Carports are a popular and economical way to protect a vehicle. For most people their home is their largest investment and their car is the second. Some new cars and trucks actually cost more than a modest home. We are all shocked at how expensive automobiles have gotten. Five years ago a friend of mine purchased a small home on the edge of town and paid $10,000 less for it than he paid for his new truck. Our transportation is well worth the investment in a carport to shelter it.
With the cost of garages, it is not always a viable option for someone on a budget. This is when a carport is a great choice. Carports can be flat topped, single sloped like a shed roof, or peaked with a gable.
CARPORT DESIGNS
No slope carports simple to construct but in an area with snow fall, a carport with no roof angle can pose a problem. Heavy snow load could flatten a car’s protection right on top of it. In warmer climates no slope carports can be seen with a deck or patio built on top of it.
A single slope roof is a nice option when attaching it to a home or another building or when there is a limited amount of space for a carport. This is a more simple construction style than a gabled carport, yet it still prevents snow and ice build up. A single slope is a great choice for a DIY person. When measuring for the frame, it is easier to cut one angle to make a shed roof, than to measure and re-measure to get the peaked gable to come out right.
The third type of roof line is the gabled construction. For clarification, a gable of a building is where the top of the wall ends and the roof line begins and climbs to the peak. It looks like a triangle on the end of the building. Both the gabled and the single sloped roof line encourages the water to run off and also increases the strength of the shelter.
Free Standing 13 guage square steel frame
Carports can be made of either wood, metal, or metal superstructure with a polyethylene (a special type of vinyl) cover. They can have just a roof and no sides, or up to three sides.
Wooden carports are typically built by a general contractor or by a homeowner equipped with a set of plans. For a more permanent carport that can be built right onto the home. The wooden ones are a good choice. Shingles or metal roofing to match the home can be installed on the carport, resulting in a carport that is an integral part of the home.
Metal carports tend to be free standing. Purchasing a metal carport kit is a good way. With all the material included in the kit, plus directions (for those who actually read them), it goes together without too much time and headache. Carport kits are also more suitable for a do-it-yourselfer than adding a wooden carport addition to the home.
Metal carports can be purchased to shelter not just one car, but several in a row. Apartment buildings sometimes have covered parking for residents. Some 500 cars in a row at times can be found under a commercial carport. RV carports can also be found that are specially designed with added height for campers and motor homes. Others are used for covering hay bales, farm equipment, and animal shade.
Metal carports are the best choice for agricultural use due to the ruggedness of the ranch and farm settings. Hay is a valuable commodity and retains more value if under cover. Farm equipment can cost as much as or more than a vehicle, necessitating its protection. Also livestock flock to stand in the shade and also avoid storms if a shelter is available. I have seen some horse owners add hanging strips of plastic to the car port opening to help keep the flies out.
A car canopy, more portable carports, are another option. Made with a metal frame and anchored to the ground, this type has a polyethylene cover. Polyethylene is advertized as being 100% water proof with a special treatment to prevent ripping, mildew, fading, and UV ray damage. Canopy carports range between roofs only, one, two, or three sided. There are also a few with a fourth zippered side to totally enclose a vehicle.
A 10’x20’ or 12’x20’ size are both common in canopy carports.More portable than their wooden and metal cousins, they are commonly seen at picnics, family reunions, and sidewalk sales.
Whatever choice is made, carports are a great way to shelter a vehicle. The wide variety of sizes, styles, and materials they are available in makes the choice easy to find one that matches a budget and a home’s exterior design. Garage plans are also now available on our site.
Tags: car canopy, car port, car port options, carport, carport designs, carport kits, carports, metal carports, rv carports
Sometimes it is a better choice for a homeowner to go ahead and built a permanent garage instead of just owning a carport. Often if someone transitions from renting a home to purchasing it, a garage will help improve their home value more than just a simple metal carport or even less expensive poly car canopy could ever do. When choosing a garage it is important to review plans, consider your options, weight out in your mind what needs to be included in the garage, and think about the various styles and types. Several construction methods can be turned into garages, so here is a look at some various styles and designs as well as some sample layouts that we have done for customers over the years.
Garage plans are first based on the type of building you want. There are simple pole buildings, stick framed garages, log garages, brick or stone garages, and steel buildings. Another consideration is if you plan to attach it to a home or let it be free standing away from the house. If built only a few feet away from the house then a breeze way can be erected to attach the two together. After you decide which style of garage and if it will be attached or detached, then you should think about the outside appeal of the garage and how many bays you want it to be. Bays is another word for how many cars you can park within it. Garage doors can be single or double doors. Common garage styles are one car, two car, multi car, rv garage plus car bays, garages with lofts, dormer garages, garage apartments, or a cape cod style garage. So let’s look at each.
Silverton Garage Plan by Cowboy Log Homes
Glacier Garage Plan with Large Apartment by Cowboy Log Homes
One hint is it is always a good idea to try to ‘tie’ your home together. One family took great care to re-roof all of their structures with the same kind of roofing. Even the dog house and wishing well had bright blue metal roofs. If you want a garage with living space above and your existing home is a cape cod, then a cape cod garage might look really nice. Here is a photo of a little two car cape cod done in logs. On the second floor this is designed with two gable dormers and a ridge pole. The upper level is very open and is intended for a game room. (Click here for floor plan).
The next one that we can take a look as is designed with a nice size apartment over the garage. The garage is designed for two cars. Also on the first level is a laundry room and half bath. This is a perfect option for someone who wants to rent out the apartment for extra income, have a separate place to put company, or have a home office that is outside of the actual house. The extra decking and covered porches on this model are also very attractive. (Click here for floor plan.)
