Car Port

[sgtsandman]

A member asked for pictures of my car port since he is interested in one of his own. This is a stick built structure made to be built up, broken down, and stored for the summer. My township resembles a HOA in many ways, so this is my solution to avoid running into conflicts with that. The car port is 10' wide, 30' long, and about 12' high. Big enough for two vehicles with the third parked in the garage. The base is secured with 3/4" by 18" long steel stakes once the structure is built. @Josh B

The tarps this time are commercial grade vinyl. I had a heavy canvas tarp for many years but a heavy wind shredded it last year.

 

[Josh B]

Man, that's a great design but it's a shame having to do it every year. I thought rebuilding my tomato rack every year was sort of a nuisance and it don't take but about an hour.

How was that cost-wise compared to a metal pre-fab? I can see it being stronger and more functional and easier for modifications.

I'll need to go for about 12 ft width so I can pull a motor in it and work around on the sides some

 

[sgtsandman]

I have no idea where I’m at cost wise now. I’ve had the basic design for about 10 years now. They would probably end up being about the same in cost.

Build up and tear down time takes about a weekend. Most times I’m doing it bit by bit after work, so I don’t have a hard number on that.

You could do a 12’ span with this design. It’s pretty stable as it is now , so could handle an extra 2’. You might want to make longer angle brackets on the sides though.

The up rights are 8’, so work height should be good. You will need an 8’ ladder at minimum though. The peak is about 12’.

All I have left is the eves on the awning side. So I should be able to get you pictures of the finished structure before the cover goes on.

Oh, and all of this gets put up and taken down by me, myself, and I. Help would be nice but is not needed.

 

[Josh B]

Did you study into the metal ones before you took this route?

 

[sgtsandman]

Yep. At the time, it was cheaper to buy the lumber, brackets, and screws than buy a metal one. But that is not factoring in what your time is worth. Also, it was 2’ shorter, the sides were 2X3s, and it didn’t have the side awning.

 

[Josh B]

Wow, I hadn't thought about the height being that much different. I also haven't priced lumber in quite a while.
Do you use the tarps on top also? I'll be looking forward to seeing it. I need to get a load of gravel and get started spreading it out across the area

 

[sgtsandman]

The tarp originally was wrapped over the top and sides like a regular car port. The tarp stopped about 3’ from the ground on each side.

I would not recommend a poly tarp for this. A canvas tarp would be the absolute minimum. A poly tarp wouldn’t last the winter, let alone the 10 years I got out of the canvas one. I think it was 18 oz treated canvas. It was a heavy S.O.B. But I got my money’s worth out of it.

 

[Josh B]

Thankfully I'm not encumbered by too many codes, long as my one neighbor doesn't have a problem with it I'll not likely have any problem with them, and I let him graze his cattle here So really I'm looking for simple but sturdy, it'll have to hold up some sort of a roof and roofing. Long as it'll hold that up it should be ok.
We don't get much snow, but an occasional ice storm could be a real bugger on it, so I'll hope to at least make it through one of those if it happens

 

[Josh B]

I'll likely use a good bit of what you've done there, including the 4x4 footer

 

[Dirtman]

My mom and dad wanted to put up a car port at their house but ran into similar issues with the township zoning regs. It would be too close to the property line blah blah blah. 179.99 later got them one of those tent style car garages. It's not a permanent structure so township can't do anything. It survived hurricane sandy and plenty of nor'Easters. I'd love to do a nice wooden thing like that but I still think even without a foundation the township would complain...

And... you cant beat 179 bucks lol. I've closed it up and put my torpedo heater in it and stayed warm working in January.

 

[sgtsandman]

I still have the garage if I need to heat up a space during the winter, depending on the job. There has been a time or two where just pointing the torpedo heater right at the bottom of the vehicle I'm working on trapped enough heat to make the garage unnecessary. I was always a bit leery of those tent style car ports and none of the cheaper ones had a way to open the back wall so you can drive through. If you don't need to drive through, winner, winner chicken dinner.

 

[bobbywalter]

I have have built a few out of emt.

Super light and only take minutes to put up and take down....

Temp structures for oilfield opps.....we got some deals on giant surplus cargo parachutes and it works titties and icecream for covering some mud pumps and flow back manifolds.


For the house/hunting cabin and a full winter season use the weight of wood and feel of it I have to say is much better

You could incorporate emt into the joining of your frame sections to expedite set up and take down.

 

[Josh B]

What's emt Bobby?

 

[bobbywalter]

1/2" EMT Conduit - 100' BUNDLES - LOCAL PICK UP ONLY | eBay

Find great deals for 1/2" EMT Conduit - 100' BUNDLES - LOCAL PICK UP ONLY . Shop with confidence on eBay!

www.ebay.com

1" Low Peak Corner Fitting

www.a1tarps.com

 

[Josh B]

Ok, electrical conduit, wow, cool!