Car Ports

Attached or freestanding

This is the first decision and it shapes everything after it.

Getting the size right

The commonest regret is building one that technically covers the car but is miserable to use. Worth thinking about before the posts go in:

• Door clearance. A car port the exact width of the car means opening the door into a post. Leave room to actually get out.
• Height. A truck, a roof rack or a raised suspension needs more headroom than a saloon. Measure the tallest thing you own, then add margin.
• Length. Covering the bonnet and roof but leaving the boot in the rain gets old quickly, particularly if that is where you unload shopping.
• Two vehicles. Doubling the width is far cheaper now than extending later, because the roof structure gets built once.

Roof style

A gable roof peaks in the middle and generally matches a house that has gables of its own. A lean-to (or shed) roof slopes one way, is simpler and cheaper, and suits an attached car port where the high side meets the house.

Which one looks right depends on the house, not on preference in the abstract. A gable car port bolted onto a low ranch house tends to look bigger than the building it is serving.

The parts that decide how long it lasts

A car port is mostly posts and a roof, so those are where the money should go. Post bases matter most — timber sitting directly on concrete wicks water up into the end grain and rots from the bottom, which is exactly where you cannot see it. Raising posts on proper bases is a small detail that decides whether the structure is sound in fifteen years.

Beyond that: how far the roof overhangs on the weather side, and where the water actually goes when it comes off. Directing runoff away from the posts and away from the drive is worth planning rather than discovering.

Common questions