Building A New RV Garage Questions

[rsparks64]

If you want some more information, you might check the website "https://www.garagejournal.com/", The Garage Journal. Their Forums section has many topics and can be quite useful for all size garages and shops, electrical, lighting, heating, flooring, etc. I find it quite useful for many things.

[NeverGrowUp]

I built a 40 by 48 by 16 for mine. I have an 18' wide door and find that it is not wide enough to pull my toad or truck in beside it when the slides are out. Go with the widest door you can make work.

[Calico1000]

We also put in a 6" concrete floor with floor drain as well as dump station inside at the rear, 30/50 power also at front and at the rear. We have two hose bibs in other areas of the garage that are close enough that we didn't need another. We only went 50' deep, but did do a 14' door in front and back door for cross-ventilation. There is a large ceiling fan hanging from the 25' ceiling.
I did notice that with a 14' door, when standing on the roof of our Vegas, the rolled up door is about 6" above my head. On a taller person, it could be a bumping hazard.
The Bus is only 28' long, so the jeep toad can sit behind it in the garage.

The easiest, least expensive and MOST USEFUL item we added was a staircase on one wall, with a landing at the level of the Vegas, and the top landing further up, in case we or the next people have a deluxe DP. Without the stairs to access the roof, I wouldn't be as willing to climb up for cleaning and inspections.

Other than those items, we put a workbench and shelves on the rear wall for stowing accessories and towing bar, as well as having a place to set stuff down. Up front, near the OH door, we added more shelves, to accommodate all the cleaners, buffers, waxes, rags and other items for keeping the bus healthy-looking.

We do wish we had made the RV portion of the garage wider, as we have entrance doors on either side, and must keep the bus JUST SO, so the door to the workshop on the left can swing without hitting the buses mirror. On the right side, there is a pocket door, so no problem there.

Have fun designing and building your garage! Your Bus will love you for it!

[MikenDebbie]

Some have mentioned a service pit. For reference - I generally budget $6000 in my building estimates for a typical elevator pit ~6’x8’x4’ deep with a 2x2x2 sump pit. If your service pit needs to be bigger and deeper…add $$$. The plumbing sub picks up the sump pump and discharge piping and the electrical sub includes power for the sump…probably somewhere between $600 to $1000 more. Add $300 for a galvanized grate to cover the sump pit. If you want to waterproof the pit before it is back filled - add another $800.

[Elk Hunter]

Better make sure 14’ high door is enough. I put a 14 ‘ door in and could only drive in, not back in without scraping one of my AC.

[craighouston]

[QUOTE=tnedator;5950627]Three other things.

1. I would suggest either getting a decent slope back to front to let water drain out the door (if you want to sanitize inside your garage, or have the air conditioners runnin, etc.) and not puddle. Alternatively, you could put two or three floor drains in the slab, running down the center under your coach, and then run PVC to someplace outside (works best if your raised up enough that the PVC can slope and still come out above ground level.

2. I saw pictures of someone else doing it on here, so I copied. Either paint, or get industrial floor tape, and create one or two lines down the length of the garage, that when you are backing in, you can use as a guide to back in straight. I didn't do this initially, and even with my 24', it was challenging to back in straight, as you have minimal points of reference when backing into a wide slab llke that.

Forget backing in. when we built our home we had the connections such that we pull in. much easier to back out of the garage than back in. I would go with 18 foot ceilings. that way if you need to service something on the roof you can do so with plenty of room. We park a car behind the 45 foot motorhome. Also it is wide enough to deploy slides. when family comes it is added sleeping space. Good luck!

