Carport

A carport is a shelter for cars and is used to mount a parking space as well as frequently the protection of the vehicle from environmental influences such as rain, snow, hail, leaves or discs freezing humidity.

Origin

Literally translated from English means carport " car port ". The term " carport " was coined in the 1920s by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, his famous " prairie houses" endowed with these dugouts / mounts. Sometimes carports are also referred to as a shed.

Construction

As a rule, a carport made ​​of wood, steel or aluminum, but there are also designs of plastic. Simple carports have no roof, better carports have a flat roof, upgraded versions have more complex structures such as a gable roof, hip roof or a barrel roof. A carport can be open on all sides, whereby elements are offered with which individual segments can be closed. The entrance of a carport is in contrast to a garage in principle open. A common variant of the roof covering is a corrugated sheet, trapezoidal or their transparent forms corrugated light panels or trapezoidal plates. Open carports without roof are mostly used as an optical enclosure of outdoor spaces to emphasize this by surrounding open spaces. Increasingly, the free surfaces of the roof are also used for solar installations.

Pros and Cons

The advantages of the carport over a garage are on the one hand in its architectural effect, which gives the entire building through the open design more ease and elegance, as well as supplies adjacent buildings and areas with more light. Also harmful exhaust gases can flow easier and escape carcinogenic particulate matter easily. Next adhering moisture is removed efficiently, which conditionally and whose rust - risk significantly reduces a rapid drying of the placed below the vehicle. The recovered free surface of the roof is increasingly being used as a location for private solar cells to generate power for the in-house system.

Carports provide a promotional image display quality vehicles, but offer no privacy, protection against theft or vandalism. It is also animals such as Martens possible to get their hands on the inside of the car.

Structural and legal aspects

Generally, carports are more easily approved as garages, fire protection requirements are normally not required. Also, just point, no line or area foundations, as required for a garage as opposed to a garage.

As for almost all new buildings there are in Germany, however, no uniform rule. In some states a planning application must be submitted.