A carport—whether attached or free-standing—is the easiest home to build for your car. If you’ve converted your garage into an attractive livingspace or a good-size workshop, it’s often possible to locate a carport in front of the old garage. This makes it possible to use the in-place driveway. Or, you may place the carport on the side of the house and make the cover an extension of the existing roof lines. This makes it possible to use the in-place driveway. If this isn’t feasible, a frequent solution is erecting a shed-type structure against a wall of the house.
Either way, construction procedures can be minimized by viewing the carport as a husky frame that is there to support a roof. Actually, there are three major phases in building a carport: laying a slab, building supporting posts, and adding a roof.
Laying a slab.
Lay out the edges of the slab with string lines as described on page 34; check for square by measuring diagonally across from corner to corner. When dimensions are the same on each diagonal, the slab will be square. Remember that the slab must line up with the walls of the existing house, and if it is to be poured against the foundation, the slab must be secured to the old structure as discussed in Chapter 3.
Level the edge of the slab against the house, 4 to 6 inches below the siding or top of the foundation wall. Slope the front end of the form down and away from the house for drainage, 2 inches for each 10 feet. Dig a 1-foot wide trench to a depth below the local frost line on three sides of the slab to act as the footer; the house’s foundation will perform this task on the fourth side of the slab. Excavate the remaining area of slab to a depth of 4 to 6 inches and fill with pit-run gravel or crushed rock. In areas where the ground freezes, reinforce the concrete w ith 6- by-6 welded steel mesh or 3/8-inch reinforcing bars crisscrossed on 12-inch centers.
Proper way to set forms and pour the concrete for a carport slab The slab should be tied into the house foundation as described in Chapter 3. The "U" strap shown in detail above may be used in place of the hold-down bolts or post base clamp.
Fill the form with concrete (1 part portland cement, 3 parts sand. 4 parts gravel, and minimum water) and strike off the level with a straight-edged 2-by-4 across the top of the form. As soon as the concrete begins to set, finish the surface with a wood float first. A smooth finish is desired; then steel trowel the surface. Work from the plank bridge across the floor area. Use an edger around the sides and a groover to make a rectangular pattern, if desired. Insert 1/2-inch anchor bolts or post base clips into the concrete slab at each post location. Application of the built-up roof is the next step. Call in a professional roof applicator for this job. He can recommend the best and most economical roof to meet the requirements in your locality. Have the roofer or a sheet metal shop make up and install the shop-primed galvanized gravel stop to insure a neat installation.
Prepare for the pouring and finishing of the patio and carport slab by setting 2-by-4 cedar screeds in a 4-by-4-foot pattern. Set the screeds to effect a slope of approximately 1/8 inch: 1 to 0 inches from the rear to the front of the carport and the same from the front of the storage cabinets to the edge of the patio slab. The edge of the slab at the storage cabinet fronts is deepened, and reinforcing steel is installed at 24-inch centers to keep the slab from cracking at this point. To finish the carport and patio slab, use a broom finish, which is accomplished by carefully dragging a stiff broom across the surface as the concrete begins to set. If a pebbled texture is desired for the patio, brush the concrete with a stiff broom approximately 4 hours after pouring and hose off the top surface of cement particles using generous amounts of clean water.
firstly you need a plan and blueprint to build a caport. If you have both of them, you can built a carport faster..