If you need to offer protection for vehicles without building a garage, a carport is the perfect choice for you. A carport is essentially a roof supported by timbers large enough to protect a vehicle from rain. These are particularly useful if you’ve run out of room in an already existing garage or are constantly having visitors over.
The most important part of a carport is the roof. Since a carport will be highly visible to any guests, it will need to be aesthetically appealing as well as durable and waterproof. It should also provide a high degree of shade to protect car dashboards from becoming hot.
The best choice therefore is using Clear Amber Group’s Axiome multiwall polycarbonate sheets. These offer a combination of insulation, shade (if purchased in bronze tint), durability and waterproofing, along with being very light and therefore relatively easy to install. It doesn’t matter whether you’re making a skillion or double-sided roof. Polycarbonate sheeting is perfect for both.
Note that this project may involve working at a slight elevation, so be very careful. If this is beyond your abilities it’s completely normal to hire trusted professionals to complete it instead.
You will need:
- Safety goggles and gloves
- Axiome 16mm Triplewall – Bronze
- Axiome H Sections (if needed, see below)
- Snapa, ALUKAP-XR or ALUKAP-SS glazing bars (see below for explanations of each)
- Circular Saw with blade for polycarbonate and PVC, potentially aluminium cutting blade as well
- Tape Measure
- Low modulus silicone sealant
- ALUKAP-XR Anti-Dust Breather Tape
- Securbond Flashing Tape (if building a double-sided roof)
- Soft Hammer (if using Snapa)
Designing your carport
You will need to decide which glazing bars to use. Snapa is cost effective since it is made out of resilient PVC instead of aluminium. ALUKAP-XR is better for heavy duty with its aluminium composition. Finally, ALUKAP-SS allows you to mount your carport on premium ALUKAP-SS aluminium beams instead of timber. If you order either ALUKAP type, you will need a better blade for your circular saw, one that can cut aluminium. Make sure to get enough lengths of glazing bars for your roof. You will also need the appropriate end caps.
You will also need to work out how many sheets you are going to need for your carport roof. This will allow you to discover whether or not you’ll need aluminium H sections. These are used to hold two polycarbonate sheets together against the grain.
Finally, you’ll need to decide whether or not to have a skillion or double-sided roof. Either are possible, but skillions will usually need bigger pieces of sheet while double-sided require additional glazing bars to reinforce the ridge. You will not need flashing. You will just need two endstop bars if you are making a skillion roof. If you are making a double-sided roof instead you will need a ridge bar and Securbond as well.  Â
The building process
Refer to the Method Two section of the following article. This will explain how to fix polycarbonate sheeting to a timber structure. For a skillion roof just put two endstop bars at either side, covering anti-dust breather tape as per those instructions.Â
For a double-sided roof, the endstop bars should be at the bottom of either side, with the glazing bars mitred to meet at the ridge. Use low-modulus silicone sealant to seal up the mitre gaps. Push the foam of the ridge bar over the sheets, crossing any glazing bars as you do so. Then use Securbond to finish it off and prevent any water ingress.
