Looking for Carport ideas? – read this to get some tips and inspiration on the best carport canopy options. In this article, we share our insights from years of experience in manufacturing components to create Carports.

These 3 ideas help you quickly decide what Carport ideas are best for your needs… 

  1. Creating a Wooden Carport Ideas
  2. Using An Aluminium Carport Kit Ideas
  3. Why not to choose a Cantilever Carport

1. Creating a Wooden Carport

This is probably one of the most common ways to create a carport, and it’s easy to do. Not only is creating a carport out of timber a low-cost idea, but it also retains a natural look and feel. 

Wooden carports are often lean-to constructions which lean against a main property wall. As these types of carports can rely on the strength of the main property, it means they are even easier to build, and relatively low cost.  

The wooden roof rafters are then covered with clear plastic roof sheets and glazing bars to fix the sheets onto the wooden rafters and seal them from the elements. 

The glazing bars have rubber sealing gaskets meaning that water does not get to the wooden rafters so there is no risk of water damage or rotting timbers

How to build a wooden Carport?

Generally, carports are constructed in four easy stages as follows: 

Firstly, a timber beam is fixed across the wall of the property at the height of the roof’s highest point. 

Secondly, timber posts like fence posts are installed in a line parallel to the installed beam, at the chosen distance away, and a beam is fixed across the top of the posts. The distance tends to be around 3m-4m for single-width carports.

Thirdly, timber rafters are secured across from the timber beam on the wall to the timber beam on the top of the carport posts. These create the final part of the main carport frame. These rafters are typically installed with a distance between them of 500mm – 1000mm. The size of the distance between the rafters depends on the required loading and other factors surrounding the specific site and you can read more on this in this technical guide. 

Finally, the roof! – from one point of view it’s the most important part of the Carport. Afterall, the roof is not only what keeps the carport waterproof, but it is also critical in view of protecting the wooden carport frame beneath it.

Most installers choose polycarbonate sheets for the roofing, however, you can also use corrugated plastic like the Corrapol Stormproof sheets if preferred.

Optional: it’s quite a smart idea to consider using the posts to create side frames and cover them in the same roofing sheets. These create a weather shield from driving rain whilst allowing in the daylight. This makes the area under the carport much more usable.

It’s common for the area to not only be used for parking cars, but also for many other uses such as play areas, storage, and even drying washing! 

2. Using an Aluminium Carport Kit

If you want a more modern option, then you can use self-support aluminium glazing bars. In the long run, they will last much longer than wooden rafters. 

Aluminium self supporting glazing bars are completely maintenance-free and are really fast and easy to fit. The other advantage is that you get the full aluminium rafter and glazing cap in white, brown or any RAL colour to suit your project. 

carport canopy calculator imageThe best way to create a carport with self-support aluminium glazing bars is to start with a carport roof calculator which will create a list of all the components you require in just seconds. 

Carports made from aluminium glazing bars are constructed in the same four easy stages as the wooden ones as explained earlier in this article. 

3. Why not to choose a Cantilever Carport

There are thankfully fewer being offered, however, for some projects, you can get cantilever carport roofs, which is worrying. 

It sounds like a great idea as the roof effectively hangs off the wall without any posts or frames. However, the strain on the fixings, and the wall it is fixed to, means that there is a huge risk of the whole roof coming down during a storm or under snow loading, with dangerous consequences. 

Additionally, you lose the opportunity to cover the side walls and make the whole area a weatherproof area. 

So, with all the options available for Carports we strongly recommend choosing a full frame option (rather than cantilevered), whether it be made from timber or aluminium. 

Conclusion - What is the best Carport idea?

To summarise the best carport ideas; creating a timber carport frame is the lowest cost option, however, with a slightly larger budget aluminium frame route is the more professional and longer-lasting solution.

Needing further help? - We’re here to help, and our friendly Live Chat teams have a lot of experience in roofing projects of all kinds so why not contact us for some free additional advice? 

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