Carport And Garage Pros And Cons

 
by John A. Moore

I need something to keep my cars in. I just bought a house, and unfortunately it came without any storage buildings - no two car garage, no carport, not even a carport cover. I don't regret buying the house, since we got a good deal. At the time we bought, I even said we are saving enough money to build a nice garage with the money we saved off our original budget. However, I am trying to decide if a carport will be sufficient, which will save us even more money.

Time is a bit of an issue in our decision. We definitely want to get our car storage up and completed before it starts snowing, which gives us about two months to build. That is more than enough time to put up a carport, but if we decide on a garage, then it will be cutting it close.

The first and most important decision to make is whether the new structure will be a carport or a garage. I can see the pros and cons with types of vehicle shelter. When it comes down to it we are deciding whether the structure will be with walls and a door or without walls and a door. My wife is leaning towards having a garage while I am content with a carport.

No matter what, a carport is going to be cheaper, easier and faster to build. Building a closed carport will add a bit of time and cost, and might be a good compromise. Adding a structure to the property is going to raise my property taxes, and a garage will cost more in taxes. Perhaps not a significant amount per month, but in the grand scheme, it may be significant by the time we want to retire and we could have put that money into rrsps. One more pro for a carport in my opinion is the simplicity of it, meaning we probably won't pack it full of junk and clutter like we might do with a garage.

There are definite pros to having a garage though. The complete weather protection is a big item, it would be much nicer for loading and unloading the car in the winter. Also it is more secure - a lot harder for anyone to access the cars. Extra storage (although I dread junk) is also a benefit, and perhaps the extra (secure) storage that a garage would allow would warrant the larger building, maintenance and tax expenses. The last point my wife suggested is having a garage would cut down on heat loss as we enter and exit the house from the garage door in the winter time.

We know we need to get something up to keep the snow off the cars this winter and time is running out. Either a garage or a carport would serve the basic need for weather protection (for us and the cars), the only thing left before we start constructing one or the other is to decide whether the extra benefits of a garage are worth the extra time and money.

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September 30 2009 04:17 am | Home Improvement

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