One of the upgrades we planned to do when purchasing our smaller home was replacing the carport with a metal building. It would need to be large enough to park our truck in and have space for storage and tools. I know this sounds like we’re not really downsizing, but the truck would not fit in the garage, and we still needed a good portion of the tools for our remodeling projects. After we finish removing non-needed items, a part of the metal building will be used as a workshop.
Why We Wanted to Move It
Before having the metal building, or what we now call the Upper Garage, built we had to remove the carport from the new building site and have a concrete pad poured.
We hired the same company that had done concrete work for us at our previous home, K & K Concrete. They are local, and we were happy with their previous work. They were pretty busy and agreed to work our small job into their schedule. Due to a very rainy spring, it took several weeks before our pad was scheduled.
If we had only removed the carport, this would have been a different project. We would have just disassembled it and taken the metal to the recycling center or called the neighborhood guy who picks up scrap metal.
We had a different plan. We wanted to keep it as intact as possible and relocate it to another part of our property to be used as a pavilion.
Prior to starting, we tried to determine if we could move it ourselves or if we needed as many strong guys as we knew to help us carry it to a temporary location. The area we wanted for the pavilion was not quite ready.
While talking to a neighbor about the metal building and concrete pad and wanting to move the carport and how we could do it, he suggested we borrow our next-door neighbor’s 18-foot flatbed trailer. And that is what we did.
Removing the Poles
On a hot Saturday morning at the end of July, we started the disassembling process. We needed to remove the poles so the roof could rest on the flatbed trailer for the move. The carport had been here for years, and attempting to remove the roof would have likely destroyed some of the panels.
Our first step was to mark the poles so we could match the top and bottom supports for reassembly. We then started the process of removing the screws from the support poles connected to the carport roof. Some screws needed encouragement but gave in to the drill.
Once the screws were removed, we needed to lift the roof off the poles. This was done using the engine hoist we had purchased to help us lift the RV hitch from the bed of our truck.
Starting at one end of the carport, we raised it up just enough to be able to remove the poles from the bracket. We first removed four poles, two from each side, leaving the four corners and a center pole on each side for support.
This sounds easier than it was. Sometimes, the engine hoist slipped off the roof support and hit the roof. Luckily, we didn’t puncture it. Some of the poles were more stubborn than others and took some coaxing with a mallet to loosen.
These pictures were taken around 1:30 p.m., about 3 hours into the project. It was time for a short lunch break.
Lowering the Carport to the Trailer
Our next step was figuring out how to get the carport on the trailer. We couldn’t lower the roof onto the flatbed’s rails because the sides would touch the ground, and we couldn’t pull it. Andy had an idea.
After backing the trailer under the carport, he made platforms for the end supports to rest on by screwing two 2x2x12 boards together. Then, we placed the hoist in the middle of the opening nearest the house and slowly raised the carport enough to remove the corner poles.
Then the hoist was moved to the middle supports and raised up just enough to remove them. Slowly, the hoist was then lowered until the roof supports at the end rested on the boards.
At last, the carport was on the trailer and ready to transport to the other side of the yard. Well, almost ready. First, several ties were attached to keep it in place. Andy pulled it onto the street and around to the front side of the property to the other driveway.
The carport was backed into the clearing at the back of our side lot. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, a little over 5 hours after we’d started. I admit I had my doubts the two of us could do this by ourselves. It was time to rest and celebrate!
The carport stayed on the trailer until mid-February, when we rebuilt it in a new location.
A little over a week later, the pad for the new garage was poured.
The Metal Garage
When we decided to have a garage built in place of the carport, we researched different companies that install metal buildings. We decided on Tri-State Carports. They had the options we wanted, and their pricing was competitive. (We are NOT receiving anything for this recommendation, it is our opinion, based on our experience.)
The week after the concrete pad was poured, the metal building went up. The workers started in the late afternoon and worked until dark. They came back the next morning to finish the job.
Early the next morning, they returned to finish the job.
We hope this post has been helpful for those wanting to move a carport and install a metal garage. After the garage was built, we put up a new fence around the yard, fencing in the entire back wall.
If you want to see how we rebuild the carport, check it out here.
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