Tri State Carports Inc is based out of the Cana, Virginia area, and has grown from a fairly small and modest three-person operation which was founded in 1998 all the way to a fully staffed and experienced carport reseller offering the latest and greatest in carport and other metal structures. Not only do they have extremely helpful and experienced sales representatives can help you figure out what type of car port may be a pro great for your needs, but they are also capable of getting your carport installed for you via some of their experienced installation crew members.

The Tristate Carport company has a number of different shoes that are available to you, but most people typically end up going with metal carports of some sort. These carports can usually be made of two different types of metal, the two most common types are aluminum and steel. Typically aluminum carports are more affordable, but they tend not to be nearly as durable or long lasting as their steel  equivalents. If you find that you want to get the very best in protection for your vehicles or equipment, you might want to consider going with some of their galvanized steel carports which not only last a long time but also offer advanced protection against extreme weather.

Tristate carports also has a number of local dealers as well, and will often work with many other privately owned carport selling businesses. Some of the basic questions you might have can be answered by their trained staff, and one of the most common is what might be the best location for the structure? What they will tell you is that the products are typically best install on square and flat surfaces, but things like building permits and site preparation are the responsibility of the customer themselves. Keep in mind that most of their carports can be installed within a few hours give or take, but if you are building a larger structure, it may take up to two or three days depending on the size and complexity of the structure itself, so be sure to go over this with Tri State Carports staff before making any final purchases. You can them at this number: (877) 494-2997

Thankfully, there is a reputable company that deals in this exact type of product, and that is the Kelty company, specifically their Kelty carport. This carport is sold on their website as the carport deluxe model, and at the time of this writing can be purchased for about $330. This product is essentially a carport that attaches to the back or side of the roof rack on a standard SUV or minivan, it is also compatible with a number of large trucks as well depending on where the roof rack is located.

This carport shelter comes with a wide variety of different features:

• Fits minivans and SUVs
• It has a Clip-sleeve construction
• This also comes equipped with taped seams
• Complete coverage retractable side panels
• A large closable mesh window
• Closable side windows
• And a Nite Ize F9 guyline adjuster

Here are the primary specifications for those of you who may be interested:

Fly Material: 75D 450mm polyester taffeta

*Image courtesy of Kelty.com

Fits to mini-vans and SUVs
Seasons: 3
Capacity: NA
Minimum weight: 9 lb. 9 oz. / 4.3 kg
Packaged weight: 10 lb. 3 oz. / 4.6 kg
Floor area: 113 ft2 / 10.5 m2
Vestibule area: NA

Dimensions:
Length: 126″ / 320 cm
Width: 116″ / 295 cm
Height: 0″ / 0 cm
Number of poles: 8
Pole type: Six 16mm DAC Press-fit aluminum poles + two 16mm staff poles
Number of vestibules: 0
Number of doors: 0
Packaged diameter: 8″ / 20 cm
Packaged Length: 27″ / 69 cm

Be sure that you inquire about any warranties or return policies with Kelty.com before making any final purchases so that you can return a defective unit should do happen to get one. Also make sure you do plenty of comparison shopping on multiple websites to make sure you get the best possible deal. For those of you who are interested in checking out the product information on the company site and ordering from the Kelty store directly, you can order this product at this URL:

http://www.kelty.com/p-125-carport-deluxe-large.aspx

Many of the repairs will depend on the type of materials that were used to construct the carport. A majority of carports are constructed from metal and steel. There are other carports that are constructed of wood and even brick. Many times, there are some cosmetic repairs that need to be done. You may begin to see little spots of rust due to the finish coming off of one of our supports. It can even be because of stones and other debris hitting the structure. This is a very simple carport repair to do. There are several ways to get rid of the rust. First, you always want to sand the rust and then you can apply rust treating products as well as paint finishes to blend in.

Another issue that some carport repairs may be required for is if the canopy is beginning to sag. The first thing that you should check is to make sure all of the fittings and screws are securely fastened. You should also make sure that your support poles are still level and straight. You may need to make some slight adjustments to the anchors to make these supports straight. Once you do this, you will see that your canopy is no longer sagging.

It is very important to prevent sagging of the roof, to make sure that you keep snow and other debris from accumulating on it. It is often the weight that will create these problems. There are many parts that you can purchase in order to perform your metal carport repair. You can purchase an additional support in case any of yours have begun to buckle or bend. If your carport is made of wood, you may also experience similar difficulties. You still need to make sure that you keep anything heavy off the roof. You may also need to replace pieces that have begun to warp. This is a very easy process as you just need to remove the one slat that is affected. It also makes sure that all the screws and fittings are tight. If some of these steps do not solve some of the problems that you are experiencing, you may want to see if you are still covered under warranty. If you are covered, you will want to contact the company that sold you the carport. If your warranty has expired, you can always call the company that installed it and have them take care of the necessary repairs. Diamondback carport repair is one of the companies out there that can handle and take care of all of your carport repair needs, there are others available online as well.

