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kelleg69

How do you design a circle drive?

kelleg69
15 years ago

We have just decided we will investigate putting in a circle drive. If you have one, how did you decide width and shape? When looking at our house, the garage is on the right side. The driveway will go straight back to the garage. We are thinking of adding a a circle. Where should the arch start? Any thoughts?

Comments (11)

  • marthaelena
    15 years ago

    kelleg,
    If you can to post the floor plan (showing the lot, or at least you can give me de dim of the lot)
    I can help you.
    There are several factors to consider, depending of shape of house, size an shape of lot (or front yard) landscape possibilities, sidewalk, etc.

  • chisue
    15 years ago

    Are you in a municipality? Will they permit two cuts in the curbing? Do you have enough lot width for the drive to extend back far enough from the garage for cars to pull out and exit?

  • muddypond
    15 years ago

    By circle drive, do you mean a drive that starts at one point on the road and returns to another, or do you mean a drive the circles around and intersects itself before the road?

    In either event, keep in mind that any deviation from dead straight requires more drive width, if the vehicle is not to drive on, near, or off the edge. The longer the vehicle, the wider the curved part of the drive needs to be.

    Delivery truck drivers, such as UPS, love circular drives, since they allow them to proceed without having to back up. However, if the curved portion is not wide enough, they will drive over the edge.

    Any drive beyond a straight piece of concrete coming off of the street really needs to be designed with the idea of controlling how it can or will used in mind. Don't just think of how your family will use it. Think of how anyone who happens to come down it might use or misuse it.

  • lsst
    15 years ago

    When we were building and our front land had been graded and was just dirt, our builder used his truck and we "drove" a path over the dirt to make sure larger vehicles could drive the curves smoothly.
    We did this quite a few times so that we could see the tire tracks. Our driveway is 12 feet wide but at the curves we arched them to 16 feet wide.
    My builder used marking paint to mark out the whole driveway to scale based on the tire tracks.
    I am sure there may be a more scientific way to do it but it worked for us.
    Here is a photo of part of the driveway where the curve goes from 12 feet to 16 feet. Hope this helps...
    {{gwi:1398929}}

  • arch123
    15 years ago


    Here is our circular drive -

  • arch123
    15 years ago


    and the garage -

  • grandlaker
    15 years ago

    One of the biggest problems with a circle drive is not making it big enough to accomodate extended cab pickups (if you have friends or family that drive them) and UPS delivery trucks. If you are not careful, their rear wheels end up in your center flower bed.

    We have an oval "circle" drive (10' wide) with interior dimensions of 12 x 20 with a birdbath in the center and rock four rock walkways to the birdbath. That gives four planting areas. Don't forget to run power (at least two separate electrical wires) and sprinkler conduit before laying the concrete.

  • muddypond
    15 years ago

    I guess you are saying that the 10' foot circle drive that you have isn't wide enough. Personally, I don't think 10' is wide enough for any kind of drive, let alone one with a curve in it.

  • nc_lawn_nut
    15 years ago

    If you don't have a sizeable front yard, it will look tacky if you have a lot driveway in the front. I've seen a lot of houses where they put a circle driveway but don't really have a true parking area.

    muddypond is correct, 10 ft is not even close to wide enough for a functional circle driveway. I would go with 20 ft so cars can pass each other, easy parking, etc. If not, I would forgo the circle concept.

    I look at lsst's driveway and see my wife driving over the sprinkler heads already.

  • lsst
    15 years ago

    nc lawn nut,
    Not even the UPS or Larger cab trucks have driven over any sprinkler heads yet.LOL
    Our house is 125 feet off the road and as you head to the garage it widens enough to park 20 cars easily.
    Unfortunately, it took about 150 yards of concrete to create the driveway.