Well Buckster??

[Captain]

What's the verdict from the concrete man????

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[Buckrub]

Mama said to do it.

Not awful bad, but more'n I got.

Will make my life a lot easier when it's done. Totally fixes the front half of the driveway. Still have to figure out best way to get boat in and out.

here's a pic of it, taken from standing on that 'berm'.....and looking at the house. The front of the boat trailer in the carport is almost touching the right rear tire of the red truck. So, to get the boat out, both vehicles have to move out of the way, then pull the boat out (at which time the front of trailer is about touching the dirt), then turn it 90 degrees and point it down towards street, back up the truck, and hook up.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/Buck7088/Various%20Pics/Driveway_zpsa39cfdaa.jpeg (http://s279.photobucket.com/user/Buck7088/media/Various%20Pics/Driveway_zpsa39cfdaa.jpeg.html)

The concrete work will be from those three windows to the street, widening it. It looks like driveway is same width all the way to street, but it narrows down to about 1/2 of what you see where vehicles are.

[BarryBobPosthole]

You gonna take those trees out?

BKB

[Buckrub]

No. They're not in the way.

To get the best pic, I'd have had to move the camera LEFT just a smudge. Or go to street and take a pic back up this way. Those trees are fine. There WERE some in the way, and I took them out last year. This is a long term project!!! :) Hard to do all this on minimum wage.....

[Buckrub]

But you CAN see that to back a trailer into that driveway, I have to cut a full 90 from the street........and that's hard to do on a 10' driveway, which is all that it is at the street.

[Thumper]

About 15 years ago I thought about building a new house and purchased a lot in a new subdivision close to here. I received the HOA rules and one stipulation was that ALL garages had to have side entry only. I tried to get a waiver and they wouldn't budge, so I unwound the deal. I HATE having a 90 degree turn to get out of a frigging garage. Your problem is one reason why.

[Bwana]

What about putting a parking pad for the boat right where you took the picture from?

[Buckrub]

Here's two pics that make more sense.

Here is one taken from the street, looking back.....this is what I have to back into.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/Buck7088/Various%20Pics/D3_zpscd7f7a1c.jpeg (http://s279.photobucket.com/user/Buck7088/media/Various%20Pics/D3_zpscd7f7a1c.jpeg.html)

Then, if I walk up the driveway towards the house a ways, this is what it looks like. This one shows how the driveway winds........and needs added onto on both sides:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/Buck7088/Various%20Pics/D4_zps715ac620.jpeg (http://s279.photobucket.com/user/Buck7088/media/Various%20Pics/D4_zps715ac620.jpeg.html)

Yeah, Thump...........I get it. But this was added on, after I bought the house in 1989..........long story, but it has to do with mother being next door. Not what I'd have done if I had the choice. The garage was added 'after the fact' and that's the only way it'd go. Heck, I had to buy 20' of mother's lot just to do this!

[Buckrub]

Bwana, I took the picture standing on the property line between me and mother's lots. I could 'buy' anything I needed from her, she doesn't care. But if I take any more, selling that house is going to be a problem.........the two houses are just too close for non-family neighbors.

However, one of the wife's ideas is to 'eat into' a bit more of mother's lot/berm. Flatten it out, widen the driveway out. And if/when the guy is here with backhoe, I might. Or I might rent a mini-excavator and do it later. I need to move the Travel Trailer back about 8 feet, and towards mother about 5 feet, and that would help immensely on getting boat out, and just room. But that's just one more thing I probably can't afford to add to this deal.

[Buckrub]

Oh, and before anyone asks..........the driveway was done that way originally to zig zag around huge pine trees............that are now gone. But it was the cheapest way at the time........and at the time, I had to get over there and next to mother to take care of things.

[BarryBobPosthole]

You have a really pretty place, Bucky. I can almost smell those pines and hear the wind moaning through them. I planted pines in my back yard expressly so I could hear that because it reminds me of home.

And now that that's out of the way.......backing a boat or damn near anything else up that driveway is a can of corn. Practice practice practice.

BKB

[Niner]

Looks to me like a good idea would be (and this may be what you are saying and I'm not reading it right) to take out some of that berm starting just before the steps, make that place between there and the garage all concrete....and put in a retaining wall where the berm used to be.

[Buckrub]

Sorta, CO9. But you can see that the closer the lots get to the street, the less the berm exists, till it goes away.

But I am going to add a little bit of concrete between the existing driveway and the house, making it wider on that side.

No, Posty, it ain't a piece of cake. It's a bio-itch with that TT........the boat and utility trailer are ok. But you aren't seeing where I have to start from, or how narrow the street is.......as you know, getting everything lined up so that you are 'backing straight' is the key. Once I'm straight, I'm fine. GETTING straight is the problem. And everyone that has looked at it is amazed I can even get the TT into where it is. It takes a half hour. It's a mess. But you'd have to see from further back to understand, and I didn't want to go stand in Mr. SmartyPants yard across the street to take the pics that would show that well.

Be nice if the lot were like the Farm. One huge 2 acre flat lot with no ditches, and house in the persack middle!!!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Why don't you build yourself another carport over the trailer and boat and park your truck where your boat is now? That'd be a straight shot in for both trailer and boat.

BKB

And on edit you need to trim your crepe myrtles or Captain will get after you.

[Captain]

Dammit beat me to it!
I would build another building across the back of the driveway where the TT is and park it and the boat under it. That would be a straight shot in from the road.
Why did you add it on the way you did? You had to know coming in there and parking was going to be a bitch.?

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[BarryBobPosthole]

And you can tell everyone you added an ell. That'll go over HUGE with the crossword crowd.

The whiskey might be kicking in. I'm en fuego.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Only way it could have been done for what I had to do it with. There is a double carport where the boat is, and past that, a double garage with door. The garage door opens up slap onto where the TT is parked now. I can barely get a four wheeler wedged through there. If you'd have seen how the house was before I did that, you'd know. If that's not good enough, or you don't trust me, then just chalk it up to "Bucky did it wrong".........

and why don't I build a carport there? Because!!! I am not rich. I can't build a dadgum thing right now. I am borrowing to expand the driveway. And what good would it do to have a nice big 12 car garage, if I can't back a dadgum thing in off of the street because the driveway is too narrow????

and I don't have a CLUE what a Crepe Myrtle is.......whatever it is, it ain't been trimmed since 1989 when I got here. If it lives, fine. If it dies, I cut it down. Too many danged trees here now! I spent the afternoon running a chain saw and cutting down dead trees, cutting up fallen tops and branches, and hauling them out to the street. I like trees..........but man........they have been a mess the last few years........extreme heat, ice, back and forth........yard looked like Baby Beirut. Last thing I want is to go work on another danged tree.

[Captain]

You seriously need to cut them crepe myrtles back and when you done with that, the monkey grass needs to be cut down too. It will be sprouting any day....

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[Buckrub]

I'll get right on it.

Which ones are the crepe myrtles?

[LJ3]

Don't listen to Cap'n. He has some deep seeded hatred for Crepe Myrtles