Ace Canopy has a simple kit for a $700 list price but a $495 on-sale price. This is a 10×20 foot carport with a four-post frame, a polyethylene canopy top, and a screen enclosure to protect against pests and animals. The screen enclosure includes a zippered panel for easy entrance. And, according to Ace, you can build it in as little as fifteen minutes, depending on how handy you are.

The same company’s portable carport kit—listing for $1,200, often on sale for $750—features a gray, triple-laminate polyethylene canopy, eight posts from two-inch, seventeen-gauge steel poles, and a peak height of eight feet. This kit includes stakes for temporary anchoring. But it also includes a little more building time—one to two hours, according to Ace.

Ace’s Round Carport kit takes about the same time to build and lists for $1,200, though its sale price is often $697.95 depending on the seller. It resembles the U-shaped tunnels once popular with model railroad kits and features a gray triple-laminate polyethylene canopy covering the entire framework, rather than just the top of the frame. The frame is a twelve-post frame with two-inch poles for its assembly. The kit also includes temporary anchoring stakes.

Juliana Greenhouses makes a unique product—it is Compact Greenhouse that can be built as a carport. These aluminum metal carport kits for sale include aluminum frames with gutters; four-foot-high sidewalls; a 6/3” peak height; a two-foot wide single sliding door; and, unbreakable polycarbonate clear wall panels. Options include a galvanized steel base, and the standard list price for this kit is $1,285.

BuildAMetalCarport.com offers a two-vehicle carport kit for $900. This kit, which should take no more than a day or two to build, features zincalume roof panels and trim, assembly materials for four posts, available base plates, and ratings of 90MPH wind load and #20 snow loads for the roof. A six-post version is available for $1,050. But if your budget is a little bit lacking, Creative Shelters offers carport canopy kits for as low as $68. Their Website, in fact, even offers a do-it-yourselfer a real do-it-yourself root option—a tool with which you can design your own canopy, whether standard gable/peaked style, slant or lean-to top, or kennel-style with peaked roof and side panels all around the structure.

Once you have decided to get a carport, it is time to starting checking out various carports companies. If you want to look for somewhere local, the Yellow Pages can be a great place to look for a carport company. Do not be afraid to call multiple companies in your search, and ask any questions you may have. It is important to find someone easy to work with, who can help talk you through the process and assist you in deciding on the specifics of the carport.

Another option, when looking for a carport sales company, is to search online. This is a quick and simple way to find various companies, compare prices and styles, and get a good bargain. You can easily find a large number of carport companies online, so just open multiple pages and compare them side-by-side. When you decide which companies you are interested in, feel free to e-mail them with any questions you may have. Any good carport company will be both helpful and friendly when helping you decide on a carport.

There are also carport companies that sell carport kits, wherein you can install the carport yourself. This is a great choice for those who are good with manual labor and building projects, but can be a disaster for those who are not. It is really a personal preference. If you feel good about the idea of installing your own carport, then a carport kit is a great choice. Again, look them up online and make sure you ask questions before coming to a decision. In addition, if you decide to forgo the do-it-yourself installation and have your carport installed professionally, you may be paying more but you can rest assured it will be done expertly. Whichever way you decide to go, there are plenty of carport companies out there to choose from. So, take your time and look around.

A solar carport is a carport structure fitted with solar panels. Those panels produce kilowatt hours that can help power a home or business. At a few larger corporations, a solar panel carport generates over a megawatt of energy. The installation of solar panels in the typically under-utilized parking lots of companies provides shade while helping to reduce carbon emissions. In the long term, solar power can help reduce a dependency on foreign oil, as well.

Residential homeowners can already take advantage of installing solar panels on their homes, an upgrade made much less expensive by power company incentives and rebates. Now homeowners will also be able to choose solar carports. The company Lifeport, manufactures solar carports that can generate over 16 kilowatt hours per day for the home. Alternatively, the Lifeport system will directly charge your electric car.

Lifeport is not the only company taking the lead in providing solar power to the world. Baja solar carports are installed in businesses or homes and are delivered to your site, where the company will build the carport on site. Baja specializes in carport construction, so the solar panels can be integrated with the steel-stud carport and set up in a minimum amount of time. The benefits to businesses from the installation of solar carport structures are numerous, but there are two that should capture the attention of most CEO’s: Reducing energy costs by harnessing clean solar power and the positive public image the company projects by exhibiting their green initiative.

To put the magnitude of a solar carport for a large corporation in perspective, take a look at San Diego, California based company Envision Solar. Reputedly, the only company to have all of your construction needs in house, from architects, to maintenance, and even legal matters, the company’s Kyocera project was a historical landmark. This massive solar installation provides 100% of the energy for Kyocera San Diego’s offices, saving them more than $50,000 in energy costs just in the first year. The $3 million dollar price tag for construction was offset by significant incentives, as well as various subsidies. From small solar carports for homes that take up no more than 20 square feet of space, to monumental structures large enough to power hundreds of acres of office space, solar carports are not just the future, they have arrived.

