Recommendations for RV Garage?

alliemac9 wrote:
....@SolidAxleDurango - We also plan to have a drive-thru garage, with doors on front and back, as this building will straddle a crushed asphalt driveway that goes from the front to the back of our house. Ours will be much narrower than yours, however...

Currently leaning toward 12x14' insulated doors with 16' interior height. Still contemplating the length and width. Some of that decision may be based on site considerations: setbacks, a ditch easement we need to work around, etc.

Anyone have any pricing thoughts? Cost/sq. ft. ranges? Right now I'm mentally in the 20x40' ballpark, but need to draw it up and use a tape outside to see how it fits my vision. An added cost is that we'd prefer to match the exterior of the house, so we'd probably do stucco/stone instead of a steel building. I'm afraid to find out how much that will add...

This layout planner works pretty dang well.... Free and if you sign up for an account, you can save your ideas... Export them to JPG (like I did above).... And they don't spam you in any way.

http://www.cbstructuresinc.com/layout-planner

My only immediate though about your plan is for the future RV... Or for resale... Soooo many RVs are in the 40' range that at a minimum, I'd make the shop 45' or 50' long.

The electrical part is where I had my only cost overrun. I didn't allow for digging a trench for the conduit from my power source to my new garage and it cost me $$$. Also the lighting system I got was more expensive than I was told.

Mine is 22x40 with double 11 foot doors that open to each side. The overhead clearance is 14 ft with a peak of 17ft. The floor is a 8 inches of cement over sand and has a 3 inch drop in the 40 ft for drainage. The floor extends 30 feet past the doors giving me a 30 ft slab for washing the fiver and truck. I have 50 amp service. I do have a refer and all my shop equipment in there, but if I had to do it over I would go a little wider. I have portable heat, but very seldom turn it on and I have never winterized due to our climate. In my honest opinion I would go as big as you can afford. Good luck on your project.

RT

Wow! Love seeing more replies - even with pictures!!

@NRALIFR - Thanks for the link to your thread, I'm now subscribed! I was trying to search the forum for posts about RV Garages, but those words pulled up so many hits that I couldn't find relevant ones.

@SolidAxleDurango - We also plan to have a drive-thru garage, with doors on front and back, as this building will straddle a crushed asphalt driveway that goes from the front to the back of our house. Ours will be much narrower than yours, however...

Currently leaning toward 12x14' insulated doors with 16' interior height. Still contemplating the length and width. Some of that decision may be based on site considerations: setbacks, a ditch easement we need to work around, etc.

Anyone have any pricing thoughts? Cost/sq. ft. ranges? Right now I'm mentally in the 20x40' ballpark, but need to draw it up and use a tape outside to see how it fits my vision. An added cost is that we'd prefer to match the exterior of the house, so we'd probably do stucco/stone instead of a steel building. I'm afraid to find out how much that will add...

I'd like to save costs where possible, without kicking myself in the future (if possible). To that extent, here's my thought on some of the suggestions that have been mentioned that I'm currently NOT planning to include:

-Floor Drain/Water: Our layout is actually really similar to NRALIFR's. If you look at his "Existing South Elevation", it looks a lot like the front elevation of our house. We have an oversized three bay garage (1500 sq ft - fits four+ cars - our RV would fit if we had a taller door...but the house was built before the RV was in the picture and I'm not interested in the remodel route) where his two car garage is/was. Then it slopes over to a secondary driveway going around the right side of the house. We'd put a narrow RV garage there, just like his drawing (thanks NRALIFR for the visual aid!). We have a large driveway in front of the existing garage which has hot/cold taps, a work sink, etc. Washing the RV there isn't a problem, so I don't see the need to include water/drains at the new structure. And, if in future someone had a bigger RV that couldn't maneuver in and out of our main driveway (it does have a hammerhead per county requirements for firetrucks to turn around), a hose would reach down to the other garage and our dry Colorado ground would love the moisture (assuming no harsh chemicals are used).

-Dump Station: We already have access to one off our existing driveway. Again, a giant RV or long 5'er may not be able to make use of it as well (works best with waste valves near back of RV), but we don't really want to go giant and knowing where the sewer line is, adding a dump station at the garage would not be a simple (or cheap) undertaking.

