How to Build a Metal Carport - Part 1

it has been close to a year now that my dad has been asking about a carport they currently just park out in the Sun because the garage is actually his workshop so since I'm still staying with them for a few weeks until closing on the house I decided it was a perfect opportunity to take on such a large project I'm going to be making their carport 20 by 24 Zinat there's plenty room and also building the entire structure from steel so that it gives it a really nice permanent and robust look after figuring out the location of the carport I figured out where the four-post would land and then started digging now the ground around here is almost nothing but solid rock so the go-to method is to use a jackhammer it is always exciting to get to use any tool mom took a turn and she didn't think it was too bad at all and then even Cody took a turn and with him being stronger it was a lot easier for him to manage but well this is my project I was aiming for about 20 inches and I did the majority of the loosening up with a jackhammer and then came back with postal diggers after repeating that on the other three posts I started mixing the concrete now to talk to a few contractors in the area and it goes to method for setting posts in the area is to fill a hole with concrete and use an anchor plate to secure the posts that's called an anchor plate and what I'm going to do is drop these Ifill into the concrete and we share after the concrete sets up I'm going to come back with my school post and weld up to this plate so that's a nice secure I took some very careful measurements to figure out the location of these plates it would have saved a lot of time if I would have popped some string lines beforehand but it just didn't think about it however I did take my time making sure that the plates were nice and level because then this will ensure that the post come out nice and plumb after letting the concrete fully cure then it was time to start studying the post first ran the nuts down onto the eye bulbs nice and securely and then said each post vertically up in place structurally I definitely could have gotten away with 4x4 posts but since the rest of the frame is going to be nice and robust I want to be post and match so I went with six by sixes instead after getting all four post erected I took multiple measurements and make sure that the structure was square and that these posts were exactly where they needed to be next I brought up the welding equipment and welded the post to the plates of course after making sure that all four of them were nice and plumb for this project I'm using my Lincoln 210 machine now at this point all of the posts are taller than what I need them and to get them down to the heist needed I mark the location on one post then ran a string line from that one over to the next using a line level to protect a level line across after repeating this on the remaining three posts I switched over to my plasma cutting gear and cut all of the posts to height I find this easiest to do freehand and not mess with a straight guide but you could very well clamp a straight bar or a flat bar in place in order to guide your cut after all four were cut I moved on to attaching the girders so these angle irons are just to act as a temporary shell for me to set the girders in place while a welding that way I don't have to figure out how to also support them by grabbing the shamash make one turn and these pieces are a little bit heavy it's roughly around 95 pounds of joint so I just make sure to take my time walking up those waters especially but having me brackets clamped in the place make this go very quickly right yeah once the girder was set on the Shelf I would tack it in a few different places and then come back in welded completely on the front and back and of course she's repeated on all four Wow yeah it's so cool never done a structure this thing you know crazy well for some reason I didn't get any footage of it but since the post are a hollow I cut some caps for them from just some flat material and then welded them on top next I moved on to making the trusses I'm going with a three 12 pitch because it will match the house and I'm using a chopped fall to make the cut after getting the top cord cut I patched it into place and then we'll do them together for this went ahead and rented a man basket thinking it would make life a little bit easier before lifting the trust into the air though I clamped a piece of wood on either end where the trust needed to be flushed up to this way as Cody lifted it up into the air I could just climb onto the ladder and move one side of the truss into place and have something to clamp it to so I clamped the right side then ran over to the left and also claimed it and there was a lot of going up and down the ladders on the step once I had both sides temporarily secured I moved the ladder to the middle in order to check the left and right orientation this is where a plumb bob would come in handy but didn't have one so I made do but the sides still being temporarily clamped I grabbed a board and then just hammered it over so the level in the center was perfectly vertical yeah I like that a lot once I like that I flipped the level around and got the trusts perfectly in line with the girder you're just going to pull the slightest bit okay go ahead alright barbae okay I hold it in order to give the trusses some stability from wanting to rock forward and backward I went over to my flat piece of metal and cut some gussets to weld on I went ahead and cut two gussets per post and then welded these to the backside of the trust into the top side of the post then moved on to making the web for I believe they're sometimes called a dogleg but they're the supporting members that will connect the trusses top core to the bottom cord and you can use the chops all to cut these but I found it easiest just to use my plasma cutter damn that looks good so I know it looks big so like whenever I think are four I think one of those like crappy temporary looking that flowed away any minute looking hardcore never make it I get them like that like a pin I just think this is a lot better this was like a more permanent hardcore carb or the same angle in nowhere after completing the front press had moved to the back and repeated the same I close one folks well right now thank you prophet I'm happy with the progress but I am at breaking into multiple videos so if you're interested in part two I'm going to be welding on the Pearl and adding on the roof as well as giving it a coat of paint so stay tuned if you're interested in seeing my carport complete I'll see you then guys the Pacific

Channel: April Wilkerson

Views: 3,741,716

Rating: 4.8102188 out of 5

Keywords: april wilkerson, build a carport, triton tools, diy, wilkerdos, wilker dos, how to, home improvement, shop project, diy project, outdoor project, female builder, diy shop project, april, female woodworker, female carpenter, diy projects, woodworking project, women who build, do it yourself, how to build, woman builder, metal carport, how to carport, make a carport, diy carport, diy metal carport frame, mig welding, building a carport

Id: GQdaiRjPASU

Length: 7min 44sec (464 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 26 2017