Choosing The Right Carport For Your Home

Adding a carport to your home is a great way to protect your car from the weather, increase your outdoor living areas, and add value to your home. They can also make your home more attractive. So what are the available carport options and how do you work out which carport is right for you?

First, let’s look at the sorts of carports available:

• Incorporated into your roofline – These carports are generally built when the house is built and the roofline of the house covers the carport area. Obviously, this is more suited to home owners who are having a new house built, rather than adding one on at a later date due to the cost of adjusting your roofline. The roof covering is generally tile to match the rest of the house roof.
• Stand-alone carports – These carports can be added onto existing homes, and are free-standing from the main home structure. Because of this, they can offer greater flexibility as to their position, style and whether they can double up as an extra outdoor living area. The roof covering is generally colorbond, which can come in a variety of colors, and you can also choose to incorporate laserlight if the carport will also be used as an entertainment area, to allow the natural light to shine in.

What about the materials that the carports are made from? There are generally two options:

1. Timber – Timber frame carports are attractive and you should be able to find a variety of carport roofing styles available, as the timber allows greater flexibility in the design. What about rotting I hear you say? These days, outdoor timber components can be “treated” to resist rotting and borers, so the timber will last as long as the steel components.
2. Steel – Steel carport come in a variety of sizes, but can look much plainer, as they work with straight lines only. Steel carports can cost you less however, but you won’t add as much value to your home, and the outdoor living experience can be diminished.

Who will build your carport?

Are you good with a hammer and know your way around tools? Or will you need some assistance? There are now carport kits available that can help you keep costs down by building it yourself. If you’re not good with tools, purchasing a carport kit can still work for you, as you will then only need to pay the builder for putting it up. Builders can sometimes ‘pad’ their quotes for organising the materials, so if this is something you’ve organised yourself, you can realise the savings.

Choosing the right carport design for your home:

• Look at the design of your house – Is it Edwardian? Modern? Or somewhere in between? When choosing the design, try and match the carport to your existing house style, as it will look more attractive and look like it’s meant to be there.
• Also look at your garden area – Do you have any garden furnishings, such as garden arbours, outdoor seating arrangements or park benches? What are these made from? If you primarily have timber garden furnishings, then a timber carport will suit your home better. If steel, then consider a steel design.
• Look at your garden edging – If you have timber retaining walls, edging or other timber decorations on your house, than a timber carport will match the rest of your outdoor design, whereas a steel design may appear out of place.
• What is the right price for you? – Everyone is cost conscious these days, and you need to weigh up your reason for building a carport. Is it just to protect your car, or are you looking at using the carport area for outdoor entertainment as well? Preferably consider the latter, as this will add significant value to your house, whilst also improving your living enjoyment. Adding a carport can be a reasonably considerable investment, so you want to get as much bang for your buck as possible. Also keep in mind that other cost savings may be available, such as a reduction in your insurance, as the car will now be kept under cover, and will ensure the finish on your car lasts longer.

Whichever option you choose, make sure that you purchase from a reputable company that can provide you with comprehensive information before the purchase and offer support after the purchase.

Tips To Beautify Your Outdoor Living Area

Australians love their backyards … long summer days in the sun with the family, the traditional BBQ with mates, kicking the footy round with the kids …

As we spend so much time out of doors, Australians are obsessed with creating beautiful outdoor areas. The additional benefit of course, is that a well designed outdoor area can add significant dollar value your home.

Here are some ways that you can beautify your outdoor area.

Add a bullnose verandah

Bullnose roofing is a traditional Australian verandah design that finishes off a home beautifully and adds great aesthetic value. Bullnose roofing is widely used in regional areas and is also found in Australian capital cities on terrace houses and is still seen extensively throughout inner city suburbs.

Bullnose verandahs are joined directly to the exterior of your home and generally run along the length of the house. They can be built at the time the house is built, or added on later. The width of the bullnose verandah is only limited by the room that you have available, and can come as wide as five and a half metres or as slim as just over one metre.

The traditional cover for a bullnose verandah is curved iron and can come in a wide range of colors to suit your home’s other features. A colorbond verandah roof can freshen up older properties, giving them a new lease on life for a low investment.

A bullnose verandah has excellent cooling properties. In times past, instead of air-conditioners, homes were built with a bullnose verandah all the way around to keep the heat out. Even putting a bullnose verandah on one side of your home will have immediate benefits to the interior temperature of the rooms behind it and will save you money on air-conditioning costs. With electricity prices set to rise, a bullnose verandah is a much more sustainable option.

And of course, the decking of the bullnose verandah provides you with a covered area to sit and enjoy the ambience of the Australian outdoors.

Add a patio

Patios are a functional and beautiful addition to your home and offer great flexibility as to the size, shape and material that it is constructed with. Patios are extremely popular in the Australian culture, as they provide welcome shade during our hot summers and protection from wet weather in the cooler months.

Patios come in all shapes and sizes and are only limited by the room available. The most attractive patios are built using timber, as they retain the wood’s natural beauty. Timber patio roof trusses are visually stunning. They give that unique “webbed” look to your patio roof that will have all your friends talking. Much more attractive, compared to cold steel.

One of the fastest and most effective ways to build a patio is to use prefabricated patio roof trusses. Prefabricated patio roof trusses are consistent in shape and quality, ensuring your patio roof is structurally sound and looks good.

Another attractive patio roof alternative, is to have an arched patio roof. This option is popular with modern homes and suits a wide variety of outdoor living areas. You can choose to use curved iron or laserlight as the patio cover, in a wide range of colors to suit your home. Your patio cover can give an older home an instant face-lift.

You can also choose to paint your patio roof or retain the natural timber look. For the natural timber look, your patio roof can be kept safe from rotting and borers if treated with a preservative, so that your patio will last as long as the house does. Just ask your patio roof supplier to have the patio roof trusses “treated” when you order them.

Add a carport

Does your car currently have a home? You can protect your car and add value and beauty to your home when you add a timber carport.

A fresh and attractive colorbond roof on your carport will catch the eye, as well as the strong timber lines of the carport frame. You can find carports with different roofing profiles that will match the style of your home and become an attractive feature in itself.

Instead of having to fit a carport to your roofline, you can get a freestanding carport. Place it wherever you wish – or wherever you have the room – without having to reshape your roofline. Carport kits can be assembled in a weekend, and if you’re handy with tools, you won’t even have to hire a builder, saving you time and money.