Building a RV Garage. What would you do?

B Eventually · 10-08-2015, 05:40 PM

My wife and I are planning to build a RV garage next year. We’re currently garageless, so this has been needed for a long time. A garage is also a prerequisite for getting any kind of RV. The rodents are legion up here.

Money is a factor, so it won’t be a timber framed barn like I’d prefer. However, we are in a position where we can afford traditional stick built construction, so we aren’t going the pole barn route.

If you were building a RV garage from scratch, what characteristics would you want beyond electrical hookups, water, sewer/septic access dumping? Space to work above and around the RV would also be useful.

We’re currently looking at something in the range of 30’ x 40’ (possibly 50’) with a 16’ ceiling and two doors. The doors would likely be 10’ x 14’ and a 12’ x 14’.

Since we have three kids and a large dog, long trips by B pulling our 13’ Scamp isn’t ideal (long trips will also be the minority of our use, addressed on forum here). Some day if we find ourselves wanting to work from the road long term with the whole family, we might get a used C or A. So we want to make sure our B will always have an indoor space to call home.

For those of you with garages for your Bs. What do you like/dislike and what would you do differently? For those of you in our garageless predicament, what would you do if you had the space and resources to build a home for your B?

markopolo · 10-08-2015, 05:58 PM

That's a BIG building. I'd love a garage like that - maybe not so tall - depending on how it looks in proportion to your house. Looks like 16' ceiling height.

Most B vans should slip under a 10' door. 11' ceiling height and 10' door limits me to B vans in my garage. No B+ / small C units will fit.

If I could build a garage again I go big enough to fit a small C / B+ type or maybe even big enough for a 30' to 34' Class A.

I just plug into 15 amps in the garage. That's plenty to cool down the fridge and maintain batteries etc. I use a macerator to dump to the septic tank with the van outside of the garage.

wincrasher · 10-08-2015, 10:26 PM

I've been thinking about building another garage at the house. One of the houses down the road had built this:

This is just about perfect - it's 24 x 36. There is a loft that is tall enought to stand up in and probably build an apartment or an activity room. Those doors are 12' tall!

This picture is from the spring. It's finished now. They ended up putting a stairway along the inside left wall and it turns and goes up to the loft. Best thing about this is it matches the architectural style of my house, so all I'd have to do is match the siding and paint it the same color.

I'd put a 30 amp plug and a sewer cleanout port in the garage floor for easy hookup for my van. I'd also put a ventilator in the wall for any fumes, as well as a floor drain and water hookup so you could do some cleanup in the winter months.

Bruceper · 10-09-2015, 02:58 AM

Sadly my garage doesn't have the height, but it's 24x28 with a 24x20 shed attached at the back. The shed will be magically converted to garage soon

It is currently heated with a diesel/oil furnace. Has 100 amp service, 240 volt plugs, alarm, cable tv, hardwired ethernet, fully insulated, dry walled, tons of fluorescent lights, big compressor and tools galore.

What I would wish for would be
One overhead door tall enough to get the B inside
One overhead door for car/truck access
One overhead door at the back for a car/truck to drive through
Air line in the walls so only a short line is needed for air tools rather than a long line from the compressor
Loft area for storage, or a mezzanine
Secondary heat source, perhaps a pellet stove
10,000 lb hoist

If you're gonna go big, might as well go all the way lol.

Applegater · 10-09-2015, 03:07 AM

One feature I used was a direct drive garage door opener that included a battery backup. That way I could open the door during power outages and position the motorhome to use the onboard generator for emergency power for our home.

pebbles · 10-09-2015, 05:05 AM

With a structure that significant on my property, I would consider future uses for prospective buyers, if I ever sold. For example, use as a barn, vehicle repair, gardener, etc. Or even future personal uses-art, woodworking. Just a thought

ptourin · 10-09-2015, 08:03 PM

Don't forget to flash walls high enough so the rodents don't cut through and move in...

B Eventually · 10-09-2015, 10:38 PM

@markopolo It certainly doesn’t feel big when I start mapping out what I’ll want to park inside. We have 5.5 acres so it’s really a small chunk of the space we have available. I’m hoping that the dual 14’ doors will minimize my regrets down the road. Who’s to say we won’t get the bus restoration bug like Technomadia? If we did something ambitious like that, I certainly wouldn’t want to get rid of my not-yet-purchased B for lack of garage space.

Plus I’m going to need a lot of space for the gym I have planned. I already have the massive weight lifting cage I picked up for a song from craigslist. It’s currently crushing my living room floor and crying out for a proper home.

@wincrasher That is an attractive design. With all your toys, you’d have to split your vehicles and trailers across the two garages, right? I don’t think we’ll have a loft on day 1, but I certainly see the value in one. I’m actually leaning towards timber framing a modular freestanding loft which will give me the flexibility to change things up as the vehicles and space needs change.

@Bruceper It sounds like your garage experiences a lot of use. I wish I had access to your shed magicians but my county spies on us from the sky, so I’ll have to stick to first building a big enough shell to provide for maximum flexibility down the road. We already heat our house with firewood so I’m planning to put in wood stove as the primary heat source. Our winters are fairly mild and I’ll be out there all of the time, so keeping the place warm enough shouldn’t be a problem. That air line in the wall idea is an interesting one. I wonder if there’s some kind of channel wall system I could run along the walls so wiring and plumbing changes could be done without ripping the walls open.