[JIMDUGGAN]

Capt. Van, i would highly recommend # 4 rebar @ nomore than 12" spacing. I got talked into the fiber mesh,BIG MISTAKE & waste of money. Specify 4000# air intrained concrete. 6" is plenty thick. in the drive path. cut expansion joints @ 10 ft. spacing, a good concrete contractor will know this. Hope this helps. Jim

[janelewbill]

My RV Garage is 52X34. That gives me enough space to put in the RV and all my other toys. I also put a 14X48 balcony on the side beside the RV for storage. The balcony also gives me the ability to observe the top of the RV without climbing. I’m 77 and after having fallen off the top of the RV have banned climbing from my activity list. The balcony has a set of 4’ wide steps that make it easy to move large items up to the balcony. I have 3 doors. One 14 X 14 on each end that will accommodate the RV and a 10X10 on the end facing the back of the balcony.

I suggest that you make your building 16 feet high to accommodate a 14 foot door since most modern RVs are 13 feet or more high, ours is 13’ 6”. If you are using standard roll up doors you need the extra 2 feet for the hardware.

I fully insulated the building and covered the inside with metal. I heat it with natural gas using a forced air furnace. I can set the thermostat at 50 degrees when I am not working in the garage. When I need it, it doesn’t take long to bring it up to a comfortable temperature.

You did not list water in your list of utilities in your building. I not only have water and sewage, but I also put a 1/2 bath in the building with a small electric hot water heater for cleanup of dirty hands. DW loves the 1/2 bath when we is working on projects in the area under the balcony. She does lots of different crafts and we covered one wall under the balcony with peg board for easy storage.

I also put full hookups outside the garage for company. We have and a lot of RV friends spend the night in our driveway.

You can’t go too big. We built our garage in 2014 and it’s starting to feel too small. Have fun!

[Sailorman76]

Any thought of a small stairwell on one wall leading to a platform with sliding padded adjustable walkway onto the roof? Sure would make roof inspections and roof work easy and safe.

[Mutt]

I constructed a pole barn 35x50, setting my poles 10' apart on the sides, etc. Wrapped the sides with 2x6's 3 feet apart vertically then put 6 inch thick by 6 foot wide rolled insulation from side to side across top, etc. Then screwed metal siding into 2x6's, etc. I did buy vaulted trusses to give me additional clearance inside so I could stand on top of the RV. My sidewalls are 14 foot high w/two doors one 12x12 foot high and one 14x14. Slab is 6 inches thick(5,000 psi) with fiber and steel mesh. Also, figured where wheels would be rolling in and out, and laid additional 1/2" rebar in that section. Sawed floor every 12 feet for expansion. Bldg. is 18 years old, and praise the Lord no cracks as yet inside. Has water and 50 amp hook-up, plumbed for bath, etc. FWIW. Good luck with yours.

[Hummerin]

Wow, what input.
But...
Very important...
Oil pits and drains in garages are illegal in most states.

[Calico1000]

Originally Posted by Sailorman76

Any thought of a small stairwell on one wall leading to a platform with sliding padded adjustable walkway onto the roof? Sure would make roof inspections and roof work easy and safe.

You can see our stairs in the photos I posted above. No sliding platform needed, as its only a few inch gap from the first landing to the RV roof at the same height, and if a large RV were to move in, it would be the same gap with a slight step down onto that roof.
Those stairs were the best thing we installed... those and the blinding LED high bay lights.

[dvredc5]

Congratulations on building your new garage. Just finished our new RV garage this year and it’s so rewarding to finally be able to keep our coach here at home rather than in a costly storage facility. You will just love it. I planned well in advance but it seems like you never think of it all so great you are asking for input. We have a 44 foot coach and I would have really wanted 60’ deep garage but for budget reasons we ended up with 34’ by 50’. It works very well but we can’t open the front generator compartment or rear engine access grill without opening the garage door so bigger would be better if you can afford it. Here was my list of must haves we incorporated into our project:

