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Old 10-16-2018, 06:30 PM   #1
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Actual Width of 2507S ?

Hi All,

I know the official specs say the 2507S is 96". But does that include the awning and vents, and anything else that might add a few inches?

Trying plan an "RV Port" and just curious.

Thanks,
Jeff
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:39 AM   #2
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I would not make the opening less then 10' wide which gives you 1' either side. If I had it to do over again I would have made my shop doors 12' instead of the 10' I have. Its hard to align a rig perfectly straight when backing in so the wiggle room is needed.
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:53 AM   #3
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I would not make the opening less then 10' wide which gives you 1' either side. If I had it to do over again I would have made my shop doors 12' instead of the 10' I have. Its hard to align a rig perfectly straight when backing in so the wiggle room is needed.
Yes good advice! Youroo! ! You may want it even wider so RV Door may be Opened also!
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Old 10-17-2018, 09:13 AM   #4
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To directly answer your question, the 96" measurement is straight wall to straight wall, so anything protruding past the wall isn't counted. Those units are usually about 6" to 8" wider than that.

Having said that. Since you're planning an RV port, seriously consider making it wide enough to allow you to open the slide and the door at the same time. If you don't, you will regret it at some point. I consider 14' wide to be the minimum. Also make it long enough and tall enough to accommodate your next RV.

You can read many threads where people upgraded and now need to make the RV-port longer and/or taller. Don't be that guy!
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Old 10-17-2018, 09:38 AM   #5
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40' X 60' Morton Building....and call it good.
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Old 10-17-2018, 10:35 AM   #6
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Thanks Guys for the replies. I currently adding a 3-bay 26'x40' addition to my existing garage (just poured the footings yesterday in fact), plus doing the RV Port. Long story short, I was going with 18' wide x 45' long (14' high). But I got thinking if I went to 20' wide I might be able to fit two trailers in there....if I ever needed to. But looking at this even that might be snug, especially if door not almost as wide entire 20' width (might be hard to back in one of the trailers on an angle). Also have to see what the actual RV Port height is inside closer to the outside wall (not just in the middle), because IF I had a 2507S in there and maybe wanted to also park a 5th wheel in there too (some of these smaller "half ton" 5th wheels looking appealing to me now) I want to be sure there enough height inside. Going to stop by to see the guy that sells the metal buildings today, might go to 22' x 46'. Thanks...
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Old 10-17-2018, 03:21 PM   #7
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I went with 26x40 when I built mine 7 years ago, and wish I had gone to 30' wide. The 14' wall height is adequate for anything I have or have had. Doors are a speciasl consideration, in that anything over 7' high or 10' wide is considered commercial, and the cost is often out of this world...I would suggest that if you can work with 10' wide doors, you should definitely go that way. With the 26' width, two 10' doors really fills up the wall! It does work for me, but as said above, 30' width would be a lot better! There IS enough room inside, but only just. I keep the RV and my pickup in there, along with having room for a work bench, shelves, and so on.

Considering that it gets plenty hot and cold here in the Ozarks, I made a decision to build the walls with regular 2x6 studs, allowing for insulation to be installed, and also went with a full ceiling, likewise insulated. With the vertical studded outside walls, we used the regular steel "barn" siding, but installed horizontally. There is a company here in town that makes the siding to order, roll forming it from huge rolls, and will make sheets exactly how long you want them, within 1/10". The building went up quickly and smoothly, and looks much more "residential" as a result.

