Driveway markers

[dj1701]

Hi all,

I have used wooden stakes for driveway markers, and my ground is to rocky to drive them in much.

I have used those skinny fiberglass rods that have a reflective strip, but they suck as well.

My best luck was with HD T-Posts painted yellow, but they are a bear to drive into the ground. Not easy to get out either.

Just wondering what everyone else is using, maybe some good ideas.

Thanks
Dave

 

[buckeyefarmer]

What's the purpose of the markers? Mark for snow plowing?

 

[Industrial Toys]

I bought a pile of those fiberglass rods for various markers. Disappointed that the reflective material wasn't very UV resistant. US made too!

 

[seville009]

I use rebar; easy to hammer into my rocky ground. I put orange survey tape and reflective tape on them.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I hate using anything, that if it ever gets into the wrong place could do serious damage. And you know, that's exactly where stuff ends up.

 

[atsah]

I hate using anything, that if it ever gets into the wrong place could do serious damage.

Same here.. I have trash trucks run them over etc. I know were the grass starts and ends, that's all I need to know..

 

[/pine]

Why not put in a couple of bushes or landscape plants ?...blueberry bushes, ornamental fruit trees etc.

 

[RNeumann]

If the soil is that hard I’d hit the holes with a long hammer drill bit and use the skinny fiberglass reflective markers- it’s probably a 1/4”-5/16” bit. If the soil is that tough 6” in the ground is all you should need. The cordless hammer drills are fairly common these days.

 

[Boondox]

I use the fiberglass rods as markers for snow removal since the edge of the driveway falls off steeply in sections. They are flimsy enough to get eaten and spit out by the snowblower. If I buy them in the spring they cost $0.99 each for the four footers and $1.50 each for the six footers.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I mark various stumps as obstacles or for future grinding. Drill a 1/2' hole with a cordless tool and stick in a fiberglass rod. I bought, like fifty or so, as they get much cheaper that way.

 

[Ford850]

I use the orange fiberglass stakes with the reflective strip at the top, along 1000' of my driveway. I drive them in after the ground is good and wet, or at least not hard packed dry like it is now, usually early December. I put them in 2 feet off the edge of the drive to give me room to plow. A 1/2" copper pipe with a cap soldered on one end, and cut about 10" shorter than the length of my stakes, makes a perfect driver. Slip it over a stake, hold it plumb, and push it in till the copper pipe hits the ground. I've been using these for 12 years or so, and they were eventually fading, so I painted them with Chevy Orange engine paint which shows up great in the snow.

 

[coldsteelva]

I use the fiberglass rods also - we have hard pack clay soil so I just use a cordless drill with a 24-inch bit to make an appropriate size hole and just drop them in.

 

[shooterdon]

I also use the fiberglass rods. Never thought about using a cordless drill to make the holes and that is a very good method. The capped copper pipe suggestion sounds nifty as well. I have some 1/2" iron pipe and may try that.

Love the experience on this site!!!

 

[Ford850]

I also use the fiberglass rods. Never thought about using a cordless drill to make the holes and that is a very good method. The capped copper pipe suggestion sounds nifty as well. I have some 1/2" iron pipe and may try that.

Love the experience on this site!!!

Some years it's wet enough that I can push many of the stakes in without that pipe, but they flex and go in on goofy angles and there's always a few that I just can't get in at all. With that pipe they go in smooth as silk and straight! The pipe gives you a better grip and it holds the rods straight since they can't bend inside that narrow 1/2". I store the pipe with the fiberglass rods so I don't have to go searching for it every year (learned that after the first year).

 

[metalbender]

I also use the skinny fiberglass markers. half mile drive has very steep drop in some places. Ground is quite hard in the fall so I use a length of rebar with a tape depth marker to make the holes consistent depth. Just drop the marker in, all the same height, all straight. The reflective bit leaves much to be desired so I cut some plasic half inch conduit into six inch bits, added some leftover reflective cop car striping tape. Lights up like a runway with the lights on. My Rigid driving light lights up the full length on a winter night.

