Many people living in apartments have the benefit of a covered parking spot, known as a carport.
Not quite a garage, as it is open on three or four sides, a carport still helps to protect your automobile from the elements. It gives you a dry place to exit the car during the wet months, and a place to park your car in the shade during the hot months.
With real estate at a premium, and storage space almost nonexistent in a lot of homes, most already standing garages are filled to the top with extra stuff. Things like the kids’ school papers, old sporting equipment, fishing gear, holiday decorations and similar. And if it has not been filled with boxes, it has likely been converted into more living space like a games room for the kids, a man cave for dad, or perhaps a home gym to get fit without leaving the kids alone.
The carport price is easier to handle as well, since they tend to be far more affordable than a garage, especially when building on to an existing home.
If a carport sounds like an option for you and your home, you can hire a carport builder to build a carport Perth for you.
However, because every property is different, having a carport built should not be a one-size-fits-all solution, and should instead be handled on a case-by-case basis. Don’t just purchase a carport kit and build a carport yourself. You need to find someone who has experience in building these structures, and who can take into account all the considerations of your current home and the property upon which it will stand.
There are a few things you should take into consideration before you hire a carport builder in Perth…
Safety and Security
A garage that can be locked will likely always be more secure than a carport, but that does not mean your carport is not a safe haven for your car.
A carport can be a safe structure, so long as it is built properly by experienced carport builders. A steel carport poses fewer risks than does a timber one, but as long as the carport has been solidly constructed, there should be no need for concern.
There are many things you can do to safely store your car in your carport, and the first of these is to actually lock your car’s doors. Too many people think that they live in a good area and nothing bad will ever happen to them, and unfortunately, many of these people are wrong. It seems as though more car burglaries are being reported on the news each day, and a lot of the victims simply forgot to lock the car.
You can also add specialised lighting to your carport that turns on when they sense motion. This motion could be from an animal passing in the night, or from a criminal trying to break into your car. Either way, a motion sensing light will likely scare away either intruder, and if it doesn’t, it will at least make them highly visible to neighbours or other passing cars. No criminal wants to be in the spotlight while committing a crime, so motion-detecting lights are a great deterrent for your carport.
Be sure to consider adding video security systems as well. You can often set these systems up in a way that allows them record continuously, or to only record when they sense motion. The system can alert you, if necessary, through an installed alarm or an app on your mobile.
To further protect other valuable items on the carport, make sure they are stored in locked chests or chained down in some way that will deter a thief from making off with it. You can store extra sporting gear and tools inside locked chests and consider chaining lawnmowers and trimmers to poles or other areas from which they’d be hard to remove.
Perhaps you have the space and money to allow for adding a gate to your property, which would allow you to close off access to any unwanted person or intruder.
Your carport does not have to be a place where you can become a victim of theft. Think through the things a thief might try to take and consider how to make it more difficult for them to take them.
Storage
Since you are looking into adding a carport to your property, we can assume you plan to store a car or another vehicle such as a motorcycle or a boat inside the structure. After all, that is the general purpose of carports is it not?
We know that storage space is hard to come by in Perth, and that is why many homeowners give up that space in their garage in order to gain more space to store things.
Well, adding a carport can also free up some space to store things.
There are many options for adding storage solutions to your carport…
You can enclose a side or two and add shelving along the walls. This will give you space to store away extra things that there is no room for inside the house.
Just be sure you have a way to lock up important things so perhaps locking cabinets or drawers would suffice?
Because you are looking to hire a carport builder who will customize your carport, you can let them know that you want storage space included in the design and the carport price. Many carport builders are happy to work with you through the full process of getting your carport built. During the early stages, you can work together to design a carport that leaves ample room for storing your car while also allowing plenty of space for storing the kids’ outdoor toys and your camping and hiking gear as well as the holiday decorations your partner refuses to part with.
There are many storage options for you when you build a carport yourself with a carport builder in Perth.
Privacy
You might be under the impression there is no way to guarantee privacy whilst being parked in a carport, as there are generally no walls on three or four sides.
That can be true, but there are options for providing privacy in these structures as well.
When designing a carport with a carport Perth builder, you have the ability to have it done exactly the way you want it to be done. You can choose how large it will be, how it will look, the colors, the roof style, and how it will match the design elements of your home.
You can also determine how you want to add elements of privacy to the carport as well.
Perhaps you would like to enclose a side or two. The Building Code of Australia states that a carport must be open on at least two sides, so it allows for at least partial ventilation. This is a decision that has been left to your local council though, so be sure to consult them on the matter.
Partially enclosing your carport can be a great option for several reasons such as security and storage as discussed above, but it is not always a practical solution. Sometimes the carport cost is too high, and you can’t add more on, or perhaps your local council will not allow for the sides to be enclosed at all. Whatever the reason, do not be dismayed. You can still get the privacy you seek.
Outdoor blinds can provide privacy while also providing additional shade for your car. You can often purchase these blinds in a variety of colors, allowing for more customization.
You can erect a privacy screen along a side or two of your carport. These too will provide more shade for your car as well as provide a way to keep prying eyes from seeing what is in your carport. This gives you more privacy and security for your belongings.
If you like landscaping options, you could choose to plant some shrubs alongside the drive into the carport, or maybe some climbing vines up the sides of the carport. This would allow for privacy and shade without physically enclosing the carport, and it would also be a beautiful natural addition to the outside of your home.
There are many options for adding privacy to your carport, and not all of them involve more money spent or more laboring over work being done.
Curb Appeal
Every house should have a carport for storage, for privacy and for more space. Having a carport built on to your current home can increase the curb appeal down the road, as long as it is done well.
Buying a cheaply made kit and sticking it up yourself is not the best course of action here. You need to work with a builder who has a team of staff that knows how to make this carport look like it was always there.
No one likes the look of a disjointed house that appears to have been thrown together over the years, and a carport should not look like this either. A carport builder should work to ensure that the carport you build complements the appearance of your home whether it is traditional or contemporary by design.
Final Words
Look to find a local builder of carports in Perth, so you have someone on your side that understands the local weather and topography as well as the local council’s building regulations.
You can have a nice new place to store your car before the wet season begins.
