Contents
Do you have expensive curbing installed and you want to take some extra steps to protect them from damage caused by bad parking? Or maybe you just want a lazy way to park your car without looking too much at how near to obstacles you are?
Whatever the reason is, I’ve gathered some common parking block information here. From dimensions of the blocks to distances they should be installed. I’ve also included precast concrete wheel stops and also how to make them yourself.
What are wheel stops commonly used for? They are for protecting the property from your vehicle and your vehicle from property alike. For that reason, these need to be installed properly so they serve the way they are meant to.
It’s important to notice that you can do almost whatever you want on your own property, but if you’re placing these on public spots, you really need to check local building guidelines for how to place them so that they are not a hazard.
Read on to know which is the best option for your own vehicle wheel stops.
Concrete wheel stop dimensions
The hard part with this sort of protection is that the wheel stops should be the proper size that they won’t damage the cars. So they need to be certain width and height.
When it comes to wheel stopper details, they are not build to be rectangle blocks but have beveled edges. It makes for a smoother stop for the car and you won’t damage your tires on them if you have too much speed.
When it comes to wheel stopper standard size, the height is usually something like 6 inches minimum and width is the same when you look from the side.
Parking lots are usually 8.5-9 feet wide in the United States so the length of the wheel stops should be a little under that. I’ve seen some that are sold 60 inches long so it would be 2 for 1 car.
Both sides of the car should have enough space to walk without tripping hazard.
There is usually a wheel stopper requirement in parking lots to define the parking area and to protect the surroundings like curbing that is there for landscape decoration.
Car park wheel stops distance
I guess the hard part for us common people is to estimate the distance that is required for the wheel stop. I mean, pretty much all cars a little bit different distance from the front bumper to front wheels.
On our own property, we can just measure from our car and leave some breathing space between our car and obstacles. Just remember the measure from the front and back bumper and take the longest distance.
For public spaces, it’s the local regulations again. Around the world, things like these are stated somewhere so that we don’t see parking lots where they are placed a little bit here and there.
It’s important that parking wheel stop placement doesn’t create any hazards for the people, but also that they don’t cause damage to the cars or badly placed to the properties like walls.
It’s hard to see it happening when I write this, but I can imagine that seeing that there is a wheel stop, someone would blindly trust that it’s placed properly and not watch the bumper distance.
When the wheel stop regulations are brought up, that is one of the things I’m often wondering. I see it a lot easier to place things like curbing low enough that they don’t damage the cars. They would be acting as wheel stops then, but the problem here is damaging curbing.
Precast concrete wheel stops
I’m seeing two pretty good options here. One is precast concrete wheel stops and the other one is the rubber ones that I’ve seen being sold.
When it comes to precast concrete wheel stops price, it seems to be different and can be up from something like $50 and it can even triple in price when you look around.
If it starts to seem like too much, think of the time it would take you to make one and add the material cost to that. If it feels like something you should do after that, it’s time to hop to the next part of this article.
When it comes to rubber parking blocks, they are also around $50 and up from that. From the pictures, these do seem like a nice option if you don’t want precast concrete or to DIY. Most come in nice black color so these could blend in asphalt pretty well.
Personally, I would consider rubber wheel stops for garage as those are in much gentler use than outside driveways. It could also look nice on coated floor.
So where to buy concrete wheel stops or rubber ones? You have to search for your local hardware store or look if these can be ordered online.
Most of the hardware can be ordered to your door these days so it shouldn’t be a problem if you’re willing to pay. And of course, you can go and pick them up from the store once you find them.
How to make concrete parking stops
Concrete parking stops installation cost highly depend on the material you’re using. If you order a precast or rubber wheel stop and have it installed it will cost the material and the labor to install it.
I’d assume that the guys send the bill by hours and even if it would take them only 10 minutes they would bill for an hour. Not going to get any meals to the table otherwise.
Concrete parking stops installation isn’t hard if you own a simple hammer drill and masonry drill bit for it. The precasts and rubber ones have holes in them ready-made so all you need to do is to mark them on the asphalt or concrete and drill them.
If you’re installing to concrete there is option to use long bolts and metal anchors for attaching it or using threaded metal rod, chemical anchor mass and nuts.
If you want to install parking blocks with bolts and metal anchors it’s a good choice as you can easily remove them. You drill the hole that the anchor fits tightly and then place the parking block on top of it and screw the bolt through the block and into the anchor. When you twist it tight, it won’t be going anywhere.
