October 26, 2018

Turn Your Carport Into a Living Space for Longer

California garage door

You like the idea of spending some time relaxing outdoors in the nice temperatures. However, as the summer wanes and autumn begins, it often means spending more time inside. However, if you have a carport, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. In fact, you might want to consider turning your carport into a place where you can entertain your family and friends. The following are a few simple tips that can help you get started the right way.

Have a Good Plan in Place

One of the major mistakes that many people make is getting excited about the idea of turning their carport into a living space without ever coming up with a plan. It is difficult to follow through on a plan if you don’t have one! Take the time to put a plan together, and it is going to be much easier on you.

You will need to make sure that you are ready to use this space as a living area, and not as a place to keep your vehicles, as well. Then, you can determine how you might like to use space. A carport will have at least three walls that open to the outside. Therefore, you will need to consider how you are going to be using those walls and windows. You could use garage doors, which can act as moving walls, rather than small access doors. This can be convenient and stylish.

What Will It Cost?

Carport into a living space

Naturally, you need to make sure in your budget that you will have the money needed for this type of transformation. In many cases, the cost is going to be between $10,000 and $20,000. However, there are some ways that you can reduce the costs. For example, if you don’t lay footings or pour concrete walls, if you don’t change the carport floor, and if you are not going to need a lot of additional plumbing and electrical work, it should help to reduce the costs.

There is a link below that can help to give you a better idea of how much everything is going to cost. For an explanation, you will want to refer to this text.

More Natural Light for the Space

Are you considering making the most of the natural light in your area? there are a range of possibilities. Let’s look at some of those options.

If you have a wide front side, you might want to use an overhead garage door. You could use this in the front and the back of the garage. You could also consider adding an all-glass garage door. A good option could be the California model from Garaga. You could also consider this option with wide 40" x 13" (102 x 33 cm) windows, which is available for all of the Garaga door models.

For the rear wall, you will want to consider how often you are going to need to use it as a means of getting out and into your backyard. If you are going to be using it often, and you need to transport large items from the backyard to the driveway, such as an ATV, then you might want to have a garage door in the rear of the carport, as well. Based on the size of the door, you will be able to have two of them back to back. However, the space will need to be 22' (6.7 m) deep at a minimum. This is especially true if you hope to have electric openers on the doors.

Keep in mind that if you are going to be using garage doors with a door opener, the depth for the space is going to be the door height plus 48", or 1.2 meters. Without an opener, you only need 28", or 71 cm. In some cases, you might find that leaving the rear door off completely will work for you. However, it will depend on the amount of privacy that you want, as well as whether you keep any expensive items in the carport.

On the side walls, you can add some double-paned windows. If you use thermo windows, you can be sure that they are not going to let too much heat into or out of the space, helping to keep a more constant temperature. For the windows in the carport, you will have a range of options. It tends to be a good idea to have tinted or privacy glass, so people will not be able to see inside.

How to Get Started

If you are ready to turn your carport into a space that you can use more often, and for far more than just keeping your vehicles, we can help. The next thing you will want to do is contact us toll-free at 709-368-7222 so we can learn more about your needs. We will explain what you need to do and help you find the perfect garage doors for your space. Our goal is to make the transformation of your carport as easy as possible for you. If you would like, we can even send you a quotation by email.

Another option is to come down to the showroom to see what we can offer. We have a fantastic online Design Centre where you can choose from different garage doors and see how they will look in your garage. In addition, you will want to check out the image gallery.

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