RV Garage Plans - Not All RV Garages Are Created Equal!

An RV is a big investment. RV garage plans give you the ability to protect that investment from the elements when it is not in use. RV garages help extend the life of your motorhome or camper, and reduce the depreciation and the amount of upkeep required.

An RV garage can be used for more than just a space to park a motorhome or travel trailer. Because the bays are wider, taller, and deeper than normal garage bays, RV garages are great for storing boats, utility trailers and toy haulers. If you drive a tractor-trailer for a living, it can be used to protect your truck when you are at home. An RV garage also works really well as a space for an automotive service lift.

Before deciding on a particular set of RV garage plans, you need to figure out what size you need. The largest motor coaches in the US can be as much as 45 feet long. US travel trailers (called caravans in other countries) go up to about 40 feet in length. Some other countries do not allow motorhomes and travel trailers to be as large as in the US, so a motorhome garage in those countries will not need to be as deep.

Motorhomes and travel trailers are typically 7-1/2' to 8-1/2' wide. The mirrors on both sides of a motor home will add another 1-1/2 feet or so, for a total width of approximately ten feet on the largest ones. The overall height for a motorhome or camper with a roof-mount AC unit can be 13-1/2 feet or a little more.

Not all campers or motorhomes are this large, of course, so don't think you have to have a 52' deep motorhome garage or else it isn't worthwhile! For a small to average size travel trailer or motorhome, you will be able to use an RV garage design that is not nearly as deep. However, you will definitely need the extra height and width that come with RV garage plans.

RV garages typically have ceiling heights of between 12' and 16'. Make sure that the design you are looking at is tall enough; don't assume that because it is labeled as an RV garage plan that the ceiling is automatically high enough to accept your 36' fifth wheel with a rooftop AC unit! I recommend searching out RV garage designs with 16' ceilings, or having the plans modified for a 16' ceiling.

Even if you have a smaller RV right now, you may want a bigger one later. Also, when you decide to sell your home, you want the RV garage to be a selling point. If your ceiling isn't high enough for a potential homebuyer's travel trailer, they may keep on looking.

The typical RV garage door is 12' tall by 12' wide. This is adequate for the average camper or motor home, but larger ones require a 14' tall door. Since you are already going with a 16' high ceiling (see previous paragraph), it doesn't make any sense to use a 12' tall door. Go ahead and plan on using a 14' tall door, and that way you don't have to get a ladder and a tape measure when you go shopping for your next motor home!

Some RV garage plans have doors at both ends for a drive-through feature. This allows you to park your motor home or camper inside without having to back up. This is a great feature to have, but it requires an extra door and one heck of a driveway! If your property is suited for this, it could be a huge convenience and help with resale value. Don't force it though. If you don't have enough room to pull straight in one side and straight out of the other, stick with a conventional one door design.

Many RV garage plans also include one or more normal-size bays for regular vehicles. The normal-size bays come in handy for storing your regular vehicles, or for storing the truck you use to pull your camper. The lower roof height and the added width of the normal-sized bays also make the building more attractive aesthetically.

A lot of RV garages are based on a pole building design. A pole building is generally less expensive to construct than a regular stick-built building, and it is easy to get the extra ceiling and wall height that you need for an RV. A pole building also has the advantage of not requiring an expensive concrete floor. A steel arch building is also a popular option for storing an RV.

If you are ready to view some RV garage plans, I recommend The COOL house plans company. They have one of the few websites out there that allow you to search specifically for RV plans, without making you sift through pages and pages of regular garage plans.

For more information on other options, visit our RV Shelters page. There you will find information on RV ports and portable motorhome shelters. For information on different size garages, see our Related Pages menu on the right near the top of this page.

As with any storage building, I always recommend building it as large as you can afford and have room for. No matter how big it is, you almost always will wish it was a little bigger! Build it as deep as you can. The bigger you go, the more folks it will appeal to when you decide to sell your home. If possible, stick with RV garage plans that have a 16' high ceiling and a 14' door, and you won't likely regret it.