Carport And Garage Pros And Cons

The question I have been asking myself these days is whether it is smarter to build a carport or a garage? My wife and I recently bought a ranch style house on 3/4s of an acre. The house is perfect for us but there isn't a sheltered area for our cars. The harsh Island winters make this a fairly startling oversight. The lack of such a structure didn't hinder us as the price of the house was great.

Now that we have the house all unpacked and settled, we have 2 months before it starts to snow, and we have to make a decision about whether we should build a lean-to carport off of the back kitchen door, or build an attached garage.

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.

A carport would be easier and cheaper to build. Either structure will prompt a property re-assessment and a property tax hike but the addition of a carport has a lesser value to the Ministry and therefore will result in a lesser tax hike. Maybe not a big deal in the short term but definitely will add up to bigger dollars in the longer term at the time we get ready to retire. I also think, selfishly, carport attract less clutter and therefore will be easier to keep clean and tidy.

The garage pros include extra security - there is no open access to the vehicle or anything that we store inside, including things like bicycles. The other benefit is also the additional storage - even though there is a chance it will get cluttered, having space to store seasonal items like Christmas decorations actually has a lot of merit. And one last big item for my wife is the protected access to the house that a garage would allow. There would be much less heat loss though a garage doo in the winter, as opposed to a door out to a partially closed in carport.

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.