SteelMaster carports were recently mentioned in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as an alternative to an attached garage. According to the article, carports have many advantages over garages including lower costs, less cumbersome design options, and no potential for noxious gases to build up from chemicals being stored. Read the full article below.
The Carport Makes a Comeback
By: Cynthia Anderson
Stylish homes with carports: The Cohen House on Siesta Key’s Bayou Louise is one. The Umbrella House on Lido Key - called "one of the most remarkable houses of the mid-20th century" by Architectural Digest - is another. Understated, elegant and historic, both properties feature carports at their best.
Both are also exceptions. In earlier incarnations, most carports were flat roofs with four posts - simple structures intended to shield cars from sun and rain, most of the time. Popular during the 1950s and ’60s, they began looking dated soon after attached garages became a staple of the American single-family home. In the current real estate market, carports often signal other - often undesirable - retro-isms: outmoded appliances, old plastic laminate counters, windows in need of replacement.
But attached garages have their own drawbacks. "I don’t particularly like the way the garage dominates the front of the house," said homeowner Phillip Sharff, who, before moving last year from Boston to Lakewood Ranch, lived in a house with a detached garage at the end of the driveway. And many garage owners don’t like the odors from chemicals stored there.
Some contemporary designers and builders, especially those with green inclinations, are opting out of garages, training their sights once again on the humble carport.
"There are a lot of advantages to carports and detached garages," said Steve Ellis, co-founder of MyGreenBuildings in Sarasota. "Builders are seeing the benefits, and so are home buyers."
Those advantages fall into two categories: environmental and stylistic. The carport comeback applies the best of mid-century modern architecture - simplicity, grace, and responsiveness to the natural environment - to current ideals of conservation and sustainability. It is, in many respects, a logical marriage long in the making.
"Carports are environmentally friendly, and they’re inexpensive," said architect Todd Sweet of TOTeMS Inc. in Sarasota. "Especially when you have a smaller home, a carport adds less mass. It can keep the scale down."
TOTeMS recently designed a carport for a homeowner who did not wish to alter the design of his 1940s home, but who wanted a place to park his sports car (see cover.) "It was a really good choice," said Sweet.
Custom green builder Josh Wynne, of Sarasota’s Josh Wynne Construction, recently built the highest-scoring LEED-Platinum new home in the United States. Only 5 percent of his homes have attached garages, while the rest have carports, detached garages or no garage at all. Wynne’s reasons are part aesthetics, part cost - "Do we really want to spend $40,000 or $50,000 to build something that’s just designed to hold a vehicle?" - and part ecology.
"There’s definitely the potential for noxious gases to build up" in a garage, said Wynne. "It is a concern. Conventional garages almost never have adequate ventilation."
The indoor pollution hazards of attached garages are not inconsiderable. A study published by Environmental Research in 2007 showed that attached garages frequently contain elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can migrate into the residence. Unsurprisingly, gasoline-related VOCs, including the known carcinogen benzene, were found at the highest levels, and most of the fuel-related aromatics in the house resulted from garage sources.
People with existing attached garages can take measures to make them greener. Solar-powered fans improve ventilation, and solar-powered batteries can run appliances, such as mowers and clippers. Insulation is key, too: Install it not just in shared walls, but generously throughout the garage and attic space. As for chemicals that inevitably wind up in the garage, substitute non-VOC paints and bio-based solvents and paint strippers - and recycle used automotive fluids.
People who want to add an environmentally friendly carport to an existing property have several options, from pared-back to posh. SteelMaster Buildings Systems in Virginia Beach, Va., makes affordable, pre-engineered metal carports. The units are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and can be assembled in a weekend.
Sankyo Tateyama Aluminum Inc. manufactures several models of sleek aluminum-framed carports. The KDR series is also built to withstand high winds and comes in blue, brown or clear polycarbonate. The elegant, two-car M.Shade includes 12 solar panels. It’s pricey - $40,000 without installation - but can be used to provide most of the power needs of the adjacent home or to re-charge a hybrid vehicle.
Carports also offer much from an architectural perspective. As design elements, they are light rather than heavy, and therefore more versatile than garages. An unfortunate reality, according to Wynne, is that for cost reasons, garages typically form a front-and-center focal point - and often a visually displeasing one.
"The goal from a design perspective should be for the garage not to be a substantial portion of the front elevation of the home," he said. "The front should have character and integrity, and it should be welcoming. Let’s face it. Most garages are ugly. I don’t care how many nooks and gables you have, it’s still a garage."
New carports can easily be built to comply with wind codes and zoning laws, Wynne said, and aesthetically they’ve come a long way from ’50s-style four-posters. "We never want to go backward in design. We never want to go backward in our quality of construction," Wynne said. "The carport has evolved the same as housing has evolved."
Carports also have functional advantages: Remove the automobiles, and you have a covered outdoor soiree space. Locate one next to a pool deck, and you’ve got a shaded, extended area for patio furniture. "Garages have largely become closets. Generally, if a home has a two-car garage, you’ll find one car in it and the rest is storage space," said Wynne. "Carports are more adaptable. They’re extensions of the house."
Even so, many homeowners wouldn’t give up the convenience or protection of a garage. Sharff isn’t getting rid of his anytime soon. "It serves its purpose," he said. "It does keep the cars shielded from the sun, and it’s secure. And where else would we keep all that stuff? I call it my ‘Florida basement.’"
In the end, perhaps, it comes down to a matter of taste. Retired architect Tim Seibert, whose many Sarasota designs include the Siesta Key Beach Pavilion and the John D. MacDonald House, parks in a carport "because I can’t stand waiting for the garage door to open." His wife, on the other hand, parks in the garage, Seibert said.
"She’s a very neat person, wouldn’t dream of leaving her car outside. She always keeps it the garage. A very elegant garage."
