Build an Attached Carport

by Monte Burch

A carport, or lean-to shed, attached to an existing building such as a garage, barn, shed or the side of your house can provide economical shelter for vehicles, garden tractors, boats or other equipment. An attached carport is also fairly easy to construct against the side of another building, if you have enough height under the existing building eave.

End Drawing

The carport/lean-to shown uses basic and simple pole-building construction techniques, and was added to an existing workshop. The outer end of the shed is supported by Wolmanized pressure-treated 4-by-4 posts. And because the outer fascia is exposed to the weather it is constructed of 1-by-6 pressure-treated materials as well. Lightweight, but strong, metal is used for the roofing. A somewhat different approach was used for the roof framing. Traditional pole-building, metal-roof construction consists of 2-by-4 purlins fastened on edge across the rafters with the metal roofing fastened down on these. This allows a space where sparrows and other birds can get out of the weather and even a place to build their nests, with the resulting mess. Our design utilizes 2-by-4 blocking positioned between the rafters and located against the top edges of the rafters. This prevents birds from resting under the roof and keeps droppings off boats, cars or other equipment.  

Side Drawing

The shed shown, withstood 3 inches of ice and an additional 18 inches of snow, which fell this winter. The design may, however, not be strong enough or have enough roof slope for some high-snow areas. Check with local building codes and regulations. The shed shown is 24 feet long to match the existing building length, and 15 feet deep. The latter allows for standard 16-foot 2-by-6′s for rafters. You may have to alter the design somewhat to suit your existing building height, length, even the width if you desire a narrower shed. It’s a good idea to make a rough sketch of the building, to determine the roof pitch, number of support posts needed and so forth.

Left: First step is to anchor the support header to the existing building, and drop a plumb line from each end.

Right: The next step is to determine the locations of the outer support posts. Lay out the building using the triangle method and string lines.

Getting Started

First step is to locate and install the support header on the existing building. The end of the header should set back from the edge of the existing building by 1/2 inch, plus the thickness of any siding and trim that will be added. Mark the location of one end of the header and then mark the other end. Make sure the header is level end-to-end. Fasten the header in place with lag screws through the siding and into the studs of the existing building. Drop a plumb line from each corner of the header and mark this location on the bottom of the existing building. This will give you a starting point to layout the building and determine the location of the support posts. Beginning at one plumb line mark, attach a string to the building. Measure the length needed for one end, drive a stake and fasten the string in place. Beginning at the second plumb line mark, measure for the opposite end, temporarily drive a stake and add a second string line. Measure the distance between the two plumb-line marks for the length of the carport. Measure between the two stakes and adjust the stakes as needed to achieve the same distance.