exactly what you're talking about, but she used lava rock. She got rocks that were oblong, dug holes about 2' deep, poured concrete into the hole and sunk one end of the rock into the concrete. The rocks ended up looking roundish. We'd had the previous two batches of rocks in that spot disappear during the night. The last batch is still there, over 30 years later.(Mom was widowed young, and became a "liberated" woman by necessity. We grew up helping this blue-eyed, blond beauty queen do all kinds of "men's work". I once told a neighbor my mom could do anything. I think she could, too.)"A completed home is a listed home."
If you have the money build absolutely anything you want, pour concrete and anchor rocks to that, build a stone hedge, pile west coast cedars 8 high, fill 5 gallon paint pails full of concrete and stack them 8 high, get a gun, Dobermans, beg them not to drive on your lawn, its a church give a Sunday sermon "thou shall not drive on my lawn". poke them all in the eye with a sharp stick. I don't know but please solve this it is your lawn.