Texas drive building codes? (house, neighborhood, contractors)

[PTjoe]

I am building a house and have a question on the lateral slant angle of a driveway. I have found lots of data on the longitudinal angle/slants but nothing on the lateral angle/slant. My drive looks slanted laterally and when I put my level on it, it was. I poured some water on the driveway and for every 3.5 feet it went down it went 1 foot to the left. I will get my angle on it tomorrow but does anyone know the allowable lateral angle on this?

,Joe

[rigas]

there is no code for slop on driveways in any particular direction outside of ADA on public property (not your side of the driveway but the city side) and this is solely inside city limits (some counties are doing ADA specs these days as well) which is 1/4" of slope per foot of concrete. sloping in any direction has nothing to do with code or specs but 99% of the time it is based on drainage on the lot. in other words if your lot drains left then the slop of your drive SHOULD also drain left as well as toward the street (or house in some cases).

[PTjoe]

Thanks for the quick reply rigas. My lot drains straight back to front with A type drainage I believe. I'm pretty sure that the lateral angle was due to laziness and not double checking the driveway forms to make sure they were level prior to laying the concrete. This sounds close to the 2 degree cross slope rule for sidewalks from the ADA. I will check the slope tommorrow and will talk to my builder to see what they normally allow.

Any other thoughts would be welcome.

,Joe

[rigas]

np joe

the norm is no more then 14% i believe (anything higher then about 5% is unusual). this is back to front. all property drains to the sides of the property. your front yard will drain to the front but should have some drainage to the sides. this is usually the reason for any side slope on a driveway. your property should drain not only to the front but toward the swale. on the sides as well to better control water shed.

curious where you are building. with whom?

[PTjoe]

Ahhh I see what you mean but unfortunatly my driveway is on the right side and the driveway is slanted to the left which means that the driveway water will go towards the center of my property. If it was slanted the other way I wouldn't mind as much but all other driveways in my neighborhood for the most part have no visible lateral slant in them. The downward to longitudinal slope is fine on the driveway. I'm building in waterview estates in richmond with pulte homes. I have bought a pulte before and have had a great experience.

,Joe

[rigas]

LMAO i wonder who the concrete company is. they have a couple but i have a feeling i know the company all to well. i believe it is one of 2 companies. one usually does a very good job and the other tends to cheat. i will not reveal who they are in public though as that would not be right considering they are both my competition.

ultimately once the job is complete, and the final grade and sod is placed i would expect it to be relatively unnoticable. you would also be in ft bend county which will enforce the ADA requirements but only on the public side of the property line. in other words only on the public sidewalks and the aproach or "in turn" of your driveway. if your in the city of richmond (i dont believe you are) then they may inspect the entire driveway but they will not inspect for any slope solely for reinfocement and correct thickness.

[PTjoe]

Well they did start framing the house and it is less noticible already but I will go today after work to take a lateral angle measurement. Does this company, that shall remain nameless, do a good job as far as quality of concrete or are they known for cracking driveways? I don't lay concrete so I don't even know if this is a valid question. I will post the angle when I get it tonight. Thanks again.

,Joe

[PTjoe]

Well the lateral angle turns out to be about 2 degrees on average and 3 degrees at worst to the left. Does not sound like a lot but when you spread that over the entire width of the driveway you can see the difference. Does this sound reasonable to you as a concrete company employee or owner?

,Joe

[rigas]

here is the thing, i dont see a problem with the slop (i have not seen it 1st hand) from the way you describe it. i would not expect the builder to be willing to do anything with it as there is no "safety" issues, no code violations and sounds to be nothing more then a personal "dislike" or question.

as for cracking. there is no honest way for me to answer that, there are to many variables. soil conditions, weather conditions, traffic, concrete mix designs, water in mix, will they be driving a tree truck to plant trees, is the sheet rock delivery going to be driven up the drive...... it goes on and on. teh "questionable" company is known for cheating on concrete thickness causeing more breaking then normal in which case they will bill the builder who in turn backcharges a different trade, all the while had they placed the concrete correctly the chance of cracking would have been minimalized.

so in other words, this company will save money by using less concrete on the project while still charging the same amount, then when the concrete breaks (which is very common) they will be paid for remove and replace while someone else has to foot the bill.

these are contractors who give the rest of us concrete contractors bad names.