Projects Storing a car off pavement?

I know, bad idea. But with that out of the way. I may need to temporarily (1-2 years) park a vehicle in a grassy area. Ideally paver stones come to mind but they are pricey and a lot of work. Is gravel any better than dirt/grass at preventing rusting? Would metal paneling for roofing work? You can buy 16ft long by 3ft wide pieces for $20 each making it lightweight, affordable and moveable? If not that, what else works?

 

If there's even a little slope to the ground, you can put heavy plastic on the ground & cover it with gravel. The dirt under it would stay dry, and rain will go through the gravel and run off the plastic. Dick's sports has 10x10 pop up tents for $39. Get 2 and lash 'em together forming a roof.

 

In other news, Florida's Fish & Game Conservation Commission issued a notice this week encouraging homeowners to kill Iguanas on their property whenever possible. Fire up the barbie!

 

metal sheets sound good, make sure car is up in the air to get air flow under it. do not tarp. the pop up tent idea might work too, with the ground cover

 

I like that idea of the corrugated roof panels, Matt. They should allow rain and humidity to drain away and the metal should reflect some heat up under the car to maybe help keep things dry.

 

the problem I see with the metal is, if you drive the car onto the sheets, the weight of the car will form a valley under the tires and rain would puddle.

 

Get a bundle of shingles and spread them out and park your vehicle on them. . Usually you can find them cheap and they are asphalt so they act as a vapor barrier. Have been using them for years.

 

I had thought about that. Was thinking of putting a paver under each spot a tire will rest

 

That's a great idea

 

Unfortunately I can't use a pop up tent without getting a permit and with hurricane season approaching it's not the best idea.


And chevy57dude yep iguana season is open. We got a few large ones roaming the canal front yards around me

 

Apparently people actually do eat those critters!! I would have to be desperate and starving.

 

Go to a roofing supply house and see if they have some left over PVC or TPO membrane (TPO will be cheaper). If not they may be able to direct you to a roofing contractor. They usually come in 5' or 10' wide rolls, 100' long and can cost anywhere from $.50 to over $1.00 a sq ft so you don't need a full roll.
I used to be a contractor and did a lot of commercial roofing so had some left over rolls laying around. Used some for a temporary garage for an OT car I had. If you get a lot of rain you could stick some pieces of 2x8's under each tire or a paver so they don't sink into the ground.
I also built a wood platform for a tent garage. You could do the same using pressure treated 2x4's and plywood. I'd reinforce the areas under the tires with more 2x4's.

 

Anything under it will work
Pavers or some bigger squats of plywood or blocking under the tires

I like the Metal sheets as it won’t conform to the ground like a tarp and puddle water

Just don’t cover it over

 

Taste's like chicken?

 

Dont they harbor desease?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

You can use Presure Treated Plywood 1/2" TO 3/4" 4X8 sheet
you will need 5 peices of it.

Thats what I have under my ride for the Last 8 year's

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

I remember hearing something bout a grassy knoll,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

A couple PT boards and some landscape fabric spiked down over the grass (will kill it) should keep the weeds off and let it drain.

 

Some solid ideas there. I have to agree with one thing, don't tarp it. Plastic tarps catch condensation if they don't have good air flow under them. I've had too many of those pop up shade things blow away an the 10x20 portable car port I have has picked up and blown over before so those aren't good ideas where you have wind.
The main thing along with keeping moisture out of it and rust along with keeping rodents out is keeping the area around it somewhat presentable. That is not having weeds or grass growing up next to it. When I lived in Texas I lived in a town where this group of old biddies would ride around town in the early evening making notes of yards that weren't mowed and cars that were sitting out and obviously not moving or not running. In that town as long as you have current plates on the car it doesn't matter if it ever moves. If you are in town and it can be seen from the street that may be something that will lessen hassles.

 

I would set the car up a few feet on blocks to let the air circulate underneath it. Also place some landscaping weed barrier under neath it to keep vegetation from growing under neath it.

 

I’m with you Don. Snowman

 

I agree with those saying height is the key. I've had some project/parts cars parked in my parking lot and I made some wooden cribbing blocks to go under each wheel to keep the car high in the air and the higher the better it seems. Think of cars laying in an old junkyard, the stuff on the ground is usually shit underneath, cars that were up on a pile hold up so much better.

I wouldn't trust a car to sit on jack stands that long outside and not on pavement. The big wooden blocks spread out the weight and keep from sinking in the dirt. All made from scraps so it was cheap.

An outdoor car cover will keep the leaves and dirt and stuff from gathering under moldings and inside the trunk and cowl gutters as well. They're not great for really nice paint but for keeping the dirt out they are well worth the money.

 

That won't hold water like most wood? It rains a lot from may til October here

 

You could varnish it. And try to get it on a slope. Aand even wrap it with plastic so the moisture has to run off.

 

I need to store my roadster outside so I can get on the next project this winter. I picked up a Car Capsule off of CL, cheap.





Plans call for making a wooden platform (just like CAHotRodBoy did), covering it with one of those $200 Costco portable garages then setting it on top of 3/4" gravel (in place of the '54). Then parking the Car Capsule and roadster inside of that.



The roadster will be up off the ground, surrounded in an air tight enclosure covered by a portable garage. All good but not sure how it'd hold up against your hurricane force winds! Just an idea.

 

My Great Grandpa always built two ramps out of 2x8 or wider lumber doubled up. He couldn't afford to pour a concrete floor in his "car shed", a wooden building he parked his car in, so he put the ramps down and parked on them. Never had any problems with rust.

 

I wouldn't use gravel under it. Limestone is corrosive and will keep moisture under there.

Shingles are a great idea, never thought of that one!

The new corrugated metal roofing like Home Depot sells is so thin it will NOT support a car. It will buckle, tear and be a mess. I punched a 5/16" hex driver drill attachment thru it several times when installing some a few years ago. All I was doing was resting the tip of the driver attachment against the metal and trying to hold it overhead against drywall while I dug a screw out of my pocket. Flimsy junk. It's about as thick is 4 sheets of notebook paper and nothing like old corr tin.

SPark

 

Another way of doing it is to build a 2x4 frame the size you need and fill it up with blacktop millings.
Millings is the stuff they grind off the road before they repave. It's cheap and packs down like blacktop eventually. A quick search on goggle on millings and youll see what I mean.

 

I had a load of gravel put in my barn thinking that would be better than the soil. It wasn't. It retained moisture and caused rust. I put roofing tar paper under some cars before, it killed the grass and water ran off. If you lived in Alabama, the proper etiquette would be put it up on concrete blocks in the front yard, thats what I see everywhere anyway....

 

Chicken of the trees.