@Applegater That would be handy. Our power goes out a few times every winter. Trees and branches are always knocking the power out 4-12 hours at a time. Since the power is unreliable and we work from home, we’ve relied on a 2000 watt Honda for years. I’ll definitely keep that kind of a setup in mind when we spring for powered doors. I think we’ll initially be forgoing powered doors so we can go bigger.

@pebbles We’re not completely ignoring future uses (we’re going to install a separate power meter for instance), but we’re highly unlikely to move do to our unique situation. My parents are semi-retired on a parcel next door and my sister’s family is preparing to build on the final family parcel. Washington state would basically have to implode before we’d consider moving. Land like ours has also become increasingly rare due to onerous building restrictions and the state buying up undeveloped acreage around us, so it would be extremely difficult to “upgrade” to a new chunk of land even if family wasn’t in the picture.

@ptourin I have a friend in construction who’s going to be serving as our advocate/expert to make sure no corners are cut. We’ll definitely be consulting with him to confirm everything is sealed up tight before we insulate and add drywall.

Bruceper · 10-10-2015, 01:14 AM

Winter here can be -20 to -40. So some form of heat is mandatory if you want to do any work.

As for a channel system I don't think there's anything that would pass code. You could put piping/tubing in the walls to pass cable through. You wouldn't be able to use it for power.

The tubing to use for the air line would just be copper or steel pipe with ends fitted every 10 feet or so on three sides of the garage and ideally, one outside as well for use on the driveway.

avanti · 10-10-2015, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruceper

As for a channel system I don't think there's anything that would pass code. You could put piping/tubing in the walls to pass cable through. You wouldn't be able to use it for power.

What code issue do you have in mind? I don't see why you couldn't run power in such a channel. In the worst case, you could run conduit inside the channel. I have thought about boxing in the foot of a wall and having removable baseboards. Load-bearing walls would be tricky, though.

Applegater · 10-10-2015, 02:54 AM

One other thing to remember you can never have too much electricity. In our house I required 2 200amp boxes and in my shop another 200 amp box, so I could have both 110 and 220 circuits.

markopolo · 10-10-2015, 02:10 PM

I've used the inverter in the campervan to provide power to open the garage doors during a power outage.

We're not permitted to have a floor drain in the garage here.

110V 30A outlet is on the exterior of the house for RV visitors or if I ever get another larger RV.

booster · 10-10-2015, 02:34 PM

A lot of communities have height restrictions around here, often limiting to the height of the house, so big doors and high ceilings can be an issue.

We are seeing more variations of this style lately to conform to the height limitations while still getting a high door. They often have two or 3 separate areas, so would be good for the gym.

Some use straight gable, others stepped as shown, some do barn roof style, but all work really well for RV storage with better looks.

avanti · 10-10-2015, 02:38 PM

In a design like the above, one could imagine placating the Architectural Control Committee by hiding the top of the high center door with a hinged facia that flipped up when the door opens.

booster · 10-10-2015, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avanti

In a design like the above, one could imagine placating the Architectural Control Committee by hiding the top of the high center door with a hinged facia that flipped up when the door opens.

They do try things to tone down the big door sometimes, but not normally because the rules usually allow a plain door.

The best one I saw had everything laid out so the middle door was two door panels taller than the others and they put decorative windows in those two panels, with matching windows in the top panel of each of the other doors. It looked really, really, nice for an RV garage that could hold a 42' class A.

Ridenfun · 10-13-2015, 05:05 PM

If your going high enough to have a loft or small 2nd story, I'd leave an access hatch to I could get down onto the RV roof without having to use ladders etc. for cleaning, sealing etc.

B Eventually · 10-13-2015, 05:38 PM

We had a chance to test drive an Era 70X this weekend with the whole family (minus the dog). During the short test drive, it drove just like we imagined it would. When my wife, daughters, and son tried out the bed it had plenty of space for all four of them. Eventually our 16 mo son will get kicked out to sleeping across two seats. On long trips, I imagine I’ll eventually tire of the floor, so we might end up taking turns with floor duty. Once we remove the 2nd row seat near the door, the dog will fit too.

I was particularly excited to discover we *will not need* to pull our trailer for a long time. Scottbaldassari, you’re right that it’s difficult to beat a B, even for families!

Here’s are current running list of our garage characteristics split between Day 1 requirements and things we’d prefer to put off after we get our B.

Day 1:
* Tall enough to fit a full height Class A (just encase), even though we never envision wanting more than a small C / B+ type (and only going that big if we had to)
* Floor drain
* Ventilator in the wall for fumes (or possibly window + fan)
* Wood stove

After B:
* Fully insulated and drywalled
* A separate meter for *more power*
* 30 amp plug on the inside and outside
* A Loft / second story with a hatch/access to reach the top of the RV roof
* water hookup
* Powered garage doors

Not possible due to garage location:
* Septic cleanout port

RoadHogg · 11-13-2015, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruceper

The tubing to use for the air line would just be copper or steel pipe with ends fitted every 10 feet or so on three sides of the garage and ideally, one outside as well for use on the driveway.

I've done this. I used "Synflex" air line...that's what's used on semi trailers. It's cheap and the fittings are all compression, no special tools or skills needed to install.

Bruceper · 11-13-2015, 03:30 PM

Never heard of that stuff. I'll have to look into it thanks.

RoadHogg · 11-13-2015, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruceper

Never heard of that stuff. I'll have to look into it thanks.

Since you're in Winnipeg, you can get everything you need at Fort Gary Industries on Inkster just east of Rte 90. I'm not connected with them in anyway other than being an occasional customer.

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