Got a surprise at the BI office today. Apparently I need to put a curb in at the street. This came up months ago and I argued I didn’t need one per the ordinance and they agreed. The ordinance went into effect October, 2004 and said 3 reasons for a curb:
new construction
sale of a home
improvements greater than 50% of current homes value.
I argued the only one that applied to me was the home improvements, and since they were less than the 50%, it would not be required. They agreed. Fast forward to today and they now say the curb should have been put in back in ’05 when I bought the house. Apparently the seller should have posted a bond as a guarantee the work would be done, but it “fell through the cracks” so they want it now. Ordinance actually says “at time of sale”. Does not say whose responsible, seller or buyer. Well sellers long gone, they advised me to file a civil suit to see if the seller can be made to pay, fat chance.
So I figure I could fight this, and a few years down the road have to do it when I do a bunkhouse, or get it out of the way now. The township provided me engineers drawings which look pretty straight forward. Given all the concrete work I’ve done to date, I feel confident I can do this. The fact that I think it’s doable is what makes me worried. Anything you guys can add regarding stuff I’m probably overlooking, fire away.
Thanks
Kevin
Edited 1/24/2008 9:52 pm ET by dockelly
Replies
When you do the drop down for the drive.....
Please, make it nice so the tools etc stay on the shelves when we back out.
thanks.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Good to hear from you Cal,
no apron, dirt driveway, no gutter. I'm doing the bare minimum they require. Curb is 18" tall with 12" underground. 6" thick at top, 9" at base. Driveway part will be 1 1/2" above road with 16 1/2" underground. That's it, 70 feet long.
Street is asphalt?
Pins for kickers.
Long time ago we had to curb as part of the flatwork. This was for gas stations, parking lots. We just used oiled plywood for the forms. Made sort of triangle bracing to pin (or stake) the outside of the form to the existing asphalt/stone. Tied across the other forms that were partially buried in the ground. Our dig was clean with a small bucket on a bobcat. Darn near didn't need much formwork on one side.
BIG roundover trowell.
Vibrate or rap the forms to close up the voids. Struck the large roundover right away. Then the smaller radius. Took off the face form when it was stiff and closed up the holes.
Jeez, that was in '74. I'm sure I might have remembered correctly.
maybe.
Best of luck.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
yes it's asphalt, thanks for the tips.
Will they (the city) let you do it? No reason you can't handle it but sometimes they require maintenance bond (or something)and specific signage requirements working effectivly in the roadway etc.TFB (Bill)
"Will they (the city) let you do it?"good question, they've let me doing other things, we'll see I guess.
Uggh.
The system can be not very nice.
What about repair of street on their side of the curb?
I would go check out where someone else did the job or is doing the job so you can see what goes into it.
Talk to township engineer and make sure there are no surprises. What if it cracks/ Chips?? (some towns in PA are goofy about that)
Township engineer will likely need to see the concrete ticket, will verify that slump is 4" or less or at least do a squint eye at it to make sure the mix looks to be dry enough, etc.
You cant afford to run into a problem with concrete in the forms.
Good luck and make sure you have enough help for the day.
Don't forget to call Digsafe, or Call Before You Dig, or whatever they call it in your location. This is generally a free service that MOST utilities and municipalities subscribe to. You want to know where any underground utilities are located before you start scratching around. Most dirt guys, drillers, pavers, etc. do this routinely, just thought I'd mention it, even though you are only going down a foot or so.
will do