New carport project

[flusher]

I've needed a carport for several years. So I finally got off my duff and started the project. It's 20'W x 35'L with 9' tall sides, A-frame style, gable ends, 12 ga frame. Vendor is American Steel.

It goes at the end of my gravel driveway. Since I paid about $6K for that driveway, I didn't want it messed up with backhoes and/or skid steer equipment. So I dug the trenches for the footings (12"W x 12" deep into native soil, nominal) by hand. Installed forms and two runs of #4 rebar per code. Also installed pairs of 5/8" dia J-bolts for tie-down straps.





A neighbor who's a contractor helped with the pour--about 6 yards, 3000 psi, 5" slump concrete.





Being a belt and suspenders guy, I had the installer drill for 1/2" Redhead wedge anchors (12 total).



Four-man crew arrived 4pm and finished the installation by 8:15pm.







Looks OK to me. I'll add sides to the upper 6ft later.
Cost: $3600 for the carport, $600 concrete, $450 building permit.

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

Wow $450 for a permit! Cost us $25 bucks for our pole barn permit but than we are in the middle of nowhere.

Carport looks nice...

 

[flusher]

Wow $450 for a permit! Cost us $25 bucks for our pole barn permit but than we are in the middle of nowhere.

Carport looks nice...

Yeah, that sucks. I checked about 6 weeks before I started construction and the clerk at the building dept said the permit would be $300, which seemed to me to be excessive. Looks like the county had to raise permit fees to offset the loss of property tax revenue (my 2009 prop tax dropped by $1K to reflect the implosion of the housing market here in ArnieLand).

 

[roadhawk]

Looks great!

We've been looking at getting one recently too but we were going to just sit it on top of the ground (1/2 has gravel, half would be dirt) and anchor it down with rebar spikes set at alternating angles (like an X with the middle of the X being the part that goes over the base of the carport and the top part of the X not there, so maybe a tee pee set up is more accurate).
Why did you go with the footers? Is that for code, or to set anchors in, or?

 

[flusher]

Looks great!

We've been looking at getting one recently too but we were going to just sit it on top of the ground (1/2 has gravel, half would be dirt) and anchor it down with rebar spikes set at alternating angles (like an X with the middle of the X being the part that goes over the base of the carport and the top part of the X not there, so maybe a tee pee set up is more accurate).
Why did you go with the footers? Is that for code, or to set anchors in, or?

For this size carport, the local building dept requires wet signed engineered drawings and concrete footings or a slab. The minimum footing size is 12" W x 12" deep (into native, undisturbed soil). The structure has to be designed for 85 mph winds, exposure C. One of the reasons the building permit is so expensive is that the plans have to be checked by a CA-licensed engineer. The local building dept laid off its engineers a few years ago so this work has to be outsourced (two week turnaround time for plans checking).

Because of the slope in the driveway (in both directions), I ended up with footings that were about 15" deep at the high point on the footings and 23" deep on the low point. You can see the driveway slope in the photos by noting how much of the footings are above grade level. The top of the footings are dead level--a requirement so the rain drains off sides of the roof instead of the ends. I opted for what's called "vertical" roofing which you can see in the photo showing the crew installing the roof panels. These panels are only about 11 ft long and there are a lot of them. You need to add purlins for this type of roof. Normal, cheaper carports have "horizontal" roofs which drain off the ends. The footing for this type of roof have to be sloped (1/4" per foot, IIRC).

My sister in St. Louis had a $900 single vehicle carport installed last year attached with rebar spikes. The freeze/thaw heaving this past winter has raised these spikes about 2" out of the ground. My brother had to pound them down again. Don't know how long you can do this before the spikes become too loose to do their job.

 

[roadhawk]

That's some good info- thanks.

I'll have to pay more attention on how the ones around here are made. Draining the water off of the roof the right direction(s) is huge and something I hadn't really considered much.
We don't have any building codes where I live but we can get some pretty big winds at times. And the only freeze-thaw cycle we get in my part of the world doesn't last long enough to freeze the ground, just the plants some times, so no heaving.

Maybe I can dig some post holes to put the rebar down into and then fill the holes with cement. That should keep if from shifting and help to hold it if we do get some big winds.

 

[GaryBDavis]

I don't think I could ever live in California or MA. I'm way too used to not having to get a permit to install a fence, building, etc. Of course, I live in an unincorporated area, but permit fees aren't that high in the Texas towns I've lived in. Do you CA guys have unincorporated areas? I our rual areas, we only have to permits for septic systems.

 

[flusher]

I don't think I could ever live in California or MA. I'm way too used to not having to get a permit to install a fence, building, etc. Of course, I live in an unincorporated area, but permit fees aren't that high in the Texas towns I've lived in. Do you CA guys have unincorporated areas? I our rual areas, we only have to permits for septic systems.

Sure, I live in an unincorporated area. But Tehama County controls the building permits so you pay to play.

 

[flusher]

That's some good info- thanks.


Maybe I can dig some post holes to put the rebar down into and then fill the holes with cement. That should keep if from shifting and help to hold it if we do get some big winds.

Yep, that's one way to do it. It's called "caisson" style footings.