Car ports

After spending a number of winters digging out my car and an equal number of winters assembling a plastic temporary garage, I have decided to think seriously about building a car port this summer. I Googled car ports and found a serious lack of information on the subject, hence my decision to start this blog on my quest for a nice car port.

Initially I though about designing and building my own carport out of lumber but a friend has suggested I look into buying a pre-fab carport or a carport kit as he thinks it might be cheaper. I think I would like a back wall on the structure in order that it might support some shelves or cabinets. Theft isn't really a big deal in our neighborhood and I wouldn't leave anything valuable out there in any event. I suppose I could install some sort of locking steel cabinets if need be.

I live in an older neighborhood and my drive way is fairly narrow so I need to decide whether the carport will be in the narrow driveway at the side of the house or slightly behind the house where I would have more room. Slightly behind the house would give me more security but it would also mean more snow shoveling which is self-defeating.

Every winter accumulated ice slides off my roof and on to the drive way with enough force to damage a temporary garage and my car. My carport would need to withstand this yearly ice fall.

So far my primary concerns about carports are strength, price, ease of building and location. My next step will be to start looking for plans, options, single carport dimensions, and maybe even double carport. Time spent planning my carport now will be well appreciated once the project is finished.