A momentous occasion (for me, anyway)

[pvfjr]

I've been battling water intrusion, tree debris, clogged window tracks and weep holes (regularly and in short order, I might add) for 5 years now. No more!





I have a good friend with a skid steer, and my son even got a little time at the controls. We widened the old parking space, and cut it back a little deeper to get the GMC more out-of-the-way. Then I got a 12x30 "A-frame vertical" type carport from WCMB. $2270 installed; wait time was about 5 weeks I think.

The crew was very efficient, and had it set up in around 3 hours. They were a day late, unfortunately, as their morning job on the previous day had some serious hiccups (requiring the use of a tow truck). I can't blame them for that--it's tough scheduling multiple jobs for the same day when you never really know what's going to go wrong.

 

[Seeburg220]

Very nice! Skid steers are so much fun, too! Do you intend on anchoring the car port, or is your area okay from storms, etc? Would love to have one of those for mine.

 

[pvfjr]

Very nice! Skid steers are so much fun, too! Do you intend on anchoring the car port, or is your area okay from storms, etc? Would love to have one of those for mine.

Anchoring is actually included as part of the install. They were 30-36" lengths of probably ~1/2" rebar with heads hammered onto them (pretty much the same as how they hammer heads onto wire nails). One of the guys probably spent an hour wailing on the anchors with a large sledgehammer.

I only got the 8' legs, and the AC unit is fairly close to the roof. I didn't want to leave extra room for sideways rain to blow in. I'm going to need to add gravel at some point, so I might actually need to loosen the anchors a couple inches and raise the carport up on cement pavers to make room for the gravel.

 

[tmsnyder]

That's a really great idea!

 

[dsmithy]

Good Job Paul!
I agree that it might be a good idea to get those metal lower sill plates off of the cold, wet ground, even if you don't need clearance for gravel. You might also consider doing a run of clear fiberglass under the eves to prevent most of the blown rain. That would retain the brightness of the open walls and offer a bit more protection. I'm completely jealous. My coach has less protection from the weather and it still costs me $106 a month to a storage yard.

 

[tmsnyder]

Good Job Paul!
I agree that it might be a good idea to get those metal lower sill plates off of the cold, wet ground, even if you don't need clearance for gravel. You might also consider doing a run of clear fiberglass under the eves to prevent most of the blown rain. That would retain the brightness of the open walls and offer a bit more protection. I'm completely jealous. My coach has less protection from the weather and it still costs me $106 a month to a storage yard.

That's an interesting idea, I wonder if a storage lot would allow one to erect a carport such as that steel one.

 

[pvfjr]

I've thought about 2' sides up high; the fiberglass is a good idea.

I'm also wondering how much dirt splatter the wheels and "rocker panels" will see without gutters. This might just keep costing me money.

Our rural neighborhood is very dark with no street lights, I'm always tripping on our big old husky that likes to nap in the driveway when I depart the shop for the night. So I decided to string up some semi-permanent lights, starting with the barn. It frames in the old Pontiac nicely, so I'm thinking the new carport, GMC, and the adjacent stepside will get the same treatment.

 

[dsmithy]

That's an interesting idea, I wonder if a storage lot would allow one to erect a carport such as that steel one.

I have a roof already Todd. It's just 13 or 14 feet over the coach. All it really does is reduce the amount of rain or snow on my coach. It does offer some hail protection though. I've been allowed to work on my coach at the yard over the years, but I'm really jealous of having the coach on one's own property and being close enough to have tool/shop access. I've also paid way more than Paul's canopy cost over the years, more, in fact, than I paid for the coach initially. The thing is, that the fun we've had with the coach has more than paid off that debt. It doesn't keep me from being jealous of on property storage though.

 

[pvfjr]

I've also paid way more than Paul's canopy cost over the years, more, in fact, than I paid for the coach initially.

Funny thing is, this carport is more than I initially paid for my coach as well! But that doesn't account for all the sweat equity it has now.

The blue coach is destined to be sold in the near future, however, and the one that will be parked in its place is more expensive.