Garage for Class A

[Vulcanmars]

Planning for the future and meeting with an architect soon to layout a freestanding RV garage/apartment.
I found several plans online but most RV bays are just wide enough for RV with slides in. I would like to be able to open the slides as needed when stored. Anyone with real knowledge for how much room around the RV works well? I don't want to go too big as the budget is not unlimited...
TIA.

[Vulcanmars]

gsf35099 wrote:
I found drawings close to this & made a few mods.
The RV garage is 43Lx16Wx16H with full hook-ups (50amp). The other garage is 32Lx27Wx9H. The apartment above the garage is the 32x27 864sqft minus the stairs & 5x5 elevator.
I put drains in the floor & now looking at trying to add a pit in the RV garage (wish I would have thought of that in the first place).
The extended ramp to the RV garage helps with the 22" difference I had and does great.

That is very similar to our first plan. After meeting with the architect and engineer it seems our first draft exceeds are budget. Sill going with a garage and guest house but the RV storage will be more like a carport.

[2bzy2c]

I'll jump in here. I built a facility with 116 garages. Many of our units have 12' wide doors and all are 14' tall. While 12' seems reasonable, the vast majority would prefer 14' widths. By the time you account for mirrors and awnings, that 12' width shrinks quickly. Especially if you don't have a straight path into the garage.

From the standpoint of resale, don't build it any less than 50' depth. Those that can afford garages of this type, typically have 45' coaches. In reality, a 45' coach is more like 46'+ when you add bumpers, ladders etc.

[gsf35099]

I found drawings close to this & made a few mods.
The RV garage is 43Lx16Wx16H with full hook-ups (50amp). The other garage is 32Lx27Wx9H. The apartment above the garage is the 32x27 864sqft minus the stairs & 5x5 elevator.
I put drains in the floor & now looking at trying to add a pit in the RV garage (wish I would have thought of that in the first place).
The extended ramp to the RV garage helps with the 22" difference I had and does great.

[dcbrewer]

Isaac-1 wrote:
I store my 28 ft Class A in a metal shop building on the family farm, the building is a 40x60 with a partition wall down the middle making my half a 30x40 ft space with a 12x12 roll up door offset a bit so it is closer to the partition wall than the outside wall, the peak ceiling height is about 15.5 ft. In my case I have warehouse shelves along the outside wall to store other stuff (there is a forklift I can use on the farm to get heavy stuff down, just back the motorhome out drive the forklift in) This leaves an effective a space about 40 ft long by 22 wide for the motorhome, which I feel works well for my no slide 28 ft motorhome. It also gives me a little room to trade up, although less than you might think as I only have about an extra 4 ft on length and still maintain a the ability to comfortably walk all the way around the motorhome.

Can you do a taller door?? that is sad. Mine is on a little slope, but I had 40 ft from the street to make it work, and have a 14' high door. Hope you can get it worked out.

[msmith1199]

rockhillmanor wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
I'll just ad my obligatory statement of what happened to me when I had a super garage built for my MH. Something you need to keep in mind so it doesn't happen to you.

We measured the MH to the top of the ac unit. Measured and checked it twice and added for insurance. AND then told the contractor how tall of a door we needed.

Only thing was no one checked with the contractor of the building. Foundation was built up and they added a concrete pad to the entrance.

That small slope of the concrete pad leading to the garage was just enough to NOT allow my MH under the door on the approach. 😞

If you entry is completely flat your ok but if there is going to be any type of incline you have to account for that and make allowances when ordering the height of your door.

Mr. Rock,
What did you do to fix it?MM.

Sadly nothing could be done. The math to extend the concrete pad leading to the barn to make it accessible for the MH to level out was not doable.

I'm still curious about this too. I saw your photo but looks like it's been removed. What would the cost have been in removing the current door and selling it, or trading it in on a taller door, and the redoing the opening height? I realize that would be a lot of work, but wouldn't a taller door solve you problem?

[Vulcanmars]

Sadly nothing could be done. The math to extend the concrete pad leading to the barn to make it accessible for the MH to level out was not doable.

I have to ask, why not laydown 30ft of gravel in front of the door?

[Mr_Mark1]

rockhillmanor wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
I'll just ad my obligatory statement of what happened to me when I had a super garage built for my MH. Something you need to keep in mind so it doesn't happen to you.

We measured the MH to the top of the ac unit. Measured and checked it twice and added for insurance. AND then told the contractor how tall of a door we needed.