For all those who own taller possessions such as RV’s, campers, fifth wheels, horse trailers, boats, etc. a nice option is to add a taller bay at the end of the garage or in the middle. If a wider garage of say 50′x28′ is used the middle door could be made wider and higher. Another composition that makes the roof line not stick out on the higher level is to locate the RV bay on the end of the garage. Then place living space over the other two bays. This would even out the roof line and also provide parking for the taller vehicle.
In garage plans and designs it is always better to go bigger. Instead of building a minimal 24×24 garage with eight foot wide doors, consider instead going 28×32 and adding wider doors. When you resell your home someone may not drive the small cars that you drive. More than once a home has sold for more because it has a great garage. Also homes have been passed over because the garage was tiny. Forethought helps to insure your investment.
Fraser Plan with Two Car Attached Garage by Cowboy Log Homes
When choosing the final size be sure to not only count the cars you want to park inside but also factor in all of the other stuff that needs to be stored in there. Many garages loose an entire bay to bicycles, lawn mowers, four wheelers, garage trailers, fishing equipment, the grill, tools, saws, heaters, fans, and just about anything else imaginable. Instead of loosing a bay it might be better to make the garage deeper. Adding another six or eight feet to the end of it provides a place for all of the storage.
For those who are coupling up a garage with a work shop there may be specific needs. For trucks the doors need to be bigger, the floor stronger, and the ceiling higher. A good heavy duty garage could be a metal building or a framed building with 2×6 outer walls. The interior wall height may need to be ten or twelve feet instead of nine. The floor should probably be upgraded to six inches thick with rebar instead of the standard four inches. Some owners even choose to upgrade to a high capacity reinforced garage perimeter footer. In heavy snow load areas the garage roofing could be 16″ on center with trusses or rafters instead of the standard 24″ on center.
When attaching a garage to a home there is always the possibility of loosing a window. Instead that window opening could be cut out and replaced with a door. Here is one ranch style log home with an attached two car garage. This garage is 24′x35′. In my opinion it would be more appealing with a 28′ width, but it is still an impressive garage and it matches will with the roof lines. (Click here for floor plan.)
The finish cost of a garage is much different than for the living space of a home. Once the shell is up, foundation work finished, and the doors and windows installed it is finished. When a garage is attached to a home it is commonly required that the garage be dry walled and fire taped on any wall or ceiling that borders living space of the home. This also helps with the insulation factor of the garage.
Though the featured garages on this page are log and timber please remember that anyone one of them can be built in any style. They could just as easily be stick framed, brick, or from another material.
Many thanks to Cowboy Log Homes for allowing us to feature their log home garage plans in this article. If you contact them directly you may also be able to get free garage plans preliminary drawings for many of their plans. Carport Options
Tags: attached garage plans, cape cod garage plans, free garage plans, garage floor plans, garage plan, garage plan with apartment, garage plans, garage plans and design, garage wit living quarters, garage with apartment, heavy duty garage plans
Metal carport kits are one of the most durable of carports. Anything metal tends to have a longer life span than does a vinyl or poly car canopy material. Carport kits typically come fully ready to assemble. This would mean that all the drilling and cutting is done ahead of time. This is a huge time saver.
Carport Kits
The purpose of purchasing a carport kit is to make it easier for the do-it-yourselfer homeowner to be able to assemble the carport with only a few tools and perhaps a little help from a neighbor. Carport kits should come with instructions, but I have heard a few times that no instructions were included. So be sure to ask the manufacturer or place where you are purchasing it if your model does indeed come with instructions. Just because they have carports for sale does not mean that that is the best place to purchase one.
Metal Carport Kits
Metal Carport kits
When choosing which of many metal carports might be right for you, be sure to check construction specifics against things such as snow load, wind, and required local building codes for your city, town, and even subdivision. Some subdivisions may not allow a portable carport, but they may allow a steel or aluminum carport that is cemented permanently into the ground and has at least four inch thick cement pad for parking. If parking heavier vehicles such as a crew cab diesel truck, you may want to make the pad six inches thick. Heavy vehicles can require more cement to keep it from cracking under the larger weight load.
Metal carports kits can be like the one pictured on the left from Amazon, with open sides. Or the homeowner can add sides panels. If this is done, the homeowner must be sure that the metal carport is property affixed to the foundation. Solid sides means that the wind must go over and around the structure instead of through it.
Snow load is another topic that I do want to spend a minute addressing. Even in areas that do not receive much snow, it is a good idea to be sure that the carport can withstand whatever nature can throw at it. It would be terrible to awake one morning to a heavy snow fall and find the carport collapsed on top of the car.
If carports- metal kits- are purchased they should be erected as soon as they arrive on the job site. This prevents them from being damaged on site. Sometimes metal siding or frame can be bent or even backed over by a car if someone is not paying attention. This is heart breaking and budget wrecking for anyone.
Some thrifty homeowner like to research purchasing metal carports used. This after market idea may work, but these structures are not meant to be taken down and moved. Any damage that the carport has already sustained from use the first time around will be problems that the new owners inherit. In the case that you can purchase one that someone never erected, that is a different situation all together. Carport kits of metal are some of the strongest on the market.
Traditional Carports
Carports can have a very temporary sound to them, but they are in fact found in various styles even on expensive homes. Sometimes people refer to them as a covered entry. What makes it a carport instead of a covered entry is the size of it. A covered entry might only be a few feet deep, but a carport is one under which a car can drive and park. Recently we designed a 4,000 square foot log home for a couple that wanted a carport on the front side. This way when it was raining the couple could pull in under it and unload. So a carport is not always just a small, inexpensive addition to park a car under. It can in fact be built as an integral part of the home. Garage plans can also be found with carports built onto one side.
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