Help with a floor in a portable garage

[Mustangous]

Hello,
I want to setup one of those tent/portable garage next to my 2 car garage for extra storage. When I lived with my parents i had 2 of them linked together. They are 12x20 each. they were 1/2 on very compacted blue stone and the rest dirt. The blue stone is where my father used to park his peterbuilt truck. If we got a lot of rain fall the area would build up with water and sit there for a few hours. Even if it didnt rain in the winter months with the temperature changes and the sun beating on the cover it was acutally raining from the inside. The water would just build up on the inside of the cover. It developed extreme amounts of moisture inside that a lot of my tools and other things were rusting.

Now where I live now, I dont have that drainage problem, but next to the garage its just dirt. My question is what can i use as a base floor? I would to do this as cheap as possible, but I dont want to get the moisture in there again. I couple of people told me since i dont have a drainage problem here that is I put a few inches of blue stone down that would be good. But i am not sure and would like to get the opionion of others here. I will have a lot of yard equipment and i dont want to get any of it ruined. I think in the winter I will still have the moisture problem. Maybe if i lay blue stone done on top of a pitched base underneath and make wooden front and back door with lots of vent I may have a chance.

Any ideas or suggestions??

 

[tomd999]

Hiya,

What I do with mine is build up about a 4" 'pad' of soil, pack it down really well, level with a ever so slight crown, get some HD polly sheeting from tsc, lay that down making sure it extends out past the curtain and then put about 2" of knit-pack on top. It lasts about 2 years and keeps the moisture down to reasonable levels for what type of structure it is.

The knit pack on top does a good job spreading the weight of the tractor and the sheeting holds up very well. You just have to make sure your always moving when you turn the steering wheel.

I posted a picture of my "garage in a box" in the JD section under the poat "where does your tractor sleep?" if you want to see it.
Tom

 

[RedDirt]

Hiya,
... and then put about 2" of knit-pack on top.

What is knit-pack?

 

[NuBota]

I went real cheap - just a heavy tarp over the dirt, cinder blocks in the corners. it has held up well. Make sure I'm in 2WD when manuvering. I also put down a thin piece of 4x8 PT plywood to aid in positioning the belly mower - but was able to do fine without it. Just drive right over it. Tarp is a little wrinkled, but fine. Have had no water droplets form on the inside and have had no rust issues. I am thinking about adding the vents though. The air does get very "close" in there on hot days.

I would have done something more elaborate, but couldn't see putting in the expense since it is temporary (1-2 years) and will be gone when the pole barn is built

 

[sailnseagulls]

I also had a storage problem and couldn't build another garage without variances,etc. I had stone next to my garage and used that to level 4X4's that I put a deck of 3/4 PT plywood over. To this I fastened down the cover-it garage. I still found I had condensation from the difference in air from inside/outside. I put vents in front and back which helped. I had a couple wind and rain storms and no matter how tight I got the ends, they would blow in and things got wet. I ended up making a plywood wall in the back end which I then put the cover-it end over. In the front I put a sill that prevents the water from coming in. Lastly, I used insulation sheets about 3 feet wide ( used to cover heat ducts) and taped them together with alum tape. I put this insulation between the cover and ribs of the cover-it. No more condensation and everything is dry. Of course, all of this cost way more than the cover-it!

Larry

 

[Mustangous]

Hiya,

What I do with mine is build up about a 4" 'pad' of soil, pack it down really well, level with a ever so slight crown, get some HD polly sheeting from tsc, lay that down making sure it extends out past the curtain and then put about 2" of knit-pack on top. It lasts about 2 years and keeps the moisture down to reasonable levels for what type of structure it is.

The knit pack on top does a good job spreading the weight of the tractor and the sheeting holds up very well. You just have to make sure your always moving when you turn the steering wheel.

I posted a picture of my "garage in a box" in the JD section under the poat "where does your tractor sleep?" if you want to see it.
Tom

Now should i still crown the soil if the garage is going to be butted up right against my house? Or should i crown the soil front to back and side to side so if any rain/water goes between the house and garage its should flow away from the tent? or should i just crown side to side and dig out a trench that flows along the house and down away and fill it with stone? And should i use blue stone or that knit pack stuff?

What is knit-pack?

and what he said.....

 

[RedDirt]

Now should i still crown the soil if the garage is going to be butted up right against my house? Or should i crown the soil front to back and side to side so if any rain/water goes between the house and garage its should flow away from the tent? or should i just crown side to side and dig out a trench that flows along the house and down away and fill it with stone? And should i use blue stone or that knit pack stuff?

If your portable garage has a gable roof or arched roof and the ridge is parallel with the wall of the house then you'll need to get rid of the water on the half of roof that flows toward the house. A shed roof would be a better roof configuration in this case so the entire roof rain water load can be directed away from the house. If you need to use the gable type (because you already have it?) I'd space it away from the house if possible, beyond the water overshoot of water running off the roof, so you are not getting the side of your house wet.

Maybe you are thinking that the side of the house can provide side protection for your garage. Maybe it can, but don't do it at the expense of the house. Do you have enough space/access to orient the ridge of the garage perpendicular to the house?

If you must use a gable roof and butt the eave of the garage against the house is there any way you can incorporate some type of gutter at the eave of the garage? This would get rid of the garage runoff before it got to the floor level.

If you can post a picture of the garage and the location you want it placed it would be easier to determine the best approach.

 

[Mustangous]

Sorry took so long. This is not a good picture, but maybe give an idea. THere are bushes along the side of the house that are not there anymore, there are also a few trees missing as well. There is on tree about 12.5 or 13 ft away from the house, so the portable garge is 12ft wide so it will have to be close against the house.

The only thing i could come up with is to keep a slope(which is already a good angled slope) from the house out and to lay plastic down on that, but to have the plastic wider than 12 ft and to stick the plastic out of the rock base about 6" or so from the house so when i put up the garage up i can keep the plastic against the inside wall of the garage. This way all the water that runs down a long the tent garage and house will hopefully just slope down under the plastic and rocks and soak into the ground with minimizing the moisture in the protable garage.

Before i do this i am going to run a drainage put from the gutters on the house straight out to the back to here I have a lake. So not sure if i could incorperate something at the same time? Since i will have a trench out along the side of the house maybe i could make a french drain with a preforated pipe out to the lake too?

What do you guys think? I will try to get a few pics tomorrow...

Thanks again for everyones input.

 

[Mustangous]

Here are some pictures of where is going....

I measures 12'11" between the house and the tree. So unfortunatly I have to put it 1 foot away from the house....
So any suggestions??

Troy

 

[bx24d]

First question ( and I don't think this has been covered yet) is how long do you plan on having this portable garage there? Some of these things are guaranteed for 15 years. If you want it there for a long time, it's better to do it right. For moisture control, you need venting and a vapor barrier (sold by Farmtek.com) to put underneath your flooring. I used compacted processed stone (maybe the same thing you're calling blue stone) and put the vapor barrier on top. I put 1/2 inch rubber matting on top of that. Its very durable and dry as a bone. I do keep the door rolled up most of the time in the Summer and close it only when I'm expecting a big thunder storm or a long, drenching rain. Short rainstorms don't seem to put any water at all inside the door.