Building a New House

[Mikebrady62]

Hello Fellow Airstreamers!
You all have been fantastic in helping with thinking things through. THOUROGHLY
In the process of planning to build a new house that will have an attached heated garage to accommodate Miles (our AS,) he is a 2019 International 27FB Twin.
Looking for input on helpful things to include. Currently we know we want; 15' wide X 12' tall door, 35' deep, 50 amp electric, filtered water, floor drain and a black tank washout to the septic tank.
There has to be lots more that I'm not thinking about that could be very nice to have.

Thanks in advance!
Mike

[brad1]

Enough head space to work on the roof.
And since we’re spitballing, how about a beer tap?

[azflycaster]

If you have enough land, a garage with doors at both ends would be great. Everyone likes a pull thru site.

[OTRA15]

If you have enough land, zoning clearances, and budget . . . go longer, wider and taller IMO, to leave room for work benches, storage shelves and so forth. Much easier to build now for future needs, and larger trailers/boats/etc.. Will the HVAC include air conditioning too? Easier to do now.

If this is your first building project, suggest mocking up a scale building out of cardboard, and filling it with a smaller box which represents the trailer plus the free work space you want around the trailer sides, ends and roof.

It is difficult to do accurate "volume" planning without solid mock-ups, unless you are a real pro IMO.

Have fun . . . great project!

Peter

PS -- Great suggestions, Richard and Brad.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

If you have enough land, a garage with doors at both ends would be great. Everyone likes a pull thru site.

And ventilation during summer heat.

[Iansk]

A couple of hungry cats as permanent residents.
+1 on the beer tap and pull through suggestions.

Ian

[Escape_Plan]

My brother built a similar project a few years ago, and I got a say, it turned really nice. He has roll up doors on both ends and the garage is long enough that he doesn't have to disconnect his 34' SOB from his F350 Super Crew (8' bed) to shut the doors. With the camper in the garage he can extend all the slides and put the awnings out. The area on the curb side is wide enough to accommodate a couple game tables, sofa pit, large screen tv and keg-o-rator for game day. Near the front of the garage is his work bench area / motorcycle storage. Near the back of the garage is a gym area. He built a rolling scaffolding platform that he parks his rig under and can roll back-and-forth with a cable pulley system to work on the top of the camper/truck. He has 200AMP service, running hot/cold water, sink, shower, toilet and dump station for the camper. The floor is heated by an outdoor wood burner. The garage has a second floor that runs the full length and width of the building where he has set up his office (he's a self-employed consulting mechanical engineer). In addition to an internal staircase, the second floor is also connected via covered walkway to the master bedroom of his house, the down stairs door is a covered breezeway that connects to the mudroom of his house. The downstairs breezeway has removable walls that he stores in the summer in his *other barn* and puts up when it starts snowing (NE Ohio = lake effect snow. And lots of it). He completed the project about 7-8 years ago. The planning took about a year and the actual construction was pretty quick 3-4 months (construction season is short in NE Ohio). The thing that took the longest? Convincing his wife that he needed to cut a hole in the side of HER house to install a walkway from the bedroom to HIS office, so he put the office door at the back of a walk in closet.

He designed it all himself and had a local architect sign off on the plans and got it through permitting. He told me what his budget was, but I can't remember what it was (and I'd be lying if I guessed at a number), but I do remember thinking, "holy crap, that's about a third of what a similar project would cost in Northern Virginia."

[KeithC]

You might find a compressed air system helpful for maintaining tires and running air powered tools. I would build a space for the compressor outside the shop. Air compressor are loud and do not need to be in the area where you would be working.

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by brad1

Enough head space to work on the roof.
And since we’re spitballing, how about a beer tap?

The extra headspace is a good idea too!

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

If you have enough land, a garage with doors at both ends would be great. Everyone likes a pull thru site.

Saddly it isn't going to work with our floor plan.

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

If you have enough land, zoning clearances, and budget . . . go longer, wider and taller IMO, to leave room for work benches, storage shelves and so forth. Much easier to build now for future needs, and larger trailers/boats/etc.. Will the HVAC include air conditioning too? Easier to do now.

If this is your first building project, suggest mocking up a scale building out of cardboard, and filling it with a smaller box which represents the trailer plus the free work space you want around the trailer sides, ends and roof.

It is difficult to do accurate "volume" planning without solid mock-ups, unless you are a real pro IMO.

Have fun . . . great project!

Peter

PS -- Great suggestions, Richard and Brad.

