Advice on RV "carport"

[coolmom42]

I am planning to have a concrete pad beside my house enlarged, to make a good parking spot for my 2014 Coachmen 21QB. Then add a metal cover in the same color as the metal roof of the house.

How large does the pad need to be relative to the RV? Rounding up to the next foot, the 21QB is 9' wide, 24' long, and 11' tall. How much extra is enough room to walk around, load up, etc without being cramped? I also need it to be wide enough that the roof easily clears the the corner of the house, which is about 10 feet high.


The metal cover will be oriented with its roof peak perpendicular to the roof peak of the house. Not my first choice, but necessary to get enough height. (My house is a single story ranch.) I will just drive the RV straight into it, and back into the driveway to exit.


Should I size the cover so it's almost abutting the house? Or leave a substantial gap between the house and the cover?


What about gutters on the RV cover? Most of the ones I see don't appear to have any. But we get a lot of rain in TN and I don't want sheets of water pouring off the cover. All but one corner would be easy to add downspouts with extensions. That corner could tie in to the downspout off the roof of the house.


The RV will be facing directly west, and one side to the north. Those are the directions of our worst storms, typically. I'm thinking of closing in the west end of the cover, down far enough that I can just walk under it, which will protect the cabover area. Doing the same on the north side, probably. Does that make sense? The south side will be somewhat sheltered by the house, and the east is not typically a tough weather direction.


Just trying to think this through before I get prices on concrete and the cover. All constructive input is appreciated.

[T18skyguy]

^^ What he said. Make it as wide as possible, plus you can put shelving along the side with the extra width. I've seen many post like this over the years. The only regret folks have is not making it bigger.

[samsontdog]

I screwed up by having a 12 x 30 ft steel cover put up. I had a 24 ft Class C
at the time with no slides. After a yr or so we wanted something bigger, bought a 34 ft 5th w with slide. then I had the length extended by 10 ft, had to raise the top by 2 ft. I still cannot hardly park the RV since I have to have the drivers side 2 to 3 inches from the side of the cover in order to open the door to the RV as it has extra wide door.

Make sure you have it wide enough in order to stay in it in emergency. Wide enough to open the slides, tall enough in case you buy a bigger, taller RV

[TxGearhead]

Assuming if you have thought about it this far that you don't have HOA restrictions against carports. I would check with your city or county about how far you can go without pulling a permit. Also check if there are restrictions about how close you can get to your property line. Talk to a concrete company about backing a truck on your driveway; assuming you have a concrete driveway.
Always be thinking: "where will the water go?".
I would build it as big as I could.

[cruising_spud]

We have our rv under a "rvport" that my husband built many years ago. One thing that my husband just added to the rvport was gutters. A BIG impovement in the area around the port. Before the gutters we had water from the port dripping on our shed (because of this my husband rebuilt the shed after adding the gutters) which was near the port. Water from the roof also added to water in the driveway-the gutters helped alleviate this.

[VA-Apraisr]

I kept the passenger side/main entry to RV 3/4 open sides so that IN the event of a power outage, I could stay in RV running generator and still have good natural lighting coming into the RV so I didn't feel "boxed in" on all sides. Mine is 12' high all the way across with small gable pitch roof above that. I made it 12' inside dimensions wide and yes, it takes a careful driver to get it straight but works for me.

[PartyOf_Five]

If I built something like this, I would want to do everything under the cover. This would include putting the things down when I empty one of the compartments, being able to open all the compartments fully, having the ladder feet sitting underneath the cover, etc.
It sounds like you're trying to balance overall aesthetic with practicality. While I agree this is important, any kind of structure is going to adversely impact your lot's aesthetic. Those that are detractors will always say how bad it looks, while those who are owners like you - wow this is a great idea. I would aim for the latter, and it seems you are too because you are thinking about which way the wind blows, how to back onto the driveway, and so forth.
What you didn't mention here is future upgrades. It might be helpful to have electric for waxing or a ceiling fan or have a couple sides partly closed to store things, etc. What about a drain- could you tie into the house sewer and get a easy place to dunno for incremental more cost? Everything would be below the slab anyway.

[coolmom42]

SAR Tracker wrote:
Make it wide enough to be able to open the door and still be standing on the concrete with the steps down.

I had thought about the driver's door but not the other side. Thanks for the reminder.

[coolmom42]

w4phj wrote:
Consider a slight slab slope for water runoff. I used 1/4 inch for 45 feet.

Definitely. I don't want all that water pooling next to the house.

[coolmom42]

Kevinwa wrote:
The one thing I love about my pole shed I park my travel trailer in is to have enough room under the cover to fully unroll the awning for a few days and let it dry out after use. I think that takes about 20’ of width, which you might not have. If there isn’t enough width for the awning I think 12’ would be a nice width...

I don't have quite that much room. I could possibly open it halfway or so.

[4youngs1]

My canopy is large enough that I can wash the unit while parked, and have the slides extended. Also, I wish it was larger...

[w4phj]

Consider a slight slab slope for water runoff. I used 1/4 inch for 45 feet.

[DrewE]

I'd consider 12' about the minimum width. More is nicer, of course; but that's true pretty much no matter how wide you make it. For the height, it's extra convenient to be able to do RV roof maintenance while under the shelter, but that may not be especially practical or look at all in appropriate scale with a ranch house.

Keep in mind in your planning that you'll have to drive into and out of the shelter. If you can't get aligned perfectly with it before entering and exiting, you'll need some extra space for maneuvering and turning/angling as you go. Twelve feet wide calls for a good bit of precision in parking when it's delineated by support columns rather than painted lines; and all the more so if the space between the supports is actually a few inches less (and the overall external width is 12'). Along those lines, if the approach isn't level, you need some extra height to account for the tilting of the RV as you enter and exit.

If you think you might ever upgrade to a larger RV, planning ahead on the shelter size is worth considering. The maximum height for a vehicle in the US without an overheight trip permit is 13' 6", so if at all possible I would suggest a shelter that can accommodate that height. Many class A's and fifth wheels are that height, or very nearly so.

[Kevinwa]

The one thing I love about my pole shed I park my travel trailer in is to have enough room under the cover to fully unroll the awning for a few days and let it dry out after use. I think that takes about 20’ of width, which you might not have. If there isn’t enough width for the awning I think 12’ would be a nice width...

[Lwiddis]

Whatever dimensions you finally determine, make it bigger.