To Build or to Buy Reds Nuts Style

He started to look in to buying a carport for this vehicle. The snow in Michigan is starting to leave black marks/streaks on the vehicle paint jobs. There are a lot of companies that manufacture these cheap canopies. So, I thought they were cheap. He went to several close locations that where advertising them for sale. In the process we were notified that the supply chain had the prices jacked way up from what they were 2 years ago.

For a 24 * 30 the price tag was around $10,000 + assembled on site. O my what the hell. How are all these people being able to purchase these products. Fudge stick I would have to sell my dog and my last born for our family to own one. Then he started to look in surrounding states to see if he could one cheaper. The only thing that we found is that they were a little cheaper but were made with cheaper material. I tried to go factory direct still no luck on finding one for around 3 or 5 grand. The cost of material has gone up by 3-fold in 2 years. Famous last word dollars short and a year late.

He started to investigate what just the material would cost. What we found is that the material was about 1/4 the price of what one would cost to be erected onsite. The next thing was to buy the steel to make the skeleton of the project. He ordered 3/16” steel rectangle tubbing and had it delivered. Went through a local shop called ironworx out of Munith Michigan. The iron was delivered, and we went to work.

This is going to be a couple of days of work to get it right. We started by precutting the angles we needed to make the trusses and walls. We found out quickly that if we made it all steel the weight was going to be a lot. So, opted for some wood in the construction. By adding horizon and vertical brackets he could intergrade 2x4’s in the design. Having all the iron precut the wielding will take less time in the ironworx shop.

The floor is going to be stone, and foundation is 4×6 treated with the 6” side facing up and down. The 2x4’s on the walls used with the 4” face facing outward. The roof he will place the 2x4’s on their side for strength.

Once all the walls and roof skeleton system is erected the metal siding is added. With the wood on the roof being only 1 ½” wide the best way to make sure that you will be hitting the wood when installing the screws is to predrill the metal roofing. With the walls being the part, you see the most it is a good idea to also perdrill the holes that way the screws all look uniform from the ground.

In the end with material, hard work and help from Ironworx the project cost a little over $5,000. Not bad for a bunch of hillbillys.