New carport build

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No mas!:D I have enough to fill it up right now, any more and I’d have to build another one on the other end of the house!

I’ve got 5, all tagged and insured, but right now only 4 driveable. That’s plenty for now since about all that gets driven is the wife’s Expy and my F150. That’s why I didn’t put the Ranger under there, I’m going to start driving it some again.

I’m thinking this might be a good paint area, too. Empty it out, park whatever in the center, plenty of room to walk around it to paint.
 
I never did post a pic of it full, so here ya go! 4 vehicles with plenty of walking around room.

DSCF1282 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr
DSCF1281 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr

DSCF1279 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr

I was going to add lighting underneath, may still, but the dusk to dawn light I put at the rear lights it up enough at night you can see to get in and out. Going to have to put a new eye in it, sometimes, like in todays pic, it doesn't shut off in daylight.
 
Pretty nifty. You southern boys can get by with a carport. Not so fortunate here in the north woods.
 
Pretty nifty. You southern boys can get by with a carport. Not so fortunate here in the north woods.

Most of the year it's OK Bob. In the deep of winter though I don't get much done out there. I may enclose it one of these days, don't know if I ever will though. Enclosed, I'd want heat and AC. :D It's surprising how cool it is even in the hottest part of the day under the new part, air flows freely so it's comfortable. The original bay has the house wall on one side and a utility room at the back, so I have to use a fan to get air to move in there or it gets stuffy hot.

Wife talked with a guy about bringing the rock, hope to get that done in a few weeks before the fall rains start.
 
The final step, for now at least. Had 20 ton of washed gravel brought in Friday, started spreading it with the tractor. Broke one of the link arm attaching brackets, had to fix that Saturday morning, then two sessions of spreading. Spreaded until I got hot, cooled off and ate lunch, went back and tractor wouldn't start. Had to redo the battery cables. Old tractor is pushing the hydraulic oil into the engine, so I spread a while, then drain oil from engine and pour it back into hydraulic tank. It's not too bad unless you're using the lift a lot like using the box blade, then it goes about a hour and you have to drain it. Reckon it's a seal in the pump is bad, new pumps are almost impossible to find and cost more than what I paid for the tractor to start with, so I'm going to get a overhaul kit and try rebuilding it myself. Anyways, here's a few pics of it spread out, lost a good bit of grass, but that's just less to have to cut, lol. Maybe one of these days I can pour some concrete, but for now this will do. Reason it's a different color under the building is we finally got some rain last night, first in over a month!

DSCF1315 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr
DSCF1316 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr
DSCF1317 by Bobby Atkins, on Flickr
 
Good job! Only thing I see that I would have done different is to use 2x4 stringers across the joists instead of 1x material. I made the same mistake on mine and I can see some swag in between the joists. :)
 
Good job! Only thing I see that I would have done different is to use 2x4 stringers across the joists instead of 1x material. I made the same mistake on mine and I can see some swag in between the joists. :)

I could have, but I figure this will outlast me anyway, so let the next caretaker take care of it if they want it different.

There is a building at my Mom's house that was built in the 1960's from used 1x barn pine wood. It's still in good shape.
 
I could have, but I figure this will outlast me anyway, so let the next caretaker take care of it if they want it different.

There is a building at my Mom's house that was built in the 1960's from used 1x barn pine wood. It's still in good shape.

No snow load.:D The crushed rock looks nice.
 
No snow load.:D The crushed rock looks nice.

Correct, no snow load! Very seldom see over 3", most of the time it's less than 1". We did have 17" during the blizzard of '93, but that was a once in a lifetime event for us.
This is what is called washed gravel around here. Mostly smooth stones, washed to remove the dirt to make it less muddy when spread. Only bad thing is it crawls a lot until it settles, which it probably won't do well until we get the winter rains and the soil gets wetter. After it finally settles and packs in, it stays pretty well in place.
 

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