Car Porch – Latest innovations in exterior designs

It’s not significant that you own a car or not. But when you build a new concrete home, you definitely find space for your car porch. Buying car may be your next plan. It’s always nice to add car porch in the designing phase itself, rather than adding it later after you purchase a 4-wheeler. Yet we are often confused to find suitable space for car porch. Through this column I shall provide you a few solutions.

Nowadays many people prefer to keep car porch away from main construction. In modern design concept, the space of car porch is in the backyard of home or a little distant away from it, at a corner of courtyard. Car porch should never hide the beauty of home and its exterior – that’s the new concept. From basics to latest trends, you can go through these points to get a few new ideas about car porch.

Your calculations should be perfect

–> The basic principle of a car porch is that when you park your car, it should have at least 2 feet distance from all sides of the porch. Your car porch should be spacious enough. If you want to accommodate both 4-wheeler and 2-wheeler vehicles, adjust the size of your porch according to it.

–> Best plan to reduce the budget of a car porch is to construct four pillars and then place aluminium sheet on its top as roof. Terracotta, shingles, fiber powered materials etc are also available in market, and you can substitute aluminium roof with any one of them. Choose material according to the style and design of your home.

–> Floor of the porch should be slightly elevated from the ground level. If so you can protect your porch from mud and water, especially in the rainy season. Give a slope in the entry point of the porch where the vehicle enters.

–> Provide a car wash point in your car porch. If you fit car wash pump in a tap, your car washing process becomes easy. Along with pipe connection, ensure that drainage system also works properly.

–> Not to affect the beauty of home, many people construct roof of the porches at maximum heights. Though it’s good for exterior, during rainy season more water enters inside, and during hot summers too, more sun rays easily affect your parked vehicles.

–> In most cases, when you construct car porches at the front side of your home, they are attached to sit out and veranda. It’s the most convenient design too. After parking the car you can easily enter the home. It helps you a lot in rainy season, especially if you are back at home after a big shopping and purchase.

–> In most cases when you construct porch near to veranda, they give space for 4-wheeler vehicles only. Instead you can allot a few steps also, for that space. If the home has two or three steps, you can easily enter home after parking your car in the porch.

Vasthu for your car porch

–> If you construct porch attached to your home, it forms an integral part of the whole structure. For the same reason Vasthu Shastra of your porch becomes significant. Whatever affects your home, it affects your car porch too.

–> When the vehicle enters the car porch it should not face south direction. While designing car porch, keep this point in mind.

–> You can construct porch at the east or north side of your home, and that portion can fit into the main structure inwards.

–> If the porch is away from main structure while designing phase itself, assure enough surface area for it.

Designs are of different types

You can design roofing of your car porch in different styles. The style should be synchronous to the exterior of your home, without affecting its appearance and beauty.

–> In most cases, car porches are of square or rectangular shape. Latest trend is to give slant at one side and give cantilever structure. The pillars won’t concede too much space, that’s the biggest advantage. Also roof can be constructed from the wall of the home. As this structure doesn’t have the support of pillars, use thin roofing material only.

–> If you want to construct a porch for two cars, give a stand in the middle portion and for roofing, butterfly wings’ structure on either side. It gives the appeal of a flying butterfly. This structure fits best when you design car porches away from main home.

–> You can also try canopy style for car porches, if they are away from home. But this idea is only practicable if you have sufficient space in the courtyard. You can’t construct such gazebo structures in congested spaces.

–> You can also opt for ‘Go Green’ concept for your car porch. If you want to make your porch attractive, try vertical garden which takes less space. You can construct a partial green wall on one side this way, and fix hanging pots on the sides of ceiling.

–> Tuffen glass, poly-carbonate sheets, pergola structures – such structures are not needed for roofing, as such spaces doesn’t require sunlight and rays. In cool places, you can use transparent stuff for roofing. You can also plant some flowering climber or passion fruit near to it. When it spreads, it adds extra beauty and coolness.

–> If the porch is near to home, it blocks sunlight of the interior. If so use transparent materials on the sides of porch’s roof.  

–> If you construct car porch away from home, ensure its safety. You can make use of home automation technology, where gate opens and closes automatically, with the passage of car.

Car porches with dual purpose

It’s not the case of those people with limited space. Now many people are interested in the dual purpose of car porches, where the space can be used for other purposes too. Here are a few ideas.

–> You can make use of this space to arrange birthday parties, anniversaries, holiday get-togethers etc. If we make extra arrangements for such parties, it costs more. Instead you can park your vehicle somewhere else and make use of your space. If you have a garden with good lighting arrangements, it adds an extra beauty to your celebrations.

–> If you want to add extra space to such celebrations, there is one simple trick. Construct car porch near to veranda or dining hall. Construct a sliding door which connects the dining area with porch. For home parties, open this sliding door. Party area is ready.

–> In simple method, 4 pillars are constructed and a roof is fixed. During party time, you can make use of it. If you want to give it a ‘royal’ touch, cover one side and construct designed wall. When lighting is done, the look and feel of car porch entirely changes.

–> You can provide sitting areas in one or two sides of the porch. You can keep tool kit, car washing pump etc beneath such portions. Old magazines, newspapers, shoes, or anything you want – you can place them in such spaces. You need not allocate space for such things inside your home, thus saving space in interior.

–> You can also build cupboards in porch, where you can place hose, watering and cleaning equipment, gardening tools etc. But you should arrange these things neat.

–> In the evenings you can change your car porch to a tennis court or basketball court for kids. It’s very easy to construct a basketball court. Purchase rings and net and fix at the centre portion of side pillars. Add a little professionalism, and draw dimensions on floor if you can.

Flooring and lighting for your car porch

–> What’s the best flooring for your car porch? Should it be rough or well-finished? If you have given pavement from gate to porch, you can use the same material for the flooring of porch too. This matching design is trending right now.

–> You can also choose the same material used for the floor of your courtyard. Yet rough flooring is best for porch. In most cases, you wash your car inside the porch. Well-finished floor can lead to slides and injuries in this case. Dirt and moss could be the reason. As sides of porches are open, rainwater can easily affect the floor, leading to slides.

–> Never neglect the lighting your porch. Give it due importance and try to make it attractive similar to your interior. Then only your exterior glorifies with lighting.

–> Also, as your car porches are open, snakes and poisonous insects may enter it. When you enter porch in the early morning or late night, you may not notice it, if the space is not lighted properly.

Now ready-made car porches are available

–> Now it’s the trend of modular porch, which is easily to construct. You can construct it within 2-3 days, soon after you purchase your new vehicle. You need to take the measurement of porch and purchase painted galvalume sheet according to it. It takes only less time for construction. As they are fixed on walls, there is no need of pillars. No need of painting too. It’s free of leakage and never makes noise during rainy season. Plus points are many. Provisions are given for the easy passage of rain water and collect them. You can also easily unscrew the whole structure and fix somewhere else, thus reducing cost.

–> Tensile fabric is yet another popular trend, which is available in different shades. It’s a thick cloth with PVC coating. As it is low in weight, it adds less cost to construction budget. You can unscrew it easily and also fix it in any shape you desire. It doesn’t need repaint or maintenance.

–> If your home is in a dusty atmosphere, full-covered porch could be the best option. Use fabric material which blocks dust, and also allows to pass air and light inside.

Image source: Pixabay