For chemical anchors you need to drill the hole, size of the threaded metal rod, then vacuum it clean of dust. You place the chemical anchor mass into the hole, then the parking block on top of it, and push the threaded rod into the hole, through the parking block.
Then you leave it to cure for some time, what it says on the manufacturer label, and afterward, you turn the nuts tightly in place. It’s important for the chemical anchor mass to cure as it will come off otherwise when you tighten the nut.
No matter if it’s a concrete wheel stopper or a rubber one, it should be attached well. I favor things I can remove easily, but a threaded rod isn’t that hard to get off. You just need to cut it with an angle grinder and masonry blade and patch the hole like you would do with the bolt attachment as well.
How to install wheel stops
Now it’s time for my favorite one, DIY parking stop. The beauty of this is that if its attached to concrete driveway, you can make the form on the concrete itself.
If you want to do it separately, you need to make separate forms for the wheel stops.
Separate form for concrete wheel stop
Step 1: Take the dimensions you like, like 6x6x60, and make a form for it. You can use plywood or anything else really, just pick something with a smooth surface. You can do the beveled edges if you make the small end pieces of the form in the shape you want and then use straight long rectangle pieces for the sides.
Step 2: Put a rebar rod two next to the form that is almost the length of the form.
Step 3: Mix ready mix concrete and pour it in the form. First a little on the bottom and tamp it there with the trowel. Then lay the rebar rod or two on top of it and fill it with concrete to the top of the form.
Give it some knocks on the side with hammer so the air can escape. You can know for a minute or two. And then screed the top level
Step 4: Let it cure for a day and remove the forms. You can drill holes in it for the attachment with hammer drill and masonry bit while it’s still not strong.
The alternative is to drill some holes into the form and place small tubes in it so you have holes on the pour itself. Something like an electric cable tube is ideal for these.
Step 5: After a week, you can install these like the precast wheel stops. Then it’s ¾ of the max strength like concrete slab would be.
Cast in place concrete wheel stop
Step 1: Measure parking wheel stop distance from wall. After that mark them on the driveway.
Step 2: I really want to do these with the chemical anchors as it’s cast in place. Drill the holes, vacuum the holes and place the chemical anchor mass in them. Then push the threaded metal rods in them or rebar.
Measure them so that they won’t come over the form. Ideally, they will be 1 inch shorter than the height of the form. This way they won’t rust through the concrete so fast.
Step 3: After the chemical anchor mass has cured, it’s time to tie the long rebar on the anchored rebar. Make sure it’s shorter than the form you’re planning.
Step 4: For the forms, you can but the bevel in a plank of your choice with a table saw, or build it from plywood.
If you do it with the plank and table saw method, you might consider placing 2 planks on top of each other and cutting the bevel in the top one. It would be my cheap method to do this with leftover wood as I’d not like to buy a more expensive concrete mold.
You can use self-drilling concrete bolts on the concrete if you have good tools or drill a hole through the plank and use concrete bolts to attach it to the ground. Then screw the bevel plank onto it.
After that close the ends so the pour stays in.
Step 5: pour the concrete and give it some vibration with hits etc. After 24 hours, remove the forms around it and fix the possible holes in the concrete from the forms.
If you hate the idea of holes in concrete, you can use weights to hold the forms in place. Just have to be careful that they aren’t moved in the first 6-8 hours.
How to remove concrete parking block
The last part will be short, but so is the methods. Sometimes we need to remove the parking blocks.
How to remove concrete parking bumpers depends on the way they are attached. If they are poured in place and no attachment is seen, you need to get a hammer drill or something heavier and break them away.
How to move concrete parking stops that are attached with nuts or bolts is much easier. You just need to remove them and the concrete parking stop can be moved away as it’s most likely a precast.
Conclusion
You should have a rough image now of how to install concrete wheel stops and even how to make some yourself. Like always, what I’ve written here is only one way and it’s the one that seemed easiest to me at the moment.
From all of these, for precast and rubber I prefer metal anchors and bolts. If looking for permanent placement, then it’s chemical anchors.
Other than that, good measuring and taking notice of the landscape shape would be good. I’d not install these on an uneven surfaces for example.
If you’re planning wheel stops on the parking lot, check this parking lot cleaning guide if it can give you ideas how they won’t make cleaning any harder.
