All About Carports

Read on and get a glimpse on the carport’s colorful history.

Do you know how uncomfortable it is to ride your car after its being park under the sun? Have you been pissed off for having made to shovel a pile of snow accumulated on the top of your car when your 30 minutes late?

Cars are made to withstand grueling elements. Since the earlier cars that where released in the pre-war era, cars have evolve to become more endurable and withstanding. Still, they are not built like tanks to survive even the harshest elements. Protection is still needed.

Garages were conceived to address this problem. After all, what could provide a better protection than a four walled structure? Garages also plays somewhat significant role in homes: it doubles as an attic, storage space, or bodega. Consequently more houses that own a car own a garage. But what about those homes that doesn’t have a garage. They do the next best thing. They leave their cars in the open.

So when the radical American architect Frank Lloyd Wright conceptualizes the Usonian Homes, garage-less homeowners did lots of thanking. Frank Lloyd Wright’s creations, the “Usonian Homes”, were typically small, single story dwellings without garage. In place were large cantilevered overhangs that act as a protection for vehicles. And Frank Lloyd Wright called this overhang “Carport”.

Garage-less homeowners absorbed this concept swiftly. They copied the ‘carport’ and integrated it into their homes, even those who did have garage. In a metropolitan area where space is a big factor and posh, neat and elegant homes were warmly received, garage no longer was the most welcoming house improvement. The glory days of garages were coming to an end and in place were cool looking and snug Carports. And carports seeded a number of uses, thanks to its versatile build, it also doubles as a veranda, a tea house, or just a place where one can laze on a sunny day. But they still continue to call it carport.

To date, carports come in several constructs: wood, steel, aluminum, or prefabricated insulated polystyrene foam core panels wrapped in steel or aluminum. Each has its own pros and cons. Though the weakest is wood since it is predisposed to wood warping, chipping and rot, it is by far the most versatile since it can easily match the homes and can be fitted with installations rather easily. Steel is the cheapest and the strongest by far but doesn’t come with designs. Most uses of steel carports are on barns and ranches where decorations are negligible.

A carport is an effective and cost friendly solution for storing or protecting any vehicles. It also cost only a fraction of the price needed for a garage. It provides more ventilation and takes considerably less space. And what more, most carports sold, especially online are do-it-yourself projects that takes only a couple of days to complete.