Garage Bathrooms

[acommontater]

I'm building a metal, 2 car-garage-sized building in the country to store my small travel trailer. My wife and I plan to use the trailer for short trips and will also occasionally pull the trailer out of the building and use it as an overnight cabin with the building supplementing. To make the building a bit more useful, we plan for a small bathroom with shower. Has anyone done a similar project and can give us some tips? The building will be insulated with Fiberglas batts but not otherwise heated. Here in Texas a patio heater might be adequate for the area immediately next to the trailer but that's as far as we have planned. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[wedge40]

My barn will have an 8'x12' area with a shower, toilet and sink. I'd make sure there is room for a storage area as well, ya know towels and such. If you went 12'x12' you'd have enough room to put in a washer and dryer. It might increase the width of the barn by 10-12 feet, but well worth in the long run.

Wedge

 

[AZ Pete]

I would put in full hook-ups for the travel trailer, in the building, and probably outside also, since you will pull the trailer out for short stays. The hookups inside will be a great help in pre-trip trailer prep. as well as post trip clean-up and maintenance.

 

[5lima30]

I would put in full hook-ups for the travel trailer, in the building, and probably outside also, since you will pull the trailer out for short stays. The hookups inside will be a great help in pre-trip trailer prep. as well as post trip clean-up and maintenance.

^^^This^^^! Welcome to GJ!

 

[egnorant]

I have similar plans for my East Texas shop. Going to have full hookups for my trailer.
Inside the shop will have a toilet, sink and shower along with washer/dryer hookups.
Gonna watch this thread myself!

Bruce

 

[Highbeam]

I decided against inside dump hookups for the sewage in my RV. There's nothing pretty about dumping those tanks, even the best scenario includes drippage and air flows through the tanks which stink badly. Many or even most times, there is sloppage of sewage at some point in the deal.

Anyway, I planned for it outside of the building instead. Power hookups for sure so that I can have heat and AC in the trailer anytime.

 

[OldracerJones]

I have a 30 x 50 metal building and am building a bathroom in the shop including a shower. Had the plumbing roughed in before the slab was poured.

 

[uscarry45]

If I were building what you are planning, I would consider a couple of things:

-since you are installing a bathroom, add a sewer / septic connection where it can be used to clean out the trailer.

--Are you in an area that freezes? If so you are going to need a heater of some type in the bathroom to keep pipes from giving you problems

 

[Sureshot]

If you are in a freezing area try to plan the pipes on an inside wall. If you insulate the interior walls a small electric heater will easily keep it toasty warm.
I put an exterior door on my office to keep mice out. Might be a plan since you will only be there occasionally.
I also put my water heater on top the bathroom to save floor space. It is in a pan and plumbed to the sewer. Not sure about that freezing though.
Are your shop doors tall enough for the camper and the next one you buy?

 

[BWS]

Yeah,set it up as a full-on bathrm.No,not some McMansion 1k sq ftg affair.But just a nice small bath.

Use the above as the goal.......IOW,s because of time or money don't take shortcuts to the planning.Sometime down the rd....may be 10 years?...if it's laid out from the get-go to be a completely finished bath,you'll be glad you did.

Our shop bath never got its shower....but the drain for it is accessible.And even though the rm needs a good cleaning.....it IS a finished 2 pce bathrm.Complete with SR,paint and all trim.....even got little towels for drying your hands.Its nice when girlfriends come over....I'd just as soon take a leak in the yard,women like a nice bathrm.

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you plan on staying there once in a while, I suggest making the bathroom decent and usable. Maybe plan for the future and large enough to house a utility sink and apartment sized stackable washer/dryer combo.

I'd put the RV dumps outside.


let me also add (sorry the fuel oil guy showed while I was posting earlier)


You may not need an entire septic system but rather a holding tank that'll need pumped when full. You may want to check and see if that is an option locally by code or compare prices with a septic system.

 

[bjcouche]

I built a 40X64' building and had the plumbing installed in the concrete for a small bathroom when it was poured. My plan is to wall off the bathroom area and insulate it just as if it were an exterior building, including an exterior door. In Ohio it get's below freezing and I don't want to worry about freezing pipes. I plan to install a small baseboard electric heater connected to a thermostat set for 50F. I'll place the small electric water heater inside the heated bathroom. I'll run the water piping on the INside of the bathroom walls rather than inside the walls themselves. This will keep the pipes warmer. In a house anyhow, it's against code to have water pipes running inside an exterior wall, and for good reason.

