High spot in blacktop - Can't get shed door open

[rixtory]

Help - Can't get my tractor out of the shed due to a new high spot in the 4 year old blacktop driveway - About 2' by 2' raised up about 2 inches this winter -
Does anyone know if it would go down on its own, or will I need to cut an inch off the shed door (Hate to do that...)

 

[jimmyj]

Is it frost heave? If so, it should go down. I wonder why it took 4 years to heave. Is there any chance the shed door is sagged too?

Can you grind it down? We do that with concrete when plaza walks heave and the store doors won't clear.

 

[zzvyb6]

It will go down. But prepare for the same thing next year by shortening the door and extending it with a floating panel or using a rubber or vinyl rub strip, or trenching a slice for an electric heater cord used to keep water pipes from freezing. Mine does the same thing every other year or so. Not sure how to prevent it. I had the barn gutters fixed last fall, and no frost heave yet.

 

[chevyman003]

Help - Can't get my tractor out of the shed due to a new high spot in the 4 year old blacktop driveway - About 2' by 2' raised up about 2 inches this winter -
Does anyone know if it would go down on its own, or will I need to cut an inch off the shed door (Hate to do that...)

let the air out of your tractor tires,or use a torch as asphalt will melt in a way so u can get your tractor out of the shed

 

[kebo]

Don't think that letting the air of the tires will help at all. The way I read it was that the bottom edge of the door was hitting the highspot on the asphalt, thus preventing the door from opening completely.

 

[rixtory]

yes, That is correct. the bottom of the door is hitting the upheaved portion of blacktop. Frost Heave. Sounds about right. I hop it goes down.
I like the idea of putting a chunk of rubber flap on the bottom of teh door if I end up having to cut a piece off.
I was finally warm here in PA today, so maybe it will go down sooner rather then later - I can wait another week of so and just use the side door to get in. If it doesn't go down, I guess I will pull the hinges and cut the bottom.

I thought about some sort of grinding or heating the alphalt with a torch, but I don't think that will do it

 

[Egon]

Not sure how to prevent it.

To prevent frost heave you have to eliminate the water supply to the area.

One way of doing this to dig out the area to below the frost line and replace the soil with a very coarse granular material that will not allow water to rise into the frost zone by capillary action. This method will only work if the topography is such that there are no permeable side hills that will allow the water pore pressure to build up and just saturate the area through natural water pressure.

 

[Jeff244]

I've come across something like this before and found chunks of concrete under the gravel that the frost pushed up. I would call the contractor that did the driveway, while it's not under warranty, he should be aware of the soil conditions in the area and come up with a solution. If you end up doing something similar to what Egon suggested, I would dig out along the entire length of the door to eliminate any chances of other areas raising in the future. You could dig it out and put the stone in yourself and have the paver patch it in or have them do it all.


Jeff

 

[BrianWillan]

Help - Can't get my tractor out of the shed due to a new high spot in the 4 year old blacktop driveway - About 2' by 2' raised up about 2 inches this winter -
Does anyone know if it would go down on its own, or will I need to cut an inch off the shed door (Hate to do that...)

What type of door is on the garage in question? It sounds like it is a swing out door. Instead of going the route of grinding the blacktop or digging up the apron area of your garage and fixing the base, perhaps changing the garage door to a roll up or sliding variety would be a better long term solution to the problem.

Cheers

Brian

 

[rankrank1]

What type of door is on the garage in question? It sounds like it is a swing out door. Instead of going the route of grinding the blacktop or digging up the apron area of your garage and fixing the base, perhaps changing the garage door to a roll up or sliding variety would be a better long term solution to the problem.

Cheers

Brian

A sliding door may not fix the problem. I have this same issue with my barn with a sliding door. In the winter I can not get it open due to Frost heave. Another problem with the slider that I have is if the rain blows from a certain direction it will form an ice pool under the door which further ices the door shut. Fixing this is on my to do list.

An overhead door would fix problem. Only potential issue with an overhead is that you may need to cut the lock slot in your track bigger to allow the door the ability to lock when the door is rasied up slightly from the frost heave. Of course, in the summer you would have a little slop with your door in the lock position which is no big deal.

 

[jimmyj]

My sliding door gets frozen in at the bottom all the time.

This string is so typical of my life.

a) have a nuisance problem like a bit of heave in the drive
b) dig up and re-do entire drive
c) completely re-engineer shed

LOL

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a sliding door also that gets stuck. What I did was dig a trench where the door slides. The trench is 20' long and 1.5' deep by 1' wide. I then filled it with gravel about 3/4" stuff. Took care of the problem.

Chris

 

[tommu56]

Jack the shed up an put some pressure treated 4x4 's under it.

tom

 

[radioman]

Help - Can't get my tractor out of the shed due to a new high spot in the 4 year old blacktop driveway - About 2' by 2' raised up about 2 inches this winter -
Does anyone know if it would go down on its own, or will I need to cut an inch off the shed door (Hate to do that...)

rixtory, the out swinging doors should have been designed to be at leasst 2-6 inches higher then the ground for snow. When I built a shed for my folks and couple others, I either make sure it was on a elevated area, or be 4 inches off the ground due to the northeastern area that gets lots of snow. I absolutely hate shoveling the snow just to open the door and trying to remove any packed down snow. Since you have blacktop in front of your shed and you need the tractor often, you need to plan ahead. removing the water issue will help, but not the snow. What kind of a shed is it ? perhaps you can jack it up so its 6 inches higher ? This would avoid messing with the blacktop till it breaks, and avoid cutting your door and solve the snow in front of door issue.

 

[BrianWillan]

Jack the shed up an put some pressure treated 4x4 's under it.

tom

Ok, doing this will obviously leave a gap under the door the same amount that you jack it up. Assuming that you leave that gap to create the clearance needed to swing the doors above the surface of the driveway, how do you now prevent snow, water, critters, weather from getting in the shed? I must be missing the obvious here with this suggestion.

It seems to me that doing this solution would have the same net effect as cutting the bottom of the door now to clear the high spot and save a whole lot of effort and expense.

Cheers

Brian

 

[2manyrocks]

Another idea--saw out the raised section of blacktop, dig out the heaving with a post hole digger (manual type) and patch the blacktop.

Another option--cut a slit trench out, fill with drain rock. Go on with life.

Another option--as previously suggested heat it and try to tamp it down with a tamping bar.

 

[jimainiac]

Is there something on the shed floor now, that the door closes against? You could cut the inch off the bottom of the door and then make a bumper-threshold out of a 2x4 or 2x6. I've done that with a 2x6 and put a 45 degree bevel on the back side of it.