I'm building a new 30'W by 35'L garage for my truck camper. The driveway slopes down from the road and levels off before it enters the garage. The poured the slab today and they decided the floor needed to slope 5 1/2" from the back to the front door in case any water got in the garage. I'm trying to decide if this is going to be a real problem for loading the camper on the truck. I plan to keep the camper toward the front of the garage. I don't think the slope is going to be a major problem but would appreciate any feedback on loading with this slope.Thanks

That number you state (assuming the slope is in the 35' direction) equates to a 1/8" per foot slope. This is appropriate for a garage.

That'll only be a couple of inches across the wheelbase of your truck. You probably won't even be able to tell.

How about a drain across the drive way just before the garage ?Open grate style.

How about a drain across the drive way just before the garage ?Open grate style.That really would not alleviate any water accumulation inside on the flatwork. It really needs to be sheet drained or sloped to an internal drain.@OP- another thing to consider is your location and will the water freeze. Up here in the High Country, we no longer specify or design sheet draining as you are doing because of water accumulation at the door which will freeze and build up over time (even with a heated garage.) We predominantly instruct our plumbing engineers to incorporate an internal, centrally located floor drain with heat trace.

NEOK wrote:I'm building a new 30'W by 35'L garage for my truck camper. The driveway slopes down from the road and levels off before it enters the garage. They poured the slab today and they decided the floor needed to slope 5 1/2" from the back to the front door in case any water got in the garage. I'm trying to decide if this is going to be a real problem for loading the camper on the truck. I plan to keep the camper toward the front of the garage. I don't think the slope is going to be a major problem but would appreciate any feedback on loading with this slope.ThanksI read where you said, "They poured the slab today and they decided the floor needed to slope 5 1/2" from the back to the front door in case any water got in the garage"So it is unlikely that any answer but what you ask will make any difference,,,I think that you won't have any problem loading or unloading your TC... that's exactly the slope of my drive way and my carport.My TC is about 5" higher with fully extended jacks than the highest point of my unloaded truck bed. Thats a lot of wiggle room.Congratulations on your project... take pictures and share with us please.Sleepy

Help with RV Garage Floor | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

trail-explorer
Explorer
Sep 09, 2013
steve68steve wrote:
I think you're talking about an inch and a half over the length of the camper (jack to jack). I don't think you'll even be able to DETECT the slope.

If you're super fastidious, stack two squares of 3/4" plywood under the downslope jack feet.

Place a square under each foot, so as to not mar up the nice new floor surface! Place two or three under the down sloped jacks.
steve68steve
Explorer
Sep 08, 2013
I think you're talking about an inch and a half over the length of the camper (jack to jack). I don't think you'll even be able to DETECT the slope.

If you're super fastidious, stack two squares of 3/4" plywood under the downslope jack feet.
GoinThisAway
Explorer
Sep 07, 2013
At home I unload the camper on the gravel drive and have found that a little slope fore and aft is easier to deal with than a side to side slope. I've also found that its easier if I'm backing flat or into a dip than if the ground crests just in front of the camper. If the latter is the case the end of the truck bed is pointing up when it gets to the front of the camper so you have to raise the camper higher. I think your slope into a slight dip at the front of the camper is good.
NEOK
Explorer
Sep 07, 2013
I think I just had a moment of panic when I saw it. After that panic I realized I've loaded and unload on worse slopes and that it really won't be much of a height difference between the front and back of the truck.

I will try to post some pictures when it is finished. My plan is to keep the TC on one side and our boat on the other half. I'm looking forward to being able to store the camper inside. Living in northeast Oklahoma we get a lot of sun and heat on the camper when it's sitting outside.

Thanks to all of you who replied.

NEOK
d3500ram
Explorer III
Sep 06, 2013
dadwolf2 wrote:
I was wondering why you are getting accumulated water in the garage in the first place? Seems to me you could possibly incorporate both ideas. Make the floor primarily level with a centrally located floor drain and use open grated drain at the front?

But we only get 4" annual rain with very infrequent freezing so I'm no expert here!!

Most of the moisture up here is a result of driving in snow which accumulates on and under vehicles. It then melts inside. A co-worker did his garage with sheet drain to the garage door (a nice wood garage door) and it is wrecking havoc on the bottom rail. He is now kicking himself for not putting in a center sloped drain.

But yes, the best of all worlds is a french drain in front with centered drain with 1/8" sloped flatwork towards it.
CAJW
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
NEOK, I unload with more slope than that on a regular basis with no problems. My parking area currently is crushed limestone on a "semi" level surface. Your corner jacks will allow you to compensate for any unevenness and I don't believe you'll have any issues. As Sleepy said, post up some photos of your garage as many of us are doing something similar and can always use ideas. I'm hoping to get my 20X30 up before the rains hit.
dadwolf2
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
d3500ram wrote:
How about a drain across the drive way just before the garage ?
Open grate style.

That really would not alleviate any water accumulation inside on the flatwork. It really needs to be sheet drained or sloped to an internal drain.

@OP- another thing to consider is your location and will the water freeze. Up here in the High Country, we no longer specify or design sheet draining as you are doing because of water accumulation at the door which will freeze and build up over time (even with a heated garage.) We predominantly instruct our plumbing engineers to incorporate an internal, centrally located floor drain with heat trace.

I was wondering why you are getting accumulated water in the garage in the first place? Seems to me you could possibly incorporate both ideas. Make the floor primarily level with a centrally located floor drain and use open grated drain at the front?

But we only get 4" annual rain with very infrequent freezing so I'm no expert here!!
sleepy
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
NEOK wrote:
I'm building a new 30'W by 35'L garage for my truck camper. The driveway slopes down from the road and levels off before it enters the garage. They poured the slab today and they decided the floor needed to slope 5 1/2" from the back to the front door in case any water got in the garage. I'm trying to decide if this is going to be a real problem for loading the camper on the truck. I plan to keep the camper toward the front of the garage. I don't think the slope is going to be a major problem but would appreciate any feedback on loading with this slope.

Thanks

I read where you said, "They poured the slab today and they decided the floor needed to slope 5 1/2" from the back to the front door in case any water got in the garage"

So it is unlikely that any answer but what you ask will make any difference,,,

I think that you won't have any problem loading or unloading your TC... that's exactly the slope of my drive way and my carport.

My TC is about 5" higher with fully extended jacks than the highest point of my unloaded truck bed. Thats a lot of wiggle room.

Congratulations on your project... take pictures and share with us please.

Sleepy
d3500ram
Explorer III
Sep 06, 2013
How about a drain across the drive way just before the garage ?
Open grate style.

That really would not alleviate any water accumulation inside on the flatwork. It really needs to be sheet drained or sloped to an internal drain.

@OP- another thing to consider is your location and will the water freeze. Up here in the High Country, we no longer specify or design sheet draining as you are doing because of water accumulation at the door which will freeze and build up over time (even with a heated garage.) We predominantly instruct our plumbing engineers to incorporate an internal, centrally located floor drain with heat trace.
rvten
Explorer
Sep 06, 2013
How about a drain across the drive way just before the garage ?
Open grate style.