For More Information About SteelMaster Buildings Visit Steelmasterusa.com
By: Cynthia Anderson
Stylish homes with carports: The Cohen House on Siesta Key’s Bayou Louise is one. The Umbrella House on Lido Key - called "one of the most remarkable houses of the mid-20th century" by Architectural Digest - is another. Understated, elegant and historic, both properties feature carports at their best.
Both are also exceptions. In earlier incarnations, most carports were flat roofs with four posts - simple structures intended to shield cars from sun and rain, most of the time. Popular during the 1950s and ’60s, they began looking dated soon after attached garages became a staple of the American single-family home. In the current real estate market, carports often signal other - often undesirable - retro-isms: outmoded appliances, old plastic laminate counters, windows in need of replacement.
But attached garages have their own drawbacks. "I don’t particularly like the way the garage dominates the front of the house," said homeowner Phillip Sharff, who, before moving last year from Boston to Lakewood Ranch, lived in a house with a detached garage at the end of the driveway. And many garage owners don’t like the odors from chemicals stored there.
Some contemporary designers and builders, especially those with green inclinations, are opting out of garages, training their sights once again on the humble carport.
"There are a lot of advantages to carports and detached garages," said Steve Ellis, co-founder of MyGreenBuildings in Sarasota. "Builders are seeing the benefits, and so are home buyers."
Those advantages fall into two categories: environmental and stylistic. The carport comeback applies the best of mid-century modern architecture - simplicity, grace, and responsiveness to the natural environment - to current ideals of conservation and sustainability. It is, in many respects, a logical marriage long in the making.
"Carports are environmentally friendly, and they’re inexpensive," said architect Todd Sweet of TOTeMS Inc. in Sarasota. "Especially when you have a smaller home, a carport adds less mass. It can keep the scale down."
TOTeMS recently designed a carport for a homeowner who did not wish to alter the design of his 1940s home, but who wanted a place to park his sports car (see cover.) "It was a really good choice," said Sweet.
Custom green builder Josh Wynne, of Sarasota’s Josh Wynne Construction, recently built the highest-scoring LEED-Platinum new home in the United States. Only 5 percent of his homes have attached garages, while the rest have carports, detached garages or no garage at all. Wynne’s reasons are part aesthetics, part cost - "Do we really want to spend $40,000 or $50,000 to build something that’s just designed to hold a vehicle?" - and part ecology.
"There’s definitely the potential for noxious gases to build up" in a garage, said Wynne. "It is a concern. Conventional garages almost never have adequate ventilation."
The indoor pollution hazards of attached garages are not inconsiderable. A study published by Environmental Research in 2007 showed that attached garages frequently contain elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can migrate into the residence. Unsurprisingly, gasoline-related VOCs, including the known carcinogen benzene, were found at the highest levels, and most of the fuel-related aromatics in the house resulted from garage sources.
People with existing attached garages can take measures to make them greener. Solar-powered fans improve ventilation, and solar-powered batteries can run appliances, such as mowers and clippers. Insulation is key, too: Install it not just in shared walls, but generously throughout the garage and attic space. As for chemicals that inevitably wind up in the garage, substitute non-VOC paints and bio-based solvents and paint strippers - and recycle used automotive fluids.
People who want to add an environmentally friendly carport to an existing property have several options, from pared-back to posh. SteelMaster Buildings Systems in Virginia Beach, Va., makes affordable, pre-engineered metal carports. The units are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and can be assembled in a weekend.
Sankyo Tateyama Aluminum Inc. manufactures several models of sleek aluminum-framed carports. The KDR series is also built to withstand high winds and comes in blue, brown or clear polycarbonate. The elegant, two-car M.Shade includes 12 solar panels. It’s pricey - $40,000 without installation - but can be used to provide most of the power needs of the adjacent home or to re-charge a hybrid vehicle.
Carports also offer much from an architectural perspective. As design elements, they are light rather than heavy, and therefore more versatile than garages. An unfortunate reality, according to Wynne, is that for cost reasons, garages typically form a front-and-center focal point - and often a visually displeasing one.
"The goal from a design perspective should be for the garage not to be a substantial portion of the front elevation of the home," he said. "The front should have character and integrity, and it should be welcoming. Let’s face it. Most garages are ugly. I don’t care how many nooks and gables you have, it’s still a garage."
New carports can easily be built to comply with wind codes and zoning laws, Wynne said, and aesthetically they’ve come a long way from ’50s-style four-posters. "We never want to go backward in design. We never want to go backward in our quality of construction," Wynne said. "The carport has evolved the same as housing has evolved."
Carports also have functional advantages: Remove the automobiles, and you have a covered outdoor soiree space. Locate one next to a pool deck, and you’ve got a shaded, extended area for patio furniture. "Garages have largely become closets. Generally, if a home has a two-car garage, you’ll find one car in it and the rest is storage space," said Wynne. "Carports are more adaptable. They’re extensions of the house."
Even so, many homeowners wouldn’t give up the convenience or protection of a garage. Sharff isn’t getting rid of his anytime soon. "It serves its purpose," he said. "It does keep the cars shielded from the sun, and it’s secure. And where else would we keep all that stuff? I call it my ‘Florida basement.’"
In the end, perhaps, it comes down to a matter of taste. Retired architect Tim Seibert, whose many Sarasota designs include the Siesta Key Beach Pavilion and the John D. MacDonald House, parks in a carport "because I can’t stand waiting for the garage door to open." His wife, on the other hand, parks in the garage, Seibert said.
"She’s a very neat person, wouldn’t dream of leaving her car outside. She always keeps it the garage. A very elegant garage."
For More Information About SteelMaster Buildings Visit Steelmasterusa.com
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