 

[herm0016]

sections of 1/2 emt with several wraps of reflective tape.

 

[Reb954]

A couple years ago I cleared a neighbors driveway due to their machine had broken down. Of course, it was during one of the biggest storms of the winter and it was at night. For markers they used the round reflectors on the fiberglass rods and didn't install them until there was a foot to a foot and a half of snow to hold them in place. They placed red reflectors on one side of the driveway and blue on the other.

I didn't try measuring the snow depth but my blower was 3 ft. high and the snow was over that by roughly a foot. I would have to raise the blower a foot to two feet off the bottom, blow back in 50 ft. or so then pull out, lower the blower and push back in to clean up the driveway. I did that for one mile of driveway so it took a long time.

There was a number of times I could only see one reflector but I knew by the color which side of the reflector I needed to be on. Without the color coding there is no way I could have cleared their driveway. This was all done with my old 1971 Ford 4400 62 hp tractor, no cab, with a McKee 84" blower. When all was said and done it took me 21 hrs. over two days to get him totally opened up and cleaned up from that storm.

 

[Scrambler82]

I didn't start this thread but these ideas sound interesting to me. I don't get any snow to mention but I have been thinking on marking the driveway just to keep everyone in the same path.

I use rebar; easy to hammer into my rocky ground. I put orange survey tape and reflective tape on them.

This to me is a Heavy Duty System, ReBar... GREAT idea, I mentioned this one first because it seems the best, long term method.

I use the fiberglass rods as markers for snow removal since the edge of the driveway falls off steeply in sections. They are flimsy enough to get eaten and spit out by the snowblower. If I buy them in the spring they cost $0.99 each for the four footers and $1.50 each for the six footers.

Where do you buy these in Bulk ? Even at a buck each I think I would need a a hundred or more.

I use the orange fiberglass stakes with the reflective strip at the top, along 1000' of my driveway. I drive them in after the ground is good and wet, or at least not hard packed dry like it is now, usually early December. I put them in 2 feet off the edge of the drive to give me room to plow. A 1/2" copper pipe with a cap soldered on one end, and cut about 10" shorter than the length of my stakes, makes a perfect driver. Slip it over a stake, hold it plumb, and push it in till the copper pipe hits the ground. I've been using these for 12 years or so, and they were eventually fading, so I painted them with Chevy Orange engine paint which shows up great in the snow.

The orange fiberglass rod, I'm guessing no noe could say they didn't see them.

I also use the fiberglass rods. Never thought about using a cordless drill to make the holes and that is a very good method. The capped copper pipe suggestion sounds nifty as well. I have some 1/2" iron pipe and may try that.

Love the experience on this site!!!

I think Fiberglass Rods seem to be the Marker of choice.

sections of 1/2 emt with several wraps of reflective tape.

I second this one, but second place to the ReBar idea.
Great idea though to use 1/2" PVC but I would need to get a hole in the ground first and that would take either a Hammer drill with large bit or actually dig a hole. Ground is too hard for anything except a steel rod... REBAR !


I know this wasn't a contest but as the ideas of what to use began popping up... I thought one of these ideas had to be more used than another.
I think the Fiberglass Rods of any color actually is used by more people.
To me... seville009's ReBar is my solution to my hard ground and marking the drive so if someone get the idea to drive off the given path they will know it when they hear the ReBar under their vehicle.
Also to improvise, I think Ford850's idea for an install tool is a good one too; I will have to attempt to make a Iron Pipe Driving Tool.

Thanks to all for the ideas, as I said, I didn't ask but I can depend on this Site to give some great ideas for a problem.

 

[Thomas]

Best thing I found/made heavy duty spring, attach whip at one end other end rebar.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Too bad, they don't make them longer. Stick them a foot in the ground and you don't have much left. Not for snow windrows or tall grass.