Other information: Being a retired electrician, I installed a 100 amp service, and also put in a 92% gas furnace (82k BTU) and a 4 ton A/C unit. Wet it up with a pair of minimum/maximum thermostats, having an "Occupied/Un-Occupied" switch in the house, to keep energy costs down. So far, It has been great, and adequate. We had a 12' high door and a 7' high door, and I wish I had ordered a "high lift" installation for the 7' door, where the tracks run pretty much straight up the wall, instead of horizontally, which limits how high you can lift a vehicle.
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Old 10-17-2018, 08:11 PM   #8
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I think I am now going with 24' x 46', with a 16' wide door. That puts me 16' from my right side setback. Still within code, but getting close to the property line. In fact going to 30' would put me exactly at the minimum setback, trying to keep the neighbor happy too. I started out at 18x40....now at 24 x 46. And that on top of also building a 26' x 40' (3 bay) addition on my current garage, just poured the footings for that Tuesday in fact. I did put a 100 Amp sub panel in my current garage too, did that for my Chevy Volt I got two years so I had 240V power for charger for that, plus the garage expansion and RV Port. If I had more room I might go bigger than 24x46, but...
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Old 10-18-2018, 12:44 PM   #9
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You will definitely need the wiggle room when backing in. A large sliding "barn door" is a big help and you can make it big enough to work for your rig. I put double latches and locks on mine and also a bolt lock so it can't be slid without unlocking all the locks. Also, allow room for your slide outs to slide out inside the building so you can work on your rig and stay inside. Another consideration is connection to your septic or sewer so you can flush and dump your unit during winterization or spring activation just to make sure everything is out of the tanks. Your 100 amp electric should be good. Again, do watch having enough room at the door since as you back in the swing can be quite large and it is difficult to see it in a narrow door. Which reminds me, you need to have a lot of light inside so you can see what you are doing while backing in, especially if you are doing it on a sunny day. The difference between inside and outside the building can be really great. I found the new 4500 lumen stoplights work pretty well and are coming down in price. Don't skimp on the lighting, even if you make it in two switches to turn half on at a time. The LED's also use a lot less power and turn on full intensity in the winter, where fluorescent lights take a while to warm up to full brightness, if they go on at all in really low temps. I would make that door as wide as possible and make sure you have room for those slide outs. That's something you can't easily fix after the building is up and inspected.
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Old 10-19-2018, 10:40 AM   #10
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Chuck, good ideas. I can't do a sewer drain line though because the RV Port will be lower than my septic tank. But several years ago (when I had my Southwind Class A) I did run a PVC pipe from the corner of my garage to my septic tank, and I put a garden hose type connector on that, so I could use a Flojet Portable RV Waste Pump (and a garden hose) to pump out the tanks (making sure that hose was for that purpose only!). The Flojet pump works pretty good, but they made it 12V. So you had to have a car battery handy to power it! They should make a 120V version so you could use any extension cord to easily get power to the pump, would make using it a lot easier. I think you are right on lighting too. If fact several months replaced the lights in a building I own with LED's (even "high-bay" warehouse lights). Power company even helped on the cost of that (plus huge savings on power bill now). But yes, I'll prob get similar lights for RV Port. Think I will go with 24' wide, I think that's about as wide as I can go given the location and my property line. For one trailer I should have tons of room. I was just trying to plan so if by chance someday I wanted to fit two trailers or other stuff in there I could. I am thinking I will go with a 16'w x 14'h door. I think thats the biggest I can do. I can do two 10' doors too.....but think I'd prefer the single 16', I agree with you a narrow door (even 10') does not seem that big when backing in a 25' or 30' trailer.
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Old 10-19-2018, 10:24 PM   #11
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Yep, I think you are right on. 16' should give you enough wiggle room. I have to back my trailer into our barn around a sort of S-curve because of trees in front of it (too many and too nice to cut down, so I go around them), but, have the room in front of the barn to do it. If I had a bigger lot and lots of money and forethought, I might have put a huge circle drive in so I could always pull through (big door at each end), but, it wasn't worth the effort and we didn't want the yard paved over with that much driveway. It is doable the way it is and gives me more practice backing into a tight spot for when we get to those tight campgrounds :-). My barn was built specifically for the trailer and tow vehicle when we had a 20' TT. Our Windjammer is now about 35' but, it does just fit. We also did something else, and that was to pour the cement floor as a single piece. I found that the floor will crack in time, but, the cracks will not be as deep as the cuts in the floor would be. It has proven true since the cement was done in 1986 and the cracks are still very narrow, and my compressor and other equipment on smaller wheels just roll around the shop (like the vacuum, etc.) without dropping into the cracks and stopping. I also did this with my workshop (about 28X28) and after 6 years have no cracks at all (poured a center support on this one). Makes it easy to roll tools and cabinets around without the wheels getting caught in those grooves they cut in the cement. I also painted the shop floor with floor paint. Now, on the barn floor, I did something different. I wasn't sure if I was going to someday paint it or not, so, I put down a coat of commercial floor wax I got from the hardware store. We had done this where I worked and it really kept the floor nice and you can use a stripper to get it up if you need to. It can get a little slippery if you come in with snowy boots, though. However, after more than 30 years, I haven't had to re-coat it again and it still is working - though not as slippery as at first - even after moving vehicles and mowers, and tractors in and out. A couple of gallons of floor wax is also a pretty cheap way to go compared to a "permanent" epoxy paint that would be a pain to get up. One thing, though, it doesn't completely repel some of the stains from oil and grease like an epoxy paint, but, after 30 years (and only the original coat) you can expect that. Good luck with your construction. Like to see pictures when you are done! Hope you will post them.
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Old 10-20-2018, 03:02 PM   #12
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Here are a few pics as of now. Garage Addition footings poured. The front view from the blueprints shows the RV Port the architect designed, but I won't be using that, as mentioned above it will be a metal building for RV Port. There will be a rear overhead door in the Garage Addition (directly behind Door #3), so if I ever add more garage space on the back of the Garage Addition I'll be able to drive right through the 3rd bay. I was also concerned about having enough room to drive around the RV Port, should I ever want to get a machine around to the back of my property, was going to keep 10' clear. But I may just put a 10' overhead door at the back of the RV Port, so you could just drive through RV Port too. That would let me just plant a bunch more trees on the right side of the RV Port, in that 16' wide area to my property line. That would help hide RV Port from neighbor to keep him happy. I did a drawing in MacDraft too, to see how two trailers would fit in there, one a 2507S, the other Eagle HT...if I ever wanted to put two in there.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rt3rcy3je...UH8sL3Hoa?dl=0
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Old 10-21-2018, 10:37 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by JeffNY View Post
Here are a few pics as of now. Garage Addition footings poured. The front view from the blueprints shows the RV Port the architect designed, but I won't be using that, as mentioned above it will be a metal building for RV Port. There will be a rear overhead door in the Garage Addition (directly behind Door #3), so if I ever add more garage space on the back of the Garage Addition I'll be able to drive right through the 3rd bay. I was also concerned about having enough room to drive around the RV Port, should I ever want to get a machine around to the back of my property, was going to keep 10' clear. But I may just put a 10' overhead door at the back of the RV Port, so you could just drive through RV Port too. That would let me just plant a bunch more trees on the right side of the RV Port, in that 16' wide area to my property line. That would help hide RV Port from neighbor to keep him happy. I did a drawing in MacDraft too, to see how two trailers would fit in there, one a 2507S, the other Eagle HT...if I ever wanted to put two in there.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rt3rcy3je...UH8sL3Hoa?dl=0
The way the drawing shows, it will be pretty hard to park the trailers in there and get them out easily with the door the way it is. Also, a 12 ft high door/ceiling isn't going to give you enough future room for a 5th wheel (most are 13+' high) and the 10 ft door will really be cutting it close (assuming it is the width you are talking about). You need to be able to pull straight through because you don't have a lot of swing room to get out the center door, even though it is 16' wide. Be careful with that. Our trailer can swing 3-4 feet off center easily when backing in. It looks like you will hit the wall trying to get in or out. I believe I have a 14' wide door and it just gives me enough room (I'll measure it tomorrow) for an "errant" swing on the trailer of less than 3' to either side. Not a lot of room, and with two trailers in there, no room to turn them to the door without the back end hitting the wall. Also, if you are doing an overhead door, you have to allow for the drop down for the door track. You may need a 16 ft. ceiling/joist clearance to put that in and still get 14' clearance for your unit. Do check it before putting in the door. Once it is up it is really hard to change unless you have a lot of $$$!

