Enclosed trailer setup question

Hey there fellas. I post very little, more of a reader and researcher. This winter I will be building an enclosed setup and getting rid of the open trailer. I am just wanting to get some opinions on a couple things. Let me give you a little background, I do very little house washing, almost no mold where I am. The majority of my work is calcium and rust removal on brick and concrete. I carry a lot of different chemicals at one time on the trailer, as well as media blasting material. I am wanting to expand some of my services to involve more commercial flat work. The majority of my stuff now is residential. I have a buffer tank but am going to upgrade to a much larger tank due to the fact that I have had to turn down numerous jobs since there is no water supply.

My main question is I currently just have a 5.5 cold washer machine. I will be adding an additional machine which is an 8gpm hot water. I am trying to figure out the best orientation for the machines and reels. Obviously water above axles, Chems and other stuff up front.

I could go barn doors on the back. In that case I would probably have stacked reels mounted to floor with both machines oriented somehow to the left of them.

Or I could go with a shelf running across horizontally in the rear that has hose reels mounted to it, and the machines underneath. If I did this it would be a ramp door. One big con in my mind is the foot print of the trailer gets much larger with ramp door.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ramp door just means after a month you realize how much it sucks and have to try to sell it on craigslist and put barn doors on, which will be a pain. Been there, done that. Other than that, remember nothing is permanent. Keep moving stuff around until it is right for you.

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Ramp doors are a pain no matter what industry you’re in. When I had a contracting company I had a trailer with ramp door because I had a table saw on wheels and drywall carts and all kinds other mess on wheels.

I still hated it. LOL. Barn doors also offer another place to hang stuff. BONUS! Barn doors are easier to secure if you have to go inside and take a brown on your luggable loo.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend this from experience unless you have the right amount of tongue weight and a tank over the axle. I almost killed myself by doing it this way. The 360 degree tire skid marks are still on the highway.

If I build another enclosed trailer again, I’d put the machines on racks in the v-nose passenger side, reels on the wall drivers side to run out the side door, 2 vertical tanks over the axles on opposite sides, tight to the wall with a walk way in the middle. Light stuff on the barn door. (fire extinguisher, pvc pipe gun and wand holders, etc.) and I’d use carboys instead of a dedicated chem tank.

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^^^ liked your post for the good info, not for the fact that you almost killed yourself in the process of learning it :grimacing:

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My trailer is very tongue heavy with reels, storage and some 5 gallon pails if sh up front.

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Thank you guys for the responses. Very helpful and helped me decide to go the path I was originally thinking. I will stick with the barn doors.

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I wish I had barn doors. I have a ramp and it takes up another 6 feet of parking when its down.

Absolutely go for the barn doors. I’ve got an open trailer to start but once I build “my trailer” it will be enclosed with barn doors. I haven’t settled on the style yet but I am really leaning towards a V-nose for the additional storage and aerodynamics. Also, the V-nose should allow for more advertising space and be easier to read when in traffic. All of our trailers in the oilfield were barn style except for one. It was actually a stock trailer that was one of the very first trailers we built and it did really well during the summer. Winter…not so much.

Don’t wait another day without ordering a set and replacing . Why use something that doesn’t work for your needs?

I didn’t know you could change the ramp out for barn doors.

It’s frustrating to change out, but worth it

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Well, I guess I’ll be learning the hard way with the ramp door

Barn doors and a side door are a must. Barn doors have my yard signs screwed onto them for extra marketing everytime im working. Side door is huge i pull up and pull the hoses out from that side right to the customers house.

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Well after 2 months of waiting for it to be built at the factory and delivered I finally got it.

It is a 7x16, with barn doors, screwless exterior, and upgraded to 5200lb torsion axles.

Goes in tomorrow to get measured out then all the lettering made and put on. From there the build begins.

Will keep you all updated if you like. Thanks fellas.

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Nice trailer! Looking forward to the build.

I like(really like) the angled diamond plate in the front. That was a smart idea. No extra cost but now it looks different and better the the other 100 brands that basically make the same product. Looks sleek

@SurfaceTherapy Chad you have some great pictures on your site on calcium removal. I’m in another state and we have very similar hard water that builds up on a lot of brick houses. I would sure appreciate chatting with you briefly about how to restore brick work.

That would be fine with me. Later this afternoon would be good