[Archived]

Consider wider entry doors as bus mirrors do extend. Our doors on our bus barn are 12′ 6″ wide. You are smart planning 60 foot long as that will give you room around the bus. Sewer dump if you have one should be 25 ft inside door opening. Water and electric are in front of stall. This keeps hoses and cords laying against wall. It’s a safety issue walking around the bus. With electric service in front you have access to supply added plug ins for your shop bench, thus saving run lines forward.

[gary]

Thanks for the info, the building is being delivered in 13 days so I will have to make 12′ work.

[Davy]

Built mine with 14’x14′ and 12’x14′ doors with 50’x60′ shop. Those 12’ers are ones you have to watch. Still clears but you can get close if not careful. 14′ is a breeze. Good luck on the barn. I don’t know how anybody does without one.

[Debi]

Bob I currently have a 14’x14′ door works great. I had a
12’x14′ before it was tight if you have a short approach.

[Larry & Diane]

Bob

We did 14 x 14 and it’s just right.

Sounds like it’s going to be a really nice garage!

You will enjoy it.

Chris

[Larry & Diane]

if you have to turn in, make ramps extra long especially with the narrow doors. You will want to be headed straight in.

[Archived]

I am not concerned about door size but what length the ramp has to be for the 18″ rise so as not to bottom out?

[AL]

Bob…I would urge you to change to 14X14 door. I think you will find a 12′ opening is tighter than you think.

[Andre]

Will you be driving in or backing in?

I recently built a new race shop and adjacent concrete pad for parking the Prevost. My concrete guy saws the expansion joints versus troweling them in. I prefer the saw cuts because then stuff doesn’t get stuck in the troweled grooves like snow shovel, snow blower, creeper wheels, tool boxes, etc.

After the job was all done, I realized that with a little planning I could have had him place the saw cuts in locations where I could have used them for identifying if the bus is in its exact parking place (and lined up square) or the race trailer or the race cars are in the middle of the doorways (and lined up square).

I have a floor drain in each of the three stalls and he ran a saw cut the length of the stall that went adjacent to the drain. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have preferred he cut right down the middle of the stall, stopping and starting on either side of the drain which would have given me a nice center line in the stall.

One of the stalls I have a straight shot to when I back the trailer up so getting the trailer centered and square to the shop isn’t too bad. But with the second stall the trailer comes at it from an angle, so saw cuts an inch or so outside of where the trailer tires need to be would be very helpful in getting the trailer aligned better.

Same goes for the bus which I park next to the shop. So far the three or four times I’ve backed it in since finishing the project I’ve done a pretty good in getting where I want it and square, but properly placed saw cuts just outside of where I want the tires would make the job much easier.

In your project, consider saw cuts in the garage and on the approach that you can use to line up the bus. With the narrow door, you don’t want to get it sideways.

Good luck with your project!

[Archived]

FWIW….at our bus barn storage the following are house rules;

A) Before you drive into or back out of stall you walk around the bus-coach. As posted before ….4 accidents have happened, all 4 preventable HAD the owner simply walked around the bus-coach prior to pressing “D” or “R”

B) Drive in— back out

C) Disable generator auto start.

D) Overhead door is either fully opened or fully closed

Just saying….

[Archived]

Not to be argumentative, but my 12×14 door works well. 14 wide is not necessary IMHO. Recently completed this 30×60 building with 8”
slab. Took a friend and I several weeks
to build. Still need to complete the entrance
apron.

[Bob]

From experience (which we get right after we needed it) I can suggest the following things to consider when building a garage intended to store a coach.

Set up all the utilities where they would be convenient when the bus is in position. Ideally you should have water, sewer, and 50 amp electric.

Put in a pit if at all possible. Whatever it costs it can save you many times over just by having the ability to easily access the underside of the coach.

If it is possible locate doors at each end. Drive in, drive out. Make the doors as big as possible.

Locate electric outlets in large quantities all around the coach for convenience. You will use them for trouble lights, a vacuum, electric hand tools, etc.

Consider lighting placement. The ideal place for lights is outside of the coach perimeter, close to or slightly higher than the coach height, and about 3 or 4 feet from the side of the coach. I have one row of lights partially blocked on one side by storage racks. Not good.

Have a generous size compressor with an upper limit of at least 150, but 175 would be better. If it can have at least a 60 gallon tank then you can run a 1″ impact to remove lug nuts. The higher pressure makes filling tires go faster.

Consider floor drains so you can wash the coach and the water will drain out of the garage.

Even with a 14 foot door, make sure you have no less than 14 feet clear beneath the lowest portion of the door operating mechanism. You want to be able to clear the coach while operating the door, even if the coach is fully raised. Satellite dish domes don’t handle getting hit with the arm that pulls the door open very well.

Insulate the building. A metal building without a spray foam closed cell insulation will literally rain on the coach.

Allow sufficient room along side the coach to be able to open the slides and still walk around the coach and open the hinged doors below the slides.

[Michael]

In a perfect world would be : 1/2 distance between drive and front axle breakover. should be around 16ft :maintain a 10 inch low clearance. So would be about 5/8 inch drop per foot with a minimum length of 50 ft. Would give you about 4 inches under your fish tail or trailer hitch when backing onto ramp. You should get this figured out by your concrete guy…. hands on. He will need to know measurement from extreme rear to center line rear axle. Also accurate measurement from c/l rear axle to front steer axle c/l. What problem could occur??? when backing if to steep(of slope) you could bottom out because of entrance angle. Also when you break over to floor grade (the 1/2 between front and rear drive) You could high center. Hope this helps you think it thru… Bob

[Archived]

Thanks all for the help …. Bob Grote