Brian

 

[DPelletier]

you need to heat the bathroom and think about HWT location and pipe routing. Personally, I'd consider having a heater for the whole garage to keep the entire thing above freezing (just) which would avoid having to winterize the trailer as well.

Dave

 

[46 knuck]

bathroom in the garage was one of the best thoughts in the building of my garage comes in handy when partys are going on my wife usually gives it a good sanatised cleanin.with a little over 10ft ceiling i was able to box it in with storage up above and yes its loaded to the max keep the thermostat 50 never had water problem.

 

[AZ Pete]

I would be cautious about a holding tank vs. septic system. All you need is a running toilet or dripping faucet to fill your tank to overflowing at the most inconvenient time. Also scheduling a septic pumper can be a hassle, not to mention the raising costs of pumping and disposal.

 

[dladcock]

A friend at work FIL had one of the coolest set-ups I've ever seen. His deal was actually for a motor home, but could have worked the same for a trailer and it was a lot like you guys have described.

The building was a pull-thru. Drive in the back, out the front. All the hook-ups and a full septic system to support a full bath, kitchen for a family of four in the building. Basically, he had a house he could park his motor home inside.

The kitchen, lounge and bath were on one side of the building, with a workshop area on the opposite wall. The M/H separated the two areas.

He really never used the M/H except for sleeping, most living was done in the "house" part of the building. If he did take the M/H out, the tanks for the bathroom were always emptied before the rig was parked, so no problems with the domestic septic system.

When he and his wife separated, he lived in the M/H, in the building in HER back yard, until he could get back on his feet. Except for the location, I could have lived there indefinitely!

dla

 

[Andy Griffith]

1000 sq ft metal building/shop. I put in a toilet, sink, and water heater. All the water lines are run inside the insulated building and the lines themselves are also insulated. (yes that's overkill) It has been very much worth the modest investment for the toilet and the big laundry sink in the shop. In fact the laundry sink has been very handy for all kinds of things where a regular sized sink would not have worked.

I also put RV utilities - 30 amp outlet, cable tv, Cat 5 internet, and OTA antenna outlet on the wall in the far bay with a 14' tall roll-up door. I replicated all those RV utilities on the outside of the shop and added a fresh water hose bib, thinking the RV might end up parked out there. Good thing I did because the RV lasted all of 8 months in the shop before it got the boot to the outside under a metal car port and connected to said utilities. Just needed the room for more productive shop equipment.

This has worked well as the RV is under cover but still available for use as a fully functioning guest house, or ready to travel as desired.

I was unable to put a 4" gravity septic dump station near these utilities where the RV is parked because of the location and lack of slope to the septic tank. Instead, I use an RV macerator (uses garden hose for discharge) to pump the tanks over to the clean-out from the shop waste line to the septic tank. This works fine although it is a bit slower than a gravity dump would be. It's nice to be able to return from a camping trip without trying to find a place to dump the tanks on the way back. I can dump the tanks at home when I get around to it.

One thing I messed up on is placement of the water heater. I put it on the floor in the corner of the building just beside the toilet and sink locations. It's only a 10 gallon tank and had I been thinking, I would have put it up in the loft above the toilet/sink instead of using up precious floor space.

 

[Bib Overalls]

With your plumbing on an interior wall consider putting a counter and sink on the garage bay side. A place where you can wash dishes and prepare meals.

 

[joe_padavano]

Two thoughts. First on the bathroom. I am currently finishing my 28x32 ft metal building. I installed a 5.5 x 6 ft bathroom (I wanted to minimize loss of shop space). The bath includes a corner shower in addition to sink and toilet. The sink is actually a laundry tub. It's tight but much larger than an RV bathroom. I got the corner shower from Ace Hardware. It's 36"x36".

I would be very cautious about dumping an RV black water tank if you have septic. The RV tanks need to be somewhat full to properly empty solids, and depending on the size of the tank, dumping 40 gallons into a septic tank all at once can cause the septic tank to overflow and sent solids into the drainfield. If you must do this, only dump half a tank or so at a time.