Carports Are Not Just For Cars

The addition of a carport to your home can increase the value of your home while increasing the enjoyment you and your family have in your home. If you think carports are strictly for cars then you might be able to benefit from the wide numbers of uses a carport actually has. Of course, the vast majority of carports are intended to protect vehicles from the elements. However, some creative souls are using carports in other creative ways.

I friend of mine loves to entertain. His parties are legendary. He always manages to combine the right guests and food and his parties, big and small are always raved about. He lives on the west coast and regularly laments that he can’t trust the weather to cooperate with his party planning. This conundrum is experienced by many that live in British Columbia, Washington State, or Oregon State. In a flash of party planning brilliance he added a double wide carport to the side of his house!

My friend’s carport will never be used to protect his car from the elements. His carport has been transformed into an outdoor kitchen and bar area. In his situation the carport made a lot of sense as his house already had a convenient side door that entered into his kitchen. He now has an indoor kitchen and an outdoor kitchen adjacent to one another. Let the party begin.

The selection of carports available to setup something like this is unlimited. You could go as inexpensive or extravagant as you want, and correspondingly you can choose a simple steel carport kit, or have a custom wooden carport built to spec. Roof style plays a big part in how much like a carport your outdoor entertaining area appears – a classic flat or lean-to roof will look like a re-purposed car port, whereas building a saltbox or peaked roof carport may give your building enough individuality that no one would suspect that it’s intended design was for storing the sports car.

Choosing between a free standing car port, or one that uses an adjacent building for support on one side is another factor which will determine how many other uses you can find for your carport. If you choose stand alone, you could even put the structure in your backyard, make a few alterations to the design, and you could use it either as winter storage for your jet-skis and sea-doo, or setup a backyard dining room, outfitted with net sidewalls to keep out the mosquitoes.

The creative use of a carport can really extend the living space of your house. With a few tweaks and special planning the carport could be used for vehicle storage during some months and used as living space during some other months. Consider adding a carport to your home