Anyone see a flaw in my logic on those couple items?

I'm currently building my "dream" garage, but we're still in the destruction phase.

A couple of things we've encountered that's adding to the expense of mine are:

1- The electric service to the house runs under where I want to build. This was known beforehand, but the difficulty and expense of fixing it is much higher than anticipated.

2- The field lines for my septic system are also under where I want to build. This was unexpected, as the previous owners couldn't tell us where they were, and there were no signs above ground indicating their location. More expense, more trenching of the property.

Some might say that this is more of a bad dream, but we'll get through it eventually. I'm taking the paperwork to the health dept. this morning that once signed, will allow us to start on the new drain field. We're also on the electric company's schedule to get the service switched over to the new line.

Hopefully, we'll get to start building the garage soon! :B

:):)

Oh.... This past winter wasn't too terribly cold here... Interior of shop never got below 40*F despite many lows below freezing (some mornings down to low teens).

40x50 shop plus 12' porch along 50' wall.

2, 12'w x 14'h doors - RV drive through.

1, 16'w x 8'h 2-car garage door.

Insulated (not heated or cooled), 200 amp service (separate meter from home).

I'm just finishing up building my "dream" garage. Started last summer and just today started finishing the ceiling. Here's my story and I hope some of it is uselful for you. Mine is a biggie; 30'Wx45'Lx14'H. I built it to hold my 30' C on one side and my restored Tbird and Corvette on the other. I park my golf kart in front of the rv. In between the rv and the cars I had room to build a 16' long train table for my grandson and still am able to open both slideouts. I also built a workbench across the back wall. The door is 12'H and insulated with an electric motor. I put spray insulation on the walls and will also spray the ceiling when finished. I installed one walk-in door and no windows. I have no AC but will install two large ceiling fans and install radiant heaters before winter. Thirty year guaranteed roof shingles. I installed 6 very powerful fluorescent fixtures that hold 6 lamps each. I had to do some landscaping to level the ground and luckily had an old stone wall and several large rocks to help do the fill. Obviously my floor is very thick but if your site is level and you pour a 5" floor, you can park an Abrams tank on it. Installed drain in center of floor of course. Used 6" instead of 4" lumber for the frame for added strength and braced at intervals between 24" offset. It gets a lot colder where you are than where I live so I won't advise on how to heat your garage. Install a big enough electrical box so you'll have more than enough space for breakers. I placed outlets every 6' across the back wall near the work bench and every 10' down both sides. I have a big old refrigerator by the front door to keep drinks and snacks so I don't have to walk to the house (almost 50' away!). I put in one 30AMP plug for charging rv batts. You may want to consider installing heavy gauge outlets for other considerations; 220 portable heater, vehicle lift, maybe a compressor, etc. Be sure to get everything in writing before you committ to any construction unless your're doing it yourself of course. Some builders and their associates will think they have a better plan than yours and may suggest "subtle" alterations that can add thousands to your costs. Before any materiels are ordered be sure you know what they are, where you're going to unload them and how much you're paying for them. You'll have to store your materiel outside so buy insurance on those materiels that will lapse when the project is completed. I wish you luck. We travel out west frequently and I have often told DW if I had my choice (and we could afford it), we'd have a house in Colorado.

SRT wrote:
From personal experience the concrete slab should have mesh embedded for extra strength. The slab should be at least 20'x50' with one coarse of concrete blocks around the edges. A 12' wide by 14' high door should allow adequate clearance. The garage should be wired for at least 30 amp and if you can have it plumbed for sewer. I just put in one of those water inlets through the wall to hook the hose up to it. Then a short hose to the MH.

I'd go with a 50 amp connection (100 amps total on both legs.) That way, the 30 amp can be in use, and there is still headroom left over for some power tools or a few space heaters.

I would plan at least +16' on the RV Width so I couls extend slide outs on both sides if I upgraded to something that had that feature. That would give me approx 4' slideout and 4' walk around space Between the wall and the slideout. Would be plenty to wash with a 6' handle brush if needed.

Drain in floor, 20/30/50 amp pedastal along with water hookup and sewer hookup to dump at home once I backed in. Additional spigot to hook pressure washer or hose to.

Would use a residential furnace to heat. Insulate well and it won't cost you much.