garage

Why & How We Fit Our Scamp in the Garage

A fantastic trait of small travel trailers is that you can sometimes fit them your garage!  One reason this is a great thing is because trailer storage fees are one of the biggest ongoing expenses of owning an RV and one that stops many from considering buying one.  It’s not uncommon for monthly trailer storage fees to be between $200 and $300 per month for average sized trailers in big cities.  And even dirt cheap storage fees charged by outdoor lots can easily run $50 – $100 per month.  Someone paying just $85 per month is paying over $1,000 per year, or over 6% of the total cost of their trailer (e.g. $16K trailer), every year on storage fees!!!  These fees can really add up over the years!

Another great reason for storing your small travel trailer in your Garage is that it will be out of the elements.  The sun can take a tremendous toll on a trailer with the UV rays damaging tires, outdoor rubber/plastic window trim and parts (including plastic tail lights), and even potentially damaging interior window shades and other visible interior elements.   UV damage is one of the biggest causes of an RV’s value loss.  Rain is another element that can potentially damage a trailer by seeping in and ruining the interior or causing mold, and hail can damage the exterior finish of the trailer.  Pests, such as rodents, have easier access to a trailer if it is left outside and can do considerable damage (e.g. chewing wires, defecating inside the RV….).  The trailer’s battery can also be more vulnerable to all of the above if left outside.

There are many other additional reasons why storing your trailer in your garage is a good idea.  The trailer is less vulnerable to theft or vandalism.  You can provision your trailer for an upcoming trip very easily without having to drive to a storage lot.  In addition, you can prep for the trip a day in advance without have to load it at the last minute; and it’s even possible to turn on and fill the refrigerator the day before you leave.  If you have a sewer cleanout in your garage (and if it’s allowed by local laws), you can dump your tanks in your garage (after a trip, before a trip, and allowing you to test the water systems at home without having to potentially drive somewhere and paying a fee to dump).  And, if your trailer needs work and you want to tinker on it, it’s much easier to work on it in your garage than having to bring all your tools to a storage location (and finding an allowed work area and electricity at the storage facility).  Lastly, having your trailer in your garage will make it easy for you to charge the battery weekly so that it maintains proper voltage.

I was told by Scamp when I first started my inquiry that their 13’ Scamp will clear an 8 foot garage height.  Since we live in a Community HOA, it would not be possible to store our Scamp on the street.  It would have to be stored at a storage lot or inside our garage.  For all the above benefits of home storage, we really wanted to make the garage option work.  Our tract home in Carlsbad has the typical low 7 foot garage height clearance.  My initial research revealed that some people claimed success with getting their Scamps into their 7 foot high garages by removing the Scamp’s wheels and sliding it into the garage riding on tiny rims and deflated tires.  This is an option I didn’t want to try since it involved work each time the Scamp would be moved.

Instead, we decided on seeing if we could raise our garage height.  The big questions were if the height could be raised and, if so, how much would it cost.  Since we live in an HOA, the first requirement was that the HOA approve the project.  We were required to submit before and after renderings showing what the garage looked like before and what it would look like after it was raised to over 8 feet.  Fortunately, my brother-in-law, Bob, is an artist and used an image I took of the garage and modified it to show a very realistic picture of what it would like after raising the garage height.  After about a month, we received our HOA approval.  I then called a Contractor I had worked with in the past to get a quote.  He came out and said he thought it was very doable and gave us a very reasonable estimate for the work ($3,155) which would take less than a week.  He recommended we get a Permit for the project to do it legally and also add value to the home (as an 8 foot garage with Permit could be a highly desirable feature when selling the home in the future).  In order to get a Permit from the City of Carlsbad, we would first need to submit engineering plans.  This required getting an architect and providing a set of our home plans (which the City of Carlsbad obtained by contacting the developer of our community).  Having the plans made the job much easier for the architect and, in turn, less expensive for us.  The architect’s fee for the job was $1,500.

Once we submitted the plan to the City (there was a small building permit fee), our plans got approved within a couple of weeks.  With approved plans in hand, we called our Contractor back and let him transform the garage height from 7’ 1” to 8’ 1”.  It took about a week and worked out great!  We were fortunate in that the perfect height was created just by removing the short vertical pieces (cripples) between the big major cross beam that runs the width of the garage above the garage door (garage header) and the beam above it.  New higher posts and braces were installed to support the elevated header.  New drywall was also installed inside to cover the new beams.  A City inspector came out a couple of times to approve all the work and finally to issue the final Permit.  One last expense was having a new 8 foot garage door installed (along with new parts).  We took the opportunity to get an insulated garage door to keep the temperature in the garage more moderate as well as to better reduce street noise.  Cost for the garage door installed with parts was $1,355.

The total project cost for raising the garage height was about $6,000.  Sure, this amount could pay for years of offsite trailer storage (5 years @ $100 / month).  However, factoring in all the benefits of home storage, the annual savings of storage fees for the entire time we use our garage to store a small trailer, and the potential for increasing the home’s value by having an elevated garage height, we are extremely happy we undertook this project.  It is nice knowing the Scamp is safe in the garage and ready to go for our next trip!

Note:  It is very important to check the slope of your driveway as it could impact the ability of the Scamp roof to clear the garage height, even if the garage is raised to 8’ 1”.

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.