Give Your Carport Another Purpose

By Samual M. Adams

Adding a carport to your house is a great boost for your home equity. More importantly though, it is more about what you are able to do with your carport while you are living in you home that determines whether you should think about adding one. Most people only think of one thing when it comes to building a carport on their house - protection for a car or truck. But if were to expand your mind for a minute, I'm sure you can see that there are some very interesting alternative uses other than vehicle storage.

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.

Carports can come in all sorts of different varieties. The most common type of carport is the one that attaches to the side of your home or to the side of another structure. These types of carports generally have a single slope roof or a flat roof. The decision to have a flat roof allows you the potential to build a second story on top of the car port.

There are also free standing carports or stand alone carports. These structures are generally constructed away from the home and are generally used to store seasonal vehicles like RVs or farm equipment. Some creative souls have constructed free standing carports for use as picnic shelters. In this manner the carport is used much like a gazebo.

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 - 21396

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You can find more car port information at this carport ideas site.