Suggestions on carports?

[Chris Nemlich]

At my house I currently do not have a garage and I don't have room on my property to build a two car garage without taking up the back lawn, which the parents won't do. Instead, I came across these and thought they may be a good solution. Let me know what you think of these as well as any carports you have or are thinking about using.

Option 1



Option 2



Chris

[Tim Lingor]

Hi Chris,

Before I bought my new house with the double car garage, I used to use an EZ-Up Canopy. They work OK, but the problem comes when a person wants to permenantly leave up a canopy like the ones you posted. You have to find a way to anchor them down securely. I know a guy that used 3 old car batteries per side plus screw type tent pegs to hold his large canopy down. One night a gust of wind actually tossed the canopy, and batteries, into the neighbors yard!

Otherwise, they work well and will do the job!!

Tim
ps. I think Costco carries a model like the one you have shown....

[BlkBear]

These type of covered car/truck shelters are great, just as long as their installed properly and you have a good wind break (a row of trees or another building). to help keep them from turning into kites.

Also helps if you can install them over a concrete pad with anchoring holes for the poles. But in your case the concrete pad may not be an option. But be warned, you'll be killing the grass and making a muddy mess if you don't install some sort of parking pad, once the grass starts to die off, so best to go with the concrete pad, or any the very least and enclosed gravel pad.

Go for the BEST PROTECTION you can afford to get. The shelter you purchase should be able to stand up to all types of weather for the area you live in. DO NOT CHEAP OUT if this is for 24/7 out of the weather protection.

You want the shelter to be able to be closed as completely as something like this can be, and made of material that can stand up to sun, wind, rain, snow and hail, even if you live in a climate that rarely has any sort of rough weather ... Better one of these types shelters, then nothing at all during a freak dust or hail storm.

[rusty bumper]

Before I would invest in tent like shelter, I would look at the aluminum type first....



These can be had for just a few hundred dollars.

[Murr1525]

Is the aluminum type any better at not turning into a kite?

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Murr1525
Is the aluminum type any better at not turning into a kite?

They should be.

I was told that the installers use very deep auger like screws to anchor them into the ground.

[BlkBear]

Originally posted by Murr1525
Is the aluminum type any better at not turning into a kite?

Aluminum or Tent, does not matter if frame work is not secured to the ground or concrete pad, it's a kite in a high wind storm.

[Chris Nemlich]

Any idea what it would cost to put down this "concrete pad"? Probably won't be an option for me anyways. I don't think my parents want me laying down concrete on the lawn.

Chris

[BlkBear]

Originally posted by Chris Nemlich
Any idea what it would cost to put down this "concrete pad"? Probably won't be an option for me anyways. I don't think my parents want me laying down concrete on the lawn.

Howdy Chris,

If this is something that is very temporary, you can forget the gravel and just anchor the shelter to railroad ties. And park the cars on plywood and resod or replant the grass when you are done using the space for parking.

Barring that, and since concrete does not sound like an option your folks would go for...

Hauling in gravel and framing it with rail road ties, to make you car parking pad, would be you best bet. You'd still have to remove the sod or end up killing the grass, but you can remove the gravel at any time and replace the sod or replant grass in that space.

Not counting the shelter, I'd say you could do the gravel and rail road tie option for a couple hundred to three hundred bucks if you pick up the gravel in a pick up truck and haul it in yourself. You have to mark off the space place the ties, secure them in place (stake them into the ground), cover the area that you'd be putting the gravel with plastic or weed barrier, to keep stuff from growing up through the gravel and then fill the space with gravel, pack it down and add the rest of the gravel and pack that down as well.

At least this give you two options that they might go for (over the concrete option).

Oh and as for the cost of the concrete pad, that would depend on how deep and how wide you'd want it.

Basing this on a friend that added to his driveway space, to park two extra cars next to his existing driveway ... $1000.