Steep driveway in need of some kind of guardrail - need help

[dex3361]

I have seen a few made out of pipe that looked pretty nice after being painted. Sink the posts in every 15 feet and tie them all together with a welded top rail of heavy pipe.

I lived on a steep hill growing up and the high curb did a great job of deflecting the cars/trucks back onto the drive. You might think about Railroad ties as the curb and then back it up with the post and cable system.

 

[Western]

I would consider used telephone poles or railroad ties cut down to size, then add metal, wood, or wire runners. Here it is common to see telephone looking post used for guard rails, then a nice formed metal runner bolted to each. I'm sure the post are made specifically for the railed guards, but look almost identical to cut down t-poles. I have notice the poles are placed tighter on tighter turns, for strength I would guess.

 

[Ken45101]

If you get something like sections of telephone poles or other heavy posts, I would just drill holes through them and run a 1" cable through them.

We have a driveway like that. Our solution is to park a vehicle at the bottom when the forecast is for snow. Our driveway has been so bad a few times that I had to put chains on the 4wheelers to get up and down it.

Ken

 

[MarkV]

I think my vote would go with 6x6 or heavier posts and cable. What I would do is run the cable on each ends of the wall to the ground and anchor them to a mobile home tie down set in cement. It would seem to me that would tie the whole wall together instead of one post breaking and leaving enough slack to not stop a car.

MarkV

 

[Code54]

Are mobile home anchors expensive, I am guessing you get them for a mobile home dealer? Any guess how deep you need to seat them?
For those of you that used old telephone poles, how did you install them? Post hole digger? I am guessing you need something over 12"?
Thanks again for the info!

 

[Western]

I've put in some t-poles pcs for various reasons, fence mostly. I just used mu 9" auger and then dug out what I needed extra with post hole diggers, a 10-12" auger would have been nice. Done the same thing with railroad ties.
One thing to do is trim the tops at an angle to shed water , I have even gone so far as to use asphalt sealer on the cut to help seal the top, you can get a 5 gal bucket at lowes for around $25. 3' in the ground should be enough if they are in a continuous line.

 

[Pete Judd]

The local cement company almost gives away the one yard blocks that they make out of the left overs when the trucks come back with unused stuff. You need to have a way to haul them, and set them, but they make good retaining walls as well.

 

[boggen]

once a year, i see an ad on craigslist. of actual "guards" that were removed and replaced by new ones. and the folks were wanting to get a little extra money out of them vs taking to salvage yard.

i have found out hard way, about cable. when i was young. nearby city, had a restaurant and there was a house / driveway right beside it, in day time you could tell it was driveway to house, but at night time, it looked like a regular enterence to the restaurant. i hit that drive way, next thing i knew i had a cable strung across the front of the vehicle and about ready to touch the side mirrors. i am going to assume folks living in house had problems with folks wanting to park in there drive way, so the strung up the cable.

the cable for most part stopped my vehicle fairly fast. though if i was going faster i most likely would have snapped the cable.

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problems using 2x10s or 2x anything, is you will be placing them on there ends. like fence post rails. vs laying them down flat. laying them down flat less likly you would break them. laying them on there end. would be like braking a pencil in half.

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most large hardware stores and lumber companies offer 6x6 ties/timbers and 6x8 ties/timbers and 8x8 ties/timbers. there square in shape, and rough cut. not smooth like a 2x4, or 2x8. they are kinda like rail road ties. and they are fairly cheap. and i have only seen treated versions. only time i have used them. is to build retaining walls. for wall right at lake edge and going a few feet under water. or used for a retaining wall to build up an area on a hill for a camping area. have seen most the ties last any were from 20 to 30 years. before they completely rotted away and fallen apart.

for retaining wall, i would use 8" to 10" spikes (other words large size nails) and would need to drill hole through top tie, and then hammer the spike through first and right into lower tie.

but for using them as a guard rail, i would imagine, you would need to use threaded rod, and cut to length, and then use washers and nuts on each end. so you can have space between each rail, vs building an entire retraining wall length of your driveway.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Over the years I've seen a lot of rail installed. The job I'm starting now includes 37,000 feet of new beam rail on seven foot steel posts which means they will be pulling up and salvaging some 34,000 feet of existing rail that is twenty five years old. The beam sections are in fair shape mostly but the pt wood post are all done. Every state is doing some of this rehab work so you should be able to find rail in used condition but good used steel or 6x8 6 ft. wood posts will be harder to find at less then new prices. The new rail is set on posts at 6'- 3" c-c with 31 inches of post above the ground. The height has varied a couple of inches over the years as they adjust to the number of high centered SUVs in the mix. New rail is going for $16.75 a foot installed but that is for a bulk purchase.
Some other comments on other types etc.
Wooden rail has the hazard of spearing through a car and its passengers in a crash. It is OK on a low speed drive but be sure to bolt it securely to the posts.
Don't concrete in the posts. It makes them perform poorly in a crash and makes wooden posts rot faster.
Cable rails are usually fastened to the post with J bolts and tensioned at the ends of 1000 ft segments to concrete blocks set flush with the ground and a turnbuckle or spring system. Cable rails are hard on the legs of motorcycle riders. On a drive you could go to a 12'-6" post spacing and use a lighter 2x1 or 3x1 galvanised post. You would have to be careful not to push against it when plowing snow if you go too light.
Both beam rail and three cable systems are held out in front of the posts by blocks or "Buckets" so a car sliding down the rail doesn't break every post it goes by. These blocks are now made from recycled plastic.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I think you want a smooth barrier that will not deflect and let you run into a post. What about used telephone poles laying flat on or a little above the ground. They could be staked in with steel rods or restrained by treated posts driven on the back side.
larry