How to Build A Carport For Free Almost

If you live in snow country it is really nice when you don't have to scrape the snow off your vehicle each morning. I built my carport in three days and the only thing I bought were the nails. Follow these steps and you'll be able to do the same.

Instructions

1. The dimensions of your car port will depend on the size of your car. Once you know how long and wide your car is with it's doors open you will know what dimensions you'll need to make your carport. You will use pallets for your walls and plywood to cover those pallets.

2. My carport is 18 feet long and 12 feet wide. I found pallets that were three feet wide and 4 feet tall. My carport is 8 feet tall. Wire your pallets together two at a time end to end. This carport will be enclosed except for where you drive in and a door close to the drivers side door. To finish my carport I needed to collect 30 pallets total. There are several places that give pallets away. You can find some in dumpsters too. Head to the industrial part of town to collect your pallets. Pallets are used to transport building materials most of all and so you can visit trucking companies, contractors, builders supply companies, etc.

3. Once you have all of your pallets wired together you will raise them just like framers raise a wall. You will need someone to help you so you can raise each side of the carport once section at a time. When you have two opposing walls up you will need to use a ladder to hammer a 2x4 or 2x6 to nail them together at the top. Start with the front walls of your carport first. The walls that will run parallel with your car. Once you have these two sections up you can raise the front of you car port. This section will take 12 pallets if they are three feet wide and 4 feet tall.

4. Run a 2x4 or 2x6 across the top of these pallets nailing them together. Your carport will be a little wobbly at this point, but don't worry about it. Just make sure you are putting them on level ground with a bit of a slope from front to back. You want to make sure that all rain and melt off runs toward the street and not toward the house. You're driveway should already have a slope for this purpose, but make sure you remember to do this if otherwise. Now on the passenger side of the carport you will raise up one 3 foot section. This section will be nailed to the first section on the drivers side, because you are going to skip the 2nd section on the drivers side, to leave an open door.

5. Runs boards across to hold up pallet walls and the collect sheets of plywood to nail to the outside and inside of the pallets. I found my plywood in a dumpster. It wasn't in perfect 4x8 sheet dimensions, but it was in 8 foot strips which worked just fine. When you connect your pallet walls a 2x4 is stronger on end, but go ahead and leave them flat and you can nail a board underneath it to act as a support rafter from inner wall to inner wall. Once you have finished nailing up all the plywood you will notice that your carport is much stronger and sturdier. You will want to prime and paint the wood eventually.

6. To roof my carport I found a farmer with some old fallen down out buildings and asked him if I could have the tin. Most tin is 2 feet by 15 feet long and so I had to find other shorter pieces to cover the 18 feet. Make sure you over hang the tin off the front and the end of the carport to allow for good run off. You don't want the water running down your wood. Unfortunately it snowed before I finished my carport, but now the car is parked in out of the falling snow and we don't have to scrape it off anymore. Be creative and you'll be amazed at how your carport will turn out.