There are 2 other garages right next to this one that will be the full depth as well. So there is plenty of work and project space even with our car and truck inside.
Thank you for your input!

[Mikebrady62]

Escape_Plan,

Sounds like a fantastic set up! Mine will be attached to the house with the workout space directly below it next to the walkout basement. Many of the same amenities (not long enough for TV still attached) but I will have to move my TV to use it for a party space next to it.

Thanks for the reply!

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the updates . . . full speed ahead!

Of course, you know that progress photos are required by the community rules here, right?

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by KeithC

You might find a compressed air system helpful for maintaining tires and running air powered tools. I would build a space for the compressor outside the shop. Air compressor are loud and do not need to be in the area where you would be working.

I plan to put the aircompressor directly below this garage in it's own vented room. Along with a workout space and another overhead door going out to the back of the house.

[Hittenstiehl]

EscapePlan

That sounds like a property you would buy just because the garage.

[Tom_T]

You might want to have the slab sloped to a floor drain (round or french) with a water spigot inside to wash the AS & vehicles inside.

Make sure that you have adequate insulation & HVAC capacity, along with humidity removal in your system. There are some qualified HVAC companies in Rogers doing commercial/industrial who can help you, since this is more of a commercial/industrial building setup, with different operating & user parameters than residential.

Many other great suggestions above already, many of which I was going to suggest.

One other idea regarding city/county processing (whichever jurisdiction you're in), would be to draw up some preliminary design plans (we'd call them Conceptual Design or Schematic Design), then email them to the planning & building officials now & request a teleconference (Skype, Zoom, etc.) to go over the plans & see what they want to see to pass muster.

After you have a concept plan that they'll accept & works for you, then spend the time/$ to get formal building plans. It'll save you in the long run.

Good Luck!
Tom
///////

[lkm4321]

I keep my 27FC in a 12×30 storage space. Length wise I have about 1foot of clearence to shut the overhead door with the trailer backed almost touching the back wall.. Width wise I have to keep it close to the wall on the street side to open the AS door. IMO to actually work on the AS you will need a minimum space of 20X40

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by Tom_T

You might want to have the slab sloped to a floor drain (round or french) with a water spigot inside to wash the AS & vehicles inside.

Make sure that you have adequate insulation & HVAC capacity, along with humidity removal in your system. There are some qualified HVAC companies in Rogers doing commercial/industrial who can help you, since this is more of a commercial/industrial building setup, with different operating & user parameters than residential.

Many other great suggestions above already, many of which I was going to suggest.

One other idea regarding city/county processing (whichever jurisdiction you're in), would be to draw up some preliminary design plans (we'd call them Conceptual Design or Schematic Design), then email them to the planning & building officials now & request a teleconference (Skype, Zoom, etc.) to go over the plans & see what they want to see to pass muster.

After you have a concept plan that they'll accept & works for you, then spend the time/$ to get formal building plans. It'll save you in the long run.

Good Luck!
Tom
///////

I had planned for the water and floor drain, the insulation and HVAC but really didn't think about a dehumidifier. So, Thank you!
As for submitting Conceptuals, this house will be outside the city limits by about 1/2 mile on 2+ acres and the county only cares about meeting mechanical and construction code. So the only approval process is my wife and I agreeing. (That's a process sometimes)

Thanks again for the input!

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by lkm4321

I keep my 27FC in a 12×30 storage space. Length wise I have about 1foot of clearence to shut the overhead door with the trailer backed almost touching the back wall.. Width wise I have to keep it close to the wall on the street side to open the AS door. IMO to actually work on the AS you will need a minimum space of 20X40

I currently have a 15' X 35' stall at a rental facility. It has plenty of room for me. The bonus of the new space is it will be open on the curb side to the attached 2 car garage.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Mikebrady62

I had planned for the water and floor drain, the insulation and HVAC but really didn't think about a dehumidifier.
. . .

I guess I was assuming that the air conditioning -- hefty enough for Arkansas summer heat and humidity -- would include some fairly serious dehumidification.

Originally Posted by OTRA15

. . .
Will the HVAC include air conditioning too? Easier to do now.
. . .

Be sure to plan ahead for solar heat gain through any windows, as well as the roof and any sidewalls which will get direct sun for many hours per day. Even with good insulation, that heat gain can be serious.

Speaking of the sun, are you going to put solar panels on the roof? You might want to check for state and federal grants/loans/tax credits for doing this IMO.

"Full speed ahead!"



Peter

PS -- A couple of ceiling fans?