9 Reasons Why a Carport Will Add Value to Your Property
Increasing the value of your property is probably something you have been thinking about for some time now. If you are planning on selling your real estate in the foreseeable future, then you should consider which home improvement projects to embark on in order to go for the highest asking price possible.
There are countless home improvements at your disposal but when it comes to the driveway or the backyard parking lot, then hardly anything can beat a carport. If you are still having doubts about whether this improvement will make for a sound investment, here are 9 reasons why a carport will add value to your property and help you increase the market value of your home.
A carport is customizable
The thing about carport is that they are mostly not stock made. There isn’t a mold of a certain type, color or size that manufacturers use when you order a carport. In the vast majority of cases, homeowners are the ones deciding in the size and the shape of the carport. If they are worried that they’ll get the measures wrong, the manufacturer can send people to perform the measurement on behalf of the car owner and advise on the best size and shape of the carport.
Fitting the carport into the tiniest of spaces
Since a carport can be custom designed, this means that engineers can fit in into the tiniest of spaces. This is the ideal design for small suburban homes that have short driveways and even smaller backyards that cannot facilitate a proper brick and mortar garage.
If you know the dimensions of your car and you can park in your driveway, then a carport will definitely fit, regardless of tight a squeeze, it might be. If the four columns have nowhere to fit, then a carport can act as a pergola, protruding from the wall of the house.
It’s important what you have under the hood
A carport got its name because homeowners most often decide to use it as a provisional garage for their beloved four-wheeler. However, there are virtually no limits to what you can store under a carport. Seafaring people might park a boat underneath it, while others might store their caravan, truck, motor homes, bicycle, motorcycle or building machinery underneath it.
The most important thing is that you erect a carport and leave it to imagination to what will be stored there. In terms of the real estate values, this principle is perfect because prospective owners will not be limited to what they can park or store under the carport.
Preventing a fender bender
Everyone who owns a garage knows how hard it is to park the car every single time without damaging the body of the vehicle. Even the most experienced and even professional drivers lose their composure at some point in time and chip the paint off the car against the garage wall.
That’s the thing with garages, they have brick or tin walls that increase the chances of the car hitting or scraping against them. A carport is held upright using just several metal columns so it is much harder to hit one of them, to the delight of clumsy motorists. With your car safely ticked away under a carport, you won’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on body sanding and painting. This money would find a better use for staging the house for prospective owners, for example.
Better drainage
A house fire can be quite dangerous but what’s even more perilous for your property is water damages. Whether it comes from a ruptured pipe in the kitchen or a leaky roof, water damage can take months to repair, if repairable at all. Believe it or not but a pergola carport can improve your home’s drainage.
Since a pergola carport is connected to your house using a watertight elongated seal, it actually fulfils the role of gutters. Since it is neatly slanted away from the house, it will take rainwater in the opposite direction, straight into the drain bellow. A carport is, therefore, useful to have since it rains for half the month on average in March and May in New South Wales alone.
Where there’s room for one, there’s room for two
If you have sufficient room, then a carport can be double, protecting two cars instead of one. This is ideal if you own two vehicles and have a lack of parking spaces in your neighbourhood. Furthermore, if you own a single car, the other space can be used for your guest’s car, which most double carports in Sydney are used for.
Finally, if you are planning to put the property up for sale, a double carport is perfect because you never know how many parking spaces the new owners will require. Parking lots are a real issue in urban settlements but you needn’t bother with all the high-tech solutions since a carport solves them all for you under a single roof.
Suitable for people renting the property
There is another aspect to building a carport that might not increase the value of your home directly but it will still prove as an asset. Namely, if you decide to rent your property but you haven’t built a garage, then prospective renters might turn you down because of a lack of parking space. Building permits are hard to come by these days due to slow bureaucracy and even if you managed to get one, it will probably take months. By that time, your tenants will have probably moved out and you’ll be left in a pretty awkward situation.
A carport, on the other hand, doesn’t require permits to be issued since it’s not a permanent structure. Furthermore, it costs less money to build than a garage does. In fact, a carport is an investment that tenants can make on their own according to their needs and in coordination with you as the owner. If anyone ever asks you can they erect a carport on your property, immediately say yes because you’ll be left with a home improvement that will add pure value to your property.
Protecting the lawn
What’s the first thing that a realtor would advise you to do before he or she places the “for sale” sign? The answer is simple: boost the curb appeal of your house! There are several methods to accomplish this but they all include a verdant lawn without any yellowish patches. In reality, the biggest damage that occurs to the lawn is not caused by drought but by your car.
Not only do wheels stump the blades of grass but they blot out the sun, causing the grass underneath the car to die away. However, if you decide to build a carport, the car will permanently leave the lawn as the floor surface of a carport is solid concrete. Just like you’ll save money on repairing the car’s body so will you save money on replanting the front yard lawn due to “automotive” damage.
A pleasant shade
Have you been thinking of installing a patio in the backyard? If you have, then ditch the idea because that’s one investment you won’t have to make if you choose to build a carport. When it is not used for parking a car or storage, a carport acts as a gazebo of a sort, protecting you from the sun which can be punishing during Australian summers. Add a few climbing plants around the columns and you get a versatile garden improvement like no other.
All in all, there are at least 9 solid reasons why you should build a carport next to your house or in the backyard. Ultimately, this outdoor improvement will add value to your house by providing personal parking space, extra storage area, and a pleasant shade to enjoy during the hot summer days.
