How to prevent dumpster damage to new driveway?
May 18, 2023 5:05 PM   Subscribe

We messed up. This week we had our crumbling driveway replaced by a nice, new, larger driveway. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that it could take up to a year to fully cure. In about a month and a half we’re having a renovation done on our home which will require a dumpster to be parked out front. How do we avoid it sinking and wrecking our new driveway?

And no, parking it on the grass isn’t out of the question. I’d rather regrow grass than try to patch the driveway. Or is patching the driveway easier than I’m imagining?
posted by summerteeth to Home & Garden (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Concrete reaches design strength in 28 days. You’d be at much higher risk of the dumpster scuffing and scraping the surface than any structural failure.
posted by hwyengr at 5:23 PM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: @hwyengr Does that include asphalt? Like, the black colored stuff? Apologies, this isn’t my area of expertise!
posted by summerteeth at 5:26 PM on May 18, 2023


Best answer: Sorry, it does not. When you said cure, my mind immediately went to concrete. Asphalt roads are open to traffic sooner than concrete roads after construction, so they do get more strength, faster.

Asphalt is always susceptible to deforming under heavy point loads, like the feet of a dumpster. Thats why bus stops on asphalt streets are usually a concrete pad. It’s why engineers call asphalt pavements “flexible”, vs concrete’s “rigid”.

I would put it in the grass. You don’t want to patch the driveway because it you’ll always see the patch.
posted by hwyengr at 5:33 PM on May 18, 2023 [14 favorites]


Civil engineer who works in transportation and has done various paving jobs! hwyengr is spot-on — place it on the grass.
posted by curious nu at 5:45 PM on May 18, 2023 [5 favorites]


When they dropped a storage pod in my driveway (no lawn space) they put some 2x12 boards under the feet. No damage to the asphalt seen.
posted by Marky at 6:13 PM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]


Yeah if you have some extra plywood you could lay that down. The goal being to spread the weight out from the wheels to a wider point load.
posted by Uncle at 6:27 PM on May 18, 2023


Response by poster: I’ve been considering plywood, or 2x10s, or some combination of the two. Still cheaper than trying to patch the driveway later. Maybe that will be plan B if they can’t park it on the yard.
posted by summerteeth at 7:43 PM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]


If you need the dumpster to be on the driveway, see if the contractor can bring steel plates for it to sit on.
posted by rube goldberg at 8:22 PM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]


Another benefit of putting it on the grass is that you will also be halfway into a cool project to replace your grass with native groundcover plants that will support more biodiversity and pollinators.
posted by ewok_academy at 7:45 AM on May 19, 2023 [5 favorites]


I would still put down 2x12s or plywood if you park the dumpster on the grass.

It will be a lot easier to roll it back onto the truck at the end. If the dumpster begins to sink into the dirt you will have a much messier exit. It's easier to plant new grass afterward.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:19 AM on May 19, 2023


« Older I don't know why I do things.   |   rubicscubetutorial Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments