Driveway Arch

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The first is by far the hardest. It gets easier.


While I'm here, I ought to share what also did not work for me: trying to permanently bend the PVC. They sell these benders which work really well on 1/2" and 3/4" (and I have some), but the only ones I found that work on 1 1/4" and up start at $300. I'm not plunking down that money for something where there's no guarantees it'll work. So then I tried to follow these Youtube videos which involve heating up sand to 400 degrees, but that failed miserably. If I could only get the PVC to want to remain in a permanent arch position, that would be so much stronger. I'd probably dump all the guy lines, and rely only on a truss at the bases. But alas, I never could get the bending to work. I wish even more that I could do the same for PEX.

The best I do now is form my initial arches in the heat of the summer, after the PVC has baked in the sun. The PVC has at least a little memory of its arch position then. Just enough to take that stress off the couplers.