Only thing was no one checked with the contractor of the building. Foundation was built up and they added a concrete pad to the entrance.

That small slope of the concrete pad leading to the garage was just enough to NOT allow my MH under the door on the approach. 😞

If you entry is completely flat your ok but if there is going to be any type of incline you have to account for that and make allowances when ordering the height of your door.

Mr. Rock,
What did you do to fix it?MM.

Sadly nothing could be done. The math to extend the concrete pad leading to the barn to make it accessible for the MH to level out was not doable.

I can't imagine building a beautiful RV garage like you built and not being able to use it. How much would it have cost to adjust the entrance?

I guess I don't understand the significance of the slope being such and issue unless the margins were just too close.

I hope this eventually works out for you whether you change coaches, fix the garage or sell the property.

MM.

[dcbrewer]

Mine is 30x50, 14x14 door, 16'6" ceiling, 8 inch concrete floor, water, power. direct tv, sewer drops in 3 locations. Would not go under 14x14 door.

[rockhillmanor]

Mr.Mark wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
I'll just ad my obligatory statement of what happened to me when I had a super garage built for my MH. Something you need to keep in mind so it doesn't happen to you.

We measured the MH to the top of the ac unit. Measured and checked it twice and added for insurance. AND then told the contractor how tall of a door we needed.

Only thing was no one checked with the contractor of the building. Foundation was built up and they added a concrete pad to the entrance.

That small slope of the concrete pad leading to the garage was just enough to NOT allow my MH under the door on the approach. 😞

If you entry is completely flat your ok but if there is going to be any type of incline you have to account for that and make allowances when ordering the height of your door.

Mr. Rock,
What did you do to fix it?MM.

Sadly nothing could be done. The math to extend the concrete pad leading to the barn to make it accessible for the MH to level out was not doable.

[Vulcanmars]

All good info folks. I'll find a balance between bay size and cost. While I could bring it out to work on it, SFL summers are pretty wet and I plan to do all the routine maintenance as long as I can. (mechanic by trade)
When I moved to Naples years ago I could get a permit with a drawing on a napkin. You need stamped engineered plans before they will talk to you now. And then there is the fire marshal...
Architect is a friend of the family, hopefully he will be gentle.

[Jim_Norman]

If you have the floor raised above grade it is true a steep approach can make it so the coach will hit the door as you go up the incline. Simple solution is to make the ramp much longer thus flattening the angle. You can draw this out to scale easy enough. Do keep in mind that pulling in and backing in will create different situations due to overhang.

My dream garage would/will have a 20 foot ceiling with a high lift door and a safety track to clip in a harness for working on the roof. I had not thought of a pit myself, not sure if I'll plan that in or not, depends on time frame, the older I get, the less likely I'll do any heavy maintenance. In the end, my 'Garage' might wind up being a shed with canvas sides.

[Ivylog]

Being able to use the MH in place and with the slides out increase his usable space by 50 percent... 800 sqft apartment.
I would probably make the MH bay 20' longer so you can have a 20' porch in front of the apartment. The extra 20' would let you park a car inside too.

Not sure why you need an architect but then it is Fla. A good draftsman that knows your county is all you should need for 1/10th the cost.

[msmith1199]

Obviously if you have the money and the room you should build a garage big enough to store a 747 just in case you ever buy one. If money is an object the consider things like do you really need a 22 foot wide garage? Do you really need to open your slides while it's in storage? Your profile says you live in Florida. How hard is it to pull the RV out to work on it and open slides? Is it so hard that it will make the thousands upon thousands of dollars in extra expense worth it?

I currently keep my RV in an indoor storage unit. I think my unit is 14 foot wide by 42 feet long. I back the RV in and put it right up against one wall because I have a bunch of personal items in boxes store against the other wall and I store stuff behind the RV too. So I do have room on side to walk up and down between the boxes and RV and I can't walk around the other side. So if I need to open the slides I just start the RV and pull it out. Sure it would be nice to have all that extra space, but for me it wouldn't really be worth the money unless I needed all that extra space for other storage. If I were building a building that was only intended for RV storage, I'd personally make it big enough to fit the RV with enough room on the sides so I can get to things like the battery compartment and the tires in case they go flat in storage, but other than that I don't think I'd waste the money just to have space to work on it and open slides. I'll just pull it out in the driveway to do that.

[Ivylog]

16 X 50 is 800.