Community Forums

tjweber · 03-17-2015, 06:52 PM

Hello, this is my first post. I am going to build a garage with space for a 30 ft class A. My architect says he may be able to only get me 10 feet (8 ft door) for the motorhome. I told him I need at least 11 feet if not 12 but it may not happen due to city requirements. Aside from my stopping at the local RV lot and physically measuring, my question is: when it is listed that the width of a class A is 101 inches, I am assuming that does not include the mirrors. Do any of the 30 ft Class A's come with mirrors that retract? Or should I assume I need 8 feet plus 2 feet for the mirrors as far as garage width. Thanks for your help.

tjweber · 03-17-2015, 06:56 PM

Sorry, I think the architect said he can do a 10 foot door which means a 30 ft Georgetown, for instance, might be 101 inches; including mirrors, I don't know if I would be able to pull it into the new garage!

Mr_D · 03-17-2015, 07:02 PM

Body itself is 101 or maybe 102 inches. That does NOT include awnings or mirrors.

palehorse89 · 03-17-2015, 07:03 PM

Legal road width today is 102", I would think all mirror's would adjust and fold in, if needed, I would not want to do this every time I parked my Coach and got it out. Can you do a 10 or 12' wide door? Make it the widest you can.........think into the future.........bigger, newer Coach someday?

Pigman1 · 03-17-2015, 07:11 PM

Sounds like you might be hitting municipal restrictions rather than construction ones? Regardless, build the largest unit you can afford. Whatever you do, accessing the basement, extending the slide(s) or doing any other insignificant things is going to be much easier with a wider (and perhaps) a longer area. We put our rig in a 42'x96' farm equipment building. Our former 40' Tiffin went in with 3" to spare after doors were closed and then DW saw the 43'. It took a 6' bump out to the back of the barn and some load bearing structure to replace a column. The moral is that you NEVER have enough room.

All that said, when we went to Alaska and rode the Alaskan ferries we had to bring the mirrors in to clear some of the tight areas we found aboard ship. By loosening the mirror pivot bolt and marking mirror position at the joint with a Sharpie, we were able to swing them in and back out without repeated tightening and loosening. Took a couple of tries to get the bolt tension right but no problems after that. We were on and off the ferries 6 separate times.

KarenS144 · 03-17-2015, 07:24 PM

We built our garage 4 years ago for our new 30' Class A with a 12' wide 13' high opening. The opening is still fine but we had to lengthen it last summer when we purchased our 34' coach. Save yourself some time and build the garage longer than you think you'll need or build it so it can be easily lengthened.

The 12' door allow us to get the coach in without having to fold the mirrors. The doors are bifold and slide out of the way & we have room in the garage to open the slides while parked inside which is nice.

jimmyjnr · 03-17-2015, 08:00 PM

All good advice , go as big as possible

Mr_D · 03-17-2015, 08:10 PM

When I first built the pad beside the house we had a 17' type B MH, then a 27' Type C, then a 35' Type A, then a 41' Type A DP and now a 45' Type A DP. The 45' is at Cummins with a blown engine, never even got it home to see if it'll fit in beside the house.

Dutch Star Don · 03-17-2015, 08:31 PM

With awnings, marker lights and rub rails, your width, without the mirrors will be closer to 105" - 106".

TdogKing · 03-17-2015, 08:45 PM

I just wonder why the City would care how wide the door openings is ? If it's engineered correctly it doesn't matter how wide it is. I would go to your building department and get their specs and codes for Garages.

ecurb74 · 03-17-2015, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TdogKing

I just wonder why the City would care how wide the door openings is ? If it's engineered correctly it doesn't matter how wide it is. I would go to your building department and get their specs and codes for Garages.

X2 on the above

While you're there see if you can apply for a variance to the zoning law. Don't know what would be involved where you live but here you get letters from neighbors declaring that they have no problem with your slightly oversized doors. They have a hearing after so many days and if no one shows up raising Cain then they issue the variance. Good luck!

JFXG · 03-17-2015, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TdogKing

I just wonder why the City would care how wide the door openings is ? .......

I don't think they care how wide the opening is, as long as there is a strong enough header spanning the overhead. I think it's the finished width that's the issue, and the framing of that will dictate the max door size. It sounds to me like OP is running up against the side or rear setback limits of the local zoning. A variance ought to be feasible, perhaps, but to be a practical parking shed, with room to walk around things, it sounds like it needs to be a full 6 to 8 feet wider than they're planning, and the OP never said how tight he is on the limits.

Scarab0088 · 03-17-2015, 10:05 PM

What does the city/village gov't say about 2 car garages...must be 2 separate doors!?

That just doesn't seem right.

Average modern Class A's are 102", like said above, with mirrors well beyond that.

Best luck

Hikerdogs · 03-18-2015, 07:00 AM

When we got our first motorhome we rented a garage with a 12' high 10' wide door. Even though the body was only 102" wide it was a real challenge to get the motorhome through the opening. The total width of our 2001 Adventurer was 9' 11 1/2" with the mirrors folded parallel to the body. That left 1/4' on each side when passing through the opening. You had to be dead on to avoid damaging one of the mirrors. Without folding in the mirrors the width was about 10' 6". You'll never get through a 10' door without folding in the mirrors.

We had to switch garages when we bought our 2013 Adventurer. It's the same width as the old one, but with roof air rather than the basement air the height is now 12' 8". The new garage has a 12' wide door that's 14' high. It's much easier to get in and out of without risking damage to the mirrors or awnings.