Finally building an RV Garage at the house

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rockhillmanor wrote:
My land was flat also. After the foundation went it there was a slight rise to the concrete floor like in any construction. I even had a second door installed out the back so I could just pull in and pull right out thru the back.

They filled in landscaped and the concrete pad to the building looked flat as did the ribbon to it.

My door had plenty of clearance measured to my MH sitting on flat concrete in the front driveway. But its a math problem slightly raise the front end x amount x height somehow increases exponentially made mine a real looser for me.

And by god it was only an inch+ that prevented the ac unit from clearing the top of the door.

Here's the warm expensive heated home I planned for my RV that she NEVER was able to park in during the cold winters of the North.

Simple solution for the problem, not cheap but the builder should eat the cost. Anyway, re-pour the ramp, have it flat in front of the door for a distance equal to the vehicle length, then the incline. Now the rv will no longer be on an incline at the door.

We were thinking about a carport for our DP but have decided not to....gonna sell the place and travel in three years. We don't enjoy the work involved taking care of so much anymore. Ready to have the rv and no more. Wish we could do it now.

rockhillmanor wrote:
My land was flat also. After the foundation went it there was a slight rise to the concrete floor like in any construction. I even had a second door installed out the back so I could just pull in and pull right out thru the back.

They filled in landscaped and the concrete pad to the building looked flat as did the ribbon to it.

My door had plenty of clearance measured to my MH sitting on flat concrete in the front driveway. But its a math problem slightly raise the front end x amount x height somehow increases exponentially made mine a real looser for me.

And by god it was only an inch+ that prevented the ac unit from clearing the top of the door.

Here's the warm expensive heated home I planned for my RV that she NEVER was able to park in during the cold winters of the North.

We were limited in the height of ours by the fact we were scabbing on to the roof of my stick built/bricked shop that was already there so it would look like one building. To meet code we needed at least a 12/4 pitched roof so the best I could squeeze out was a 13 foot tall door. Our 12'6" high motorhome was no problem. When we changed to the Excel 3 years ago I checked and rechecked the height which was listed as 12'8". We ordered it with a bedroom air and when we got it home for the first time that a/c would not let it go inside. The dynamics of the concrete tilt was probably part of the reason, plus the height I had the hitch set, etc. Bottom line was I could not make it work. I did manage to revise the trim above the door and gained about an inch but that still was not enough.

I called Excel and they came up with the solution of putting a lower profile a/c in the bedroom. The one that came with it was a low profile Coleman at 11 1/4" but Coleman had just come out with a lower one at 8 1/4". All I had to pay was the difference between the cost of the 2 units as the taller one was just an a/c and the shorter one was a heat pump. I don't have a lot of room to spare but it fits.

Not sure if it would help you to see if there is a lower profile a/c.

musicman54 wrote:
post some pictures. you tease us with a new garage and dont post pic that hurts

x2

Looks like a wonderful building, sorry about the height problem. Any chance you could raise the ramp a bit outside so that you have no tilt up when entering the garage? Or, could you let enough air out of the tires to get inside and then fill them back up until you want to take it out? What a terrible dilemma?

rockhillmanor wrote:
My land was flat also. After the foundation went it there was a slight rise to the concrete floor like in any construction. I even had a second door installed out the back so I could just pull in and pull right out thru the back.

They filled in landscaped and the concrete pad to the building looked flat as did the ribbon to it.

My door had plenty of clearance measured to my MH sitting on flat concrete in the front driveway. But its a math problem slightly raise the front end x amount x height somehow increases exponentially made mine a real looser for me.

And by god it was only an inch+ that prevented the ac unit from clearing the top of the door.

Here's the warm expensive heated home I planned for my RV that she NEVER was able to park in during the cold winters of the North.

Wow! That would really suck!!! Nice building though. Is there anyway you can reconstruct to change the door size to be taller?

My land was flat also. After the foundation went it there was a slight rise to the concrete floor like in any construction. I even had a second door installed out the back so I could just pull in and pull right out thru the back.

They filled in landscaped and the concrete pad to the building looked flat as did the ribbon to it.

My door had plenty of clearance measured to my MH sitting on flat concrete in the front driveway. But its a math problem slightly raise the front end x amount x height somehow increases exponentially made mine a real looser for me.

And by god it was only an inch+ that prevented the ac unit from clearing the top of the door.

Here's the warm expensive heated home I planned for my RV that she NEVER was able to park in during the cold winters of the North.

Dayle1 wrote:

We lived in our RV for 3-1/2 months inside the RV garage while getting the house finished. It might have been a lot longer except we had so much assistance with the reconstruction. One thing I did for more light was to add some Lexan side panels on the south and east sides. I didn't want skylights, too much heat during the summer. But since the sidewalls are 15 ft tall, I used 8 ft steel panels at the bottom and the Lexan panels at the top, this gave us light (but no direct view from inside or outside) and security. Most of the time I don't need to turn on the lights in the RV garage or inside the RV while packing or unpacking.

Great idea but we are planning to fully insulate the building. You definitely have me thinking though. Never thought about natural light in the garage. We will have windows in the shop area but it is closed off to the garage. The garage will only have one roll up door and 3 walk thru doors. One walk thru door will enter garage from porch area of shop, one will crossover to shop area and one will open in the back for cross ventilation when needed. The porch area on this building is not really a porch but actually a drive up area to keep from getting wet when raining. It's not very deep (only 15') but is is not intended to be used as a carport but rather a brief spot for loading/unloading groceries and a way to keep rain out of shop when doors are up.

rockhillmanor wrote:
I'll just add my obligatory 'warning' story about my own building of a garage just for the RV.

Long story short had a custom built building erected. Had the construction crew measure and measure again the height of the RV making sure they knew to include the AC unit. To make SURE they ordered a door high enough to accommodate the RV. The door was ordered and it was indeed taller than the height of my RV.

The door height was fine "BUT" the ever so slight incline of the concrete ribbon 'to' the front of the door was just enough too high that my RV when riding up the incline PREVENTED it from entering my brand new $$$$$ built, just for the RV garage, from being able to go inside. :(:(

Soo, be aware of any incline of the entrance to your new building not just the height of the door.

Thanks for the tip but hopefully it shouldn't apply here. Our land is fairly flat, the door is 14' tall and our unit is only 12'6" from ground to top of bedroom AC (highest point).