Since we came home after our Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho tour last summer. We have been busy building a garage for our Leisure Travel Van. The Arizona sun and summer monsoon storms have done a lot of damage to our van in the last 4 and half years. So we decided it was time to do something about that to protect our investment.
It took us six months just to get a building permit. Apparently Santa Cruz County here in southern Arizona dosen’t like giving building permits for RV garages. Living down here on the boarder with Mexico, some people will build an RV garage and use it to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the U.S.
We requested a building permit in July 2021 and it didn’t get approved until January 2022. While we waited for the permit, our contractor started fixing the drainage/erosion problems we had on our property in preparation for the eventual garage.
Our Leisure Travel Van will have a new home that’s 25 feet wide, 40 feet deep and a door with a 12 foot clearance. Come along and watch the progression of our garage project.
Our Tiny House at Burro Creek campground south of the Hoover Dam on Arizona state route 93.When we started this project all we had was a cracking slab of cement that was constantly flooded every time it rained.While we were waiting for the building permit the contractor started repairing the drainage problems on the property.The first thing was to tear up the old cement and install drainage pipes underneath.The pipes will run under ground in front of the new garage and our house.The location of the underground drainage pipes.On top of the drainage pipes, is a concave drainage ditch that runs through the front of the property.The drainage pipes underneath the concave drainage ditch.Our RV garage will have its own septic system so we can dump our holding tanks when we return home from our road trips. Above picture is of the location of the new septic system.Before installing the septic system trees needed to be trimmed back.The location of the septic tank. Video of the septic tank placement.The septic tank has a 1,000 gallon capacity. The tank, seen above, is made of plastic.The septic tank is placed over 7 feet under ground.A trench continues out from the tank to serve as the leach field.A pipe from the tank runs to the leach field.The leach field is filled with gravel. Water will flow from the septic tank into the leach field. Solids will remain in the tank where they will dissolve over time.Hurrah! The building permit finally arrived!The trenching for the footers begins!The old cement slab is torn out to make room for a stronger better quality cement floor.Video of old cement slab being removed.Old cement slab removed.Ground is prepared for the pouring of the new concrete.The new concrete has arrived!Rebar for the concrete floor.Video of the pouring of concrete floor. Now we wait for the concrete floor to dry.It took several days for the new concrete to dry.Framing begins!First the walls start going up!Little by little, piece by piece the walls start going up!Then the trusses arrive!The trusses are allowed to drop off the trailer on to the ground.Then one by one the workers carry them over to the job site.It’s starting to take shape!The garage will be taller than the house!The huge been that will hold the 12 foot high overhead door!The roofing begins to go on.The sheets of plywood were brought up and placed by just two men.The sheeting for the outside walls started going up next.A door between the house and the new garage has been installed.The doorway to the new garage.The new steel door.MaryAnn and I placed our names on the inside of one of the walls.The opening for the door looking in from the new garage.Next the cutouts for the windows.The garage from the north pasture.From the back of the house where the leach field is located. The large water tank between the house and the new garage is a rain harvesting system that will eventually be moved to another location. That area will then become storage space. It will be another two months to complete this project, we should already be back on the road by then. Our Tiny House is patiently waiting for its new home to be finished.
We are currently planing another road trip this summer. We will be leading a tour of twelve other Leisure Travel Vans and their owners through Idaho. After that we plan to continue our summer adventures in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Hope you will join us as we continue the next chapter of our lives…
(The picture above is of the Pecos River in southwest Texas.) My name is Terry C Barber, I am a disabled veteran, retired military and retired pastor. MaryAnn’s a retired special education teacher. Our Next Chapter, the open road – we call it “the Barber Road.” You're invited to join us as we explore North America in our Leisure Travel Van with two Shitzu pups.
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Very interesting.. thanks for the tour. Now I know how to build a garage!
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Glad you enjoyed my story. Building a garage is quite a long process. Thanks for the positive comment.
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