Posted: 8/21/2026 11:04:25 AM EDT
| I have a 20x30' pad that I'd like to put a carport on to cover the farm truck and tractor. Any suggestions? Any brand or type I should stay away from? |
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I have a 12 x 32 from Allen's that I park the camper under. It cost around 3k installed back in 2022. They have options for vertical or horizontal metal installation. Horizontal is cheaper, but I went with vertical and have soffits. Birds loved it and I ended up zip tying chicken wire to the inside to keep them out. |
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I put up a 16x30 Versatube last year. Just myself, a ladder, and occasionally my tractor with forks. Easy to do albeit a bit tedious. Went together mostly square which was impressive for a cobbled together steel building. I didn't go with their recommended anchors. Just lagged it to some PT 4x6s and further anchored it down with mobile home anchors. It's in a hole so to speak and is mostly sheltered from the wind. The rest of the instructions weren't overly impressive--that might have been my fault for not laying things out and identifying which piece went where. I have a couple trusses with extra screw holes as I had to rip it apart and do over. Speaking of screws, it came with a bunch. Somewhere around 800ish. I wore out a couple magnetic bits driving them. I went with Versatube as they had better roofing options--their pinnacle style roof is properly oriented to shed snow--not an issue for you in MO. They also gave me the options to add roof trusses for snow load/stability. Also not a concern for you. I ordered direct from Versatube. It was shipped in two different shipments--the building frame/components via freight and the sheet metal from a separate distributor. In my case they both arrived on the same day, but I believe their plan is for the sheet metal to arrive a week or so later. The building was on two pallets. One 12' long and the other 10' long. Stacked on top of each other. Too wide for the truck, so we used my tractor to pull it towards the liftgate so I could get my forks under it. Then with my forks under one end and the other end on the liftgate we got it on the ground. My 16x30 frame was only 1300 pounds, so it was pretty easy to pull out. If you don't have forks, you can unload by hand with a likely very annoyed driver watching you. Each piece is about 30 pounds. You could probably work it out with the freight company to pick it up at their hub as well. All in all, it was the more expensive option, but I'd do it again. Especially with the roof orientation for snow. |
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Dang, You guys have bigger budgets than I do. That versatube is sweet but starts at $5k. I've got caviar dreams but a cheetoes budget. We're coming up on a year at the new farm and still working to get it settled. If you'd told me a year ago that we'd be out of the city and on a property and I'd have deer food plots planted and tree stands hung, my wife would have a big chicken setup and her horse settled, I'd of said you were crazy. I looked at some from Lowes but then found the same thing on Amazon. I've had some pretty good luck with large chicken runs from amazon judging them on reviews. I judge the bad reviews on whether the material sucks or it's the people assembling it. I think I found a decent one. People who assembled it and know how to do things talk well of it. Should be good enough to cover the tractor and old farm truck. It'll be here next week and maybe I can get it assembled over the long weekend. |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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Originally Posted By bendigo78: Dang, You guys have bigger budgets than I do. That versatube is sweet but starts at $5k. I've got caviar dreams but a cheetoes budget. We're coming up on a year at the new farm and still working to get it settled. If you'd told me a year ago that we'd be out of the city and on a property and I'd have deer food plots planted and tree stands hung, my wife would have a big chicken setup and her horse settled, I'd of said you were crazy. I looked at some from Lowes but then found the same thing on Amazon. I've had some pretty good luck with large chicken runs from amazon judging them on reviews. I judge the bad reviews on whether the material sucks or it's the people assembling it. I think I found a decent one. People who assembled it and know how to do things talk well of it. Should be good enough to cover the tractor and old farm truck. It'll be here next week and maybe I can get it assembled over the long weekend. @bendigo78 please link to the one that tickled your fancy? |
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: @bendigo78 please link to the one that tickled your fancy? Hey Deuskid, You ended up with some land as well. I see you kicking around these threads too. #MO I figure worse case I've got a chineese welder and a shop I can bolt it to. It'll probably fall down and kill my entire family. |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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Carport was scheduled for delivery on Tuesday. Fed ex delivered 8 of 9 boxes on friday. Apparently the 9th box of only screws ships separately. Attached File |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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Got started yesterday at sunrise. Got the frame up in under 4 hours with a buddy helping. The roof is definitely the worst part. Also being 100 degrees doesn't help. Currently waiting on the sun to come up to get back after it. Attached File Attached File |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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It looks nice and really nice looking shop. One concern I have….its too late but recommend you keep an eye on it….. I’d be concerned about water runoff between your carport and the shop affecting the shop especially if the shop is a post frame constructed building. Otherwise, looks good. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: It looks nice and really nice looking shop. One concern I have….its too late but recommend you keep an eye on it….. I’d be concerned about water runoff between your carport and the shop affecting the shop especially if the shop is a post frame constructed building. Otherwise, looks good. Yeah, I've been thinking about that. The ribs on the roof run front to back so I didn't know what to expect with water runoff. I think I may raise the front a couple inches to allow the water to runoff the back. It wouldn't be a big deal to put a piece of gutter on that side either. |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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Originally Posted By bendigo78: Yeah, I've been thinking about that. The ribs on the roof run front to back so I didn't know what to expect with water runoff. I think I may raise the front a couple inches to allow the water to runoff the back. It wouldn't be a big deal to put a piece of gutter on that side either. The gutter is a good idea. The ribs running horizontal should slow the flow of water but won’t stop it. Just a thought. Not trying to tear down what you are doing here! |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By ColtRifle: The gutter is a good idea. The ribs running horizontal should slow the flow of water but won’t stop it. Just a thought. Not trying to tear down what you are doing here! No worries. I'm figuring it out as I go. |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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@Bendigo78 Looks good! What is the 'drive under' height? The online pics show a motorhome under it with PLENTY of room to spare but in real life it doesn't look that tall, can you give us a measurement, thanks! I read all the reviews and it seems the 'sturdiness' is in a large part related to the flatness of the surface it's built on and the care with which it's assembled. ETA: Definitely recommend the gutter, I'd have tobe doing the same as I'll be butting up against a building. |
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Originally Posted By bmarshall1: @Bendigo78 Looks good! What is the 'drive under' height? The online pics show a motorhome under it with PLENTY of room to spare but in real life it doesn't look that tall, can you give us a measurement, thanks! I read all the reviews and it seems the 'sturdiness' is in a large part related to the flatness of the surface it's built on and the care with which it's assembled. ETA: Definitely recommend the gutter, I'd have tobe doing the same as I'll be butting up against a building. 91" to the bottom of the front truss. 87" to where the upper corner brace connects to truss. Attached File Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Deuskid: @Bendigo78 Do you think this could be set ontop of a 2-3 foot knee wall to raise the height ... maybe a concrete block wall? How is it anchored to the ground? Thanks Right now it is not. Had a storm blow up yesterday and had to improvise. Got am inch and a half of rain in around an hour. Had a couple leaks. Comes with straps that go over the legs of the frame. You could definately drill through the frame and bolt it to something. It's got out-rigger style braces for the legs that I couldn't use like that. So I rivnutted them inside the frame to support the legs more. Also started on the gutter. Attached File Attached File Attached File |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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The frame and legs are 2" tube and decently thick. It wouldn't be hard to cut them in the middle and add an extension. The truss assemblies have several rivet nuts to bolt them together but most everything else is held together with self tappers. It seems pretty solid for now but if it loosens up I'll go around and add more rivet nuts. Those braces I installed with the 1/4-20 rivnuts and bolts are extremely solid. The roof tin is very thin and the weather proofing tape and silicone that come with it are junk. The tape is cheap duct tape and the silicone is labeled as glass glue. I used Xfastener butyl tape from amazon. Ordered 90ft and needed closer to 110ft. I think there's a few leaks. It would help to elevate one end a few inches to help the water run off and I still might do this. Here's the Butyl tape. XFasten Butyl Putty Tape, Black, 1/8" x 3/4" x 30' (3-Pack) This was the rivetnut kit I got. SAE Rivet Nut Tool 420pcs Imperial Carbon Steel Rivet Nut Tool Kit |
I'm not here because I make sound financial decisions.
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Originally Posted By ODS9091: When you go to Alan's website and choose what width / length you want, then click on customize and you specify leg height (6',7',8' etc...) what color you want, sides closed on or not....etc... @ODS9091 Correct, on Alan's you can, but this was a fairly inexpensive carport from Amazon. I'd be curious as to what an equivilent Alan's would cost. |
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Originally Posted By bmarshall1: @ODS9091 Correct, on Alan's you can, but this was a fairly inexpensive carport from Amazon. I'd be curious as to what an equivilent Alan's would cost. It looks like a similar Allans is $1200 more but they put it together for you. (Which isn't bad considering mine took us 2 guys 2 days but we're old and heat indexes were 105) |
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Originally Posted By bendigo78: Dang, You guys have bigger budgets than I do. That versatube is sweet but starts at $5k. I've got caviar dreams but a cheetoes budget. We're coming up on a year at the new farm and still working to get it settled. If you'd told me a year ago that we'd be out of the city and on a property and I'd have deer food plots planted and tree stands hung, my wife would have a big chicken setup and her horse settled, I'd of said you were crazy. I looked at some from Lowes but then found the same thing on Amazon. I've had some pretty good luck with large chicken runs from amazon judging them on reviews. I judge the bad reviews on whether the material sucks or it's the people assembling it. I think I found a decent one. People who assembled it and know how to do things talk well of it. Should be good enough to cover the tractor and old farm truck. It'll be here next week and maybe I can get it assembled over the long weekend. Coming back to edit. Thank you for posting what you got and your results! We need one of these but I'd have to get help putting it up now. I'm past the point of taking on that project. It looks nice beside your shop. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
Joined:
Feb 2007
Posts:
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EE: 0% (0)
KY, USA
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Originally Posted By bendigo78: Right now it is not. Had a storm blow up yesterday and had to improvise. Got am inch and a half of rain in around an hour. Had a couple leaks. Comes with straps that go over the legs of the frame. You could definately drill through the frame and bolt it to