diy carport construction
Our family needs a carport because we have outgrown our 3 car garage. It was doable when there we were just a two car family, but now that our son has his own car and because of the accumulation of stuff we have stored in the garage, there is now only room for one car in the garage. We are constantly having to play “musical cars”.
My son took shop in high school so he came up with the idea that he and I could build a carport. I thought about it and decided it would be a good father son project for us to do. My son thought that this would be a simple task, how hard can it be he said. Put up four post and a roof. I then started explaining to him all the different factors that had to be considered. As with most teenage kids, they think they know more than us parents. I decided the best thing to do was get a good set of simple carport plans. Now only will this be a good father son project, but it will be educational for us both and the carport will be built right.
Now that we have a set of simple carport plans, we wanted to put together a budget to see how much this project was going to cost. We took the material list to the lumber yard and got prices. Then I thought about taking it to another lumber yard to see what their prices were and I was amazed at how much I saved just by getting a 2nd price, I saved over 10%. My son was a little surprised as well. I also knew that by having a complete material list I wouldn’t be running out of material or buying too much material, thus saving more money.
We set aside the next two weekends to do this project. But before we got started, I wanted my son and I to go through the step by step instructions that came with the simple carport plans so that we both knew what had to be done through each step before we actually started construction. The next thing we did was go through the cut sheets and start cutting each piece of wood exactly like the plan indicated. That was a life saver having the cut sheets show us exactly how long to cut each piece and what angle to cut in order for everything to fit. Once this was done we were ready to start building.
It took us the full two weekends, but all in all, it was a great father and son project and now we have room for everyones car. My son admitted that it was a good idea to get the simple carport plans. He learned how carports have to stand up to heavy wind loads because they are basically like an airplanes wings. Not having any side walls, your carport must be correctly anchored to the ground or the first windstorm could destroy it. He also learned how important it is to know about weight loads for the roof, which is important in the snowy region we live in. The roof must be designed and built to handle thousands of pounds of weight (for when you get those heavy snows) or it can collapse, which would be bad enough, but then it could also damage the two cars underneath.
We now have a great addition to our home that we can be proud of, even though what we thought would be a simple project wasn’t as simple as we first thought. However, having the set of simple carport plans made it a lot easier.
Choose from over 12,000 DIY Woodworking Plans here: http://www.build-it-yourself.info
About the Author:
I am the wife of a “Handy Man” and sometimes even his helper. We have saved so much money over the years because we were able to “fix it or build it” ourselves.
Being a handy man doesn’t come naturally for everyone, but you can still tackle some of these projects if you have a good set of plans and detailed instructions.
http://www.build-it-yourself.info
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Simple Carport Plans
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