Now these figures mostly apply to single car or single vehicle carports, there are generally not too many standards when it comes to multicar or two car carports. Having said that, but we’ve come to find is that most people tend to really like the 12 x 23 x 10 double carport. 12 feet should really be long enough for the majority of vehicles that are out there and the 24 foot width is fantastic for accommodating carport panels. If you do decide to go with carport began allowing for your carport, I recommend that if you get a carport with the carport size mentioned above or similar, that you look into getting 3 foot wide panels with overlaps. This is because these overlaps allow for a true 24 foot wide coverage area. It’s also particularly handy when determining your trim because you’ll be able to get two 12’ 3” pieces of trim and splice them together, and on the sides you can have one whole piece for the rake trim.

I advised that whatever carport sizes you choose to go with, that you do your research and check out not only all of your local and regional carport resellers and manufacturers, but that you also do some comparison shopping online as well. Most of the online carport manufacturers carry a carport size of just about every kind and will more often than not be willing to do a custom order if you wanted to get very specific metal carport sizes for example.

One of the greater damages to going with the carport shelter like a metal carport shelter or steel shelter carports for example, is the fact that they not only protect against the elements and weather, but they can also help protect your vehicles finish from sun damage and heat deterioration. Carport shelters can also help keep your vehicles coolness summertime as well, the benefit to you is that when you enter the car, your car ends up using much less gas from the AC to cool down your car because it hasn’t been warmed by the sun and heat to begin with. One of the other advantages to going with carports and shelters is the fact that they can be built generally within one to two days, this is key for those of you who have really busy schedules and simply don’t have the time or money for a traditional garage project.

There are tons of different brands to choose from, like the shelter logic carport for example, which can be found on most online carport manufacturers and resellers websites. But beyond all the different choices and simple conveniences of going with the carport shelter, one of the other advantages to going with this kind of vehicle housing is the fact that a carport shelters usually classed as an outbuilding which essentially means that more often than not you don’t have to apply for planning consent. Keep the mind however, local communities and states all have different laws so that shouldn’t be taken as set in stone and you should always check ahead of time, but you’re likely to not run into too many problems. Carport shelters are a great solution for those who simply want a quick and affordable solution to protecting their investments.

Most DIY carports use a basic and simple Pole building construction set up, and these are often pretty typical in what you’ll find in most carport kits regardless of the type of materials they are made out of. What I recommend is that anybody who goes and purchases a DIY metal carport kit, make sure that they get copies of the DIY carport kits engineered plans and possibly even the original stamped copies which sometimes will come at a nominal fee from the carport manufacturer or retailer. Also it would be well advised to inquire about installation instructions that may be available on the Internet and on the manufacturer’s website. This can be extremely valuable if you find the printed instructions insufficient or you simply lose them or they get damaged and are unreadable. Also make sure that you buy a carport kit that’s meant to be a DIY carport, some carport kits are not designed to be done by the average person or by a single person. They may not come with DIY carport plans and may simply come in a kit so that the professionals building it some money.

Also remember that DIY carports, like a DIY wood carport for example, can still be customized to your needs and standards, and you don’t have to go with whatever is on the menu so to speak, do not be afraid to make a request for specific dimensions and requirements that you may need for your particular situation. If you find that the particular manufacturer isn’t terribly accommodating or they don’t have the DIY carports that you particularly want, make sure you shop around and look at all the different online retailers as well as local carport manufacturers as well. Always do your research ahead of time before making any purchases, but we think you’ll come to find that there are many options available to you, especially on the Internet.

Now we don’t ever particularly advise one penny factor or company over another, we feel it’s necessary that our readers are familiar with all the different options available to them and as such we feel coverall carports is one of them. One of the big reasons why we like coverall carports as an option is because they have a lifetime warranty on the structure of their carport and other buildings. One of the other aspects we like is they also guarantee a 45 year warranty on the paint job of their carports. Not all manufacturers and resellers do this, and while most carports from most manufacturers will generally hold up to all the different environmental stresses that may come their way, not many of them will look just as good doing so as the day you first bought your carport. And while the appearance of your carport may not be the absolute top priority, considering how much carports typically cost and the fact that they are often visible on your property, it’s good to know that coverall carports guarantees their craftsmanship.

Another great aspect to coverall carports inc is the fact that all their products are made in the US, and while I believe that their quality carports made in other countries especially in Europe, it’s well-known that some of the best models are made in the United States. Coverall carports offers 15 different colors for their various carports and structures. Another great aspect of coverall carports is the fact that they are family owned, and as many of you very well may know, family owned businesses tend to really excel in customer service and satisfaction, so fewer have an issue with your carport they are likely to respond swiftly and appropriately. Coverall carports prices are very competitive and they have a quality selection, and as such we feel you should consider coverall carports in your collection of different manufacturers and retailers to research and consider.