Also, once your concrete is in and you have your trailers parked in their ideal locations, try painting marks on the floor to guide you in. i have lines from the apron outside the barn all the way back to where the trailer stops with markings for the wheels to stop and for the tongue jack to go. That way, DW can spot exactly where the unit should go and guide me in when I can't see (we don't have a camera). It also gives me a "target" for the wheels as I am backing in since I can only see one side as the trailer turns going in. Hope all that makes sense.
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Old 10-21-2018, 11:04 PM   #14
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Ceiling in RV Port not 12'. it will be 14' clear at the sides (center peak of RV Port is 17'). As I mentioned above; The front view from the blueprints shows the RV Port the architect designed, but I won't be using that... it will be a metal building for RV Port. I believe the metal building guy said 16' x 14' the biggest door they can do, but I'll check again, if I can do 17' or 18' wide door I will. He did say they need 2' on either side of the door for the wall. Also, I will not be able to pull strait through with the trailers, yard not big enough to bring a driveway around back of the RV Port , that back corner door would just to be able to get smaller vehicles in to the back yard if need be for some reason. Good idea to mark locations once trailer(s) parked. As I say though, I may only ever have one trailer or RV at a time. Just want a few extra feet to accommodate two if it should happen. I will prob add a few security cameras inside the RV Port to one of my two camera systems. I could place them to give me a good view so when I back in I could just use my iPad or phone too whats going on in the RV Port as I back in or pull out. Already have PVC pipe in garage end wall to get power and data over to RV Port with But yes, that length on the trailer behind the axle can be long and require room to swing in...I almost wish someone made dollies that could go under the trailer wheel so they could be moved around inside the RV Port manually...
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Old 10-22-2018, 01:30 PM   #15
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Sounds like you have your basis covered pretty well. I was worried about the hight and swing. With the door clearance at 14 ft. you should be good. When we were at the Forest River assembly plant they actually put the trailers on a roller mechanism and, by hand, rolled the trailers/5th wheels from station to station just like going down a manual assembly line. When it came time to move the trailer to the next station, someone would call out and 3-5 people would come and help push the trailer to the next station. I would imagine, if you were ambitious and had a few bucks for the wheels to carry an 8,000 lb. trailer, you could make a platform so you could back the trailer straight into the port and over the platform and then move the whole thing to the side. It is an interesting idea and you may be able to do it with a come-along or winch and put it on a track of some sort, if needed. If it were precise, and you had room for the trailers to back up on it, and then pull forward off of it (maybe use one of those motorized trailer mover devices) you could use one platform to move both trailers (if you got another one) one to each side. But, that does seem like a lot of work, and it might be easier to just adjust the port itself. Henry Ford used a turntable at Willow Run when building the B-24 bombers to turn the planes 90 degrees on the assembly line because he built the building on the line between two counties and one county wanted to charge him a heavy property tax on the building if he crossed the line, so he turned the building to stay in only one county! (fun bit of information) Don't forget to send pix when it is done!
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Old 10-23-2018, 06:15 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by JeffNY View Post
Hi All,

I know the official specs say the 2507S is 96". But does that include the awning and vents, and anything else that might add a few inches?

Trying plan an "RV Port" and just curious.

Thanks,
Jeff
If it has the new flip steps you'll have to add 4 foot if you want to get in it.
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