RV dump station with 500 gallon tank and fresh water spigot for cleaning.
Separate wash tub/sink with a small on demand hot water heater.
Cold and hot water sil cock with mixing valve to provide warm water for washing.
Trough style floor drain that runs across the width of the garage about 1-1/2 feet inside the overhead door.
The floor is sloped 6” back to front to promote draining into the floor trough. By code we needed it connected to a triple basin catch system.
50amp RV plug
220 plugs on each wall.
Numerous 110 volt outlets on each wall.
Ceiling fan.
Ceiling mounted gas heater.
16’ high walls.
28’ by 14’ single 2” insulated overhead door. Provides east access with no worries about a post if we had 2 doors.
Air compressor with 50’ hose reel.
Electric cord reels on each wall. (We also store some of our cars inside and makes for easy battery maintenance charger connections.)
12 LED high bay ceiling lights switched in 3 different rows.
3 LED wall lights on each side wall - needed to provide light as t coach blocks some of the overhead lighting. These have 1 fixed and 1 positional light in each unit. Again switched on separate switches.
Residential refrigerator where we keep our normally used items for RV trips as well as east access for water & drinks while working in the garage. (No need to run the coach fridge unless we are going on a trip.)
Epoxy coated floor - priceless for looks and keeping the garage clean.
Wall mounted garage vacuum.
Some base and wall cabinets for storage, cleaning, vehicle washing and a counter top for a workbench.
A center mounted LED “parking lot” light at the peak for lighting the driveway area when needed if we are leaving or coming home at night. On a separate wall switch.
Motion activated LED lights also on the front for security as well as providing lighting when needed.
Side porch with a lower roof for esthetics as well as functionality to provide a large overhang for protection over side entrance door. Makes for nicer loading unloading of supplies etc. if it’s raining. Our faces our side and rear yard and pond.
Exterior outlets so you can add landscaping and/or holiday lighting if wanted.
2 by 6 walls for adequate insulation.
Use semi-gloss or Matt finish paint - NOT flat interior paint for easier cleaning.
Dehumidifier with auto pump to reduce humidity.
Stereo system - must have music while I tinker in the garage.
A few windows for natural light but place up high on the walls for better security.
Adequate strength in the slab for your current coach as well as for something heavier if you are ever considering a larger heavier coach.
If you plan on washing and splashing a lot of dirt and water around consider a plastic or highly water resistant wall panel on the first feet up from the floor rather than just drywall.
We skipped any exhaust outlets in the wall or garage door to better protect from rodents and animals from getting inside. I’ll pull the coach outside the few times needed when not being used to run the diesel, generator and aqua hot. Good idea to also use the jacks, transmission, brakes and moving it will force us to do that.
No outside gutters, I hate cleaning them and here in northern IL they cause ice dams in the winter months. Instead we have 2’ of stone around the perimeter so roof run off won’t ruin grass or landscaping and won’t splash dirt onto the siding. We laid drain tile for proper drainage and we have a sloped lot so this works well for us. Might not work well for a flat site.

Have fun and enjoy the process and the end result!

[Mle75749]

Hi there… you’ll love having a barn at your house. We have a 2020 DS4054 and built our just less than a year ago. In addition to what you listed…
1: I didn’t see water listed…maybe I missed it?… definitely want that.
2: we chose a 16’ tall door … a few inches didn’t feel like enough and we just wanted leeway. Our coach is 13’8”. Brian built cedar barn doors on the RV side. With a faux haydoor and rope/pulley look.
3. We put a 10x10 door at the opposite end… and water at both ends. This allows better venting when we start her up AND we store our tractor, tools etc in there so it’s generally more maneuverable. We wash the front of the coach and water the grass from the faucets.
4. Put in a couple 220volt plugs for some of my husbands tool projects.
5: we added 3 rectangular windows on each side to let natural light in . So glad we did that as it’s not so dark.
6: LED’s of course…
7: I didn’t want a square look so we did shorter pitched roofs on each side with a tall center and a covered exterior porch for 1/2 the house side..
side door on covered porch side
8: we apoxied the floor
9: our Barn only fit on our 5 acres between our house and a road… not tucked in the back. I didn’t want it to look like a plain metal square thing to detract from our home or the neighborhood so we sided it with the same Hardy Board is on our home.
Of course we think it’s beautiful ��
I’d send pics but I can’t figure out the URL part vs just pastoring it in����*♀️
If you went to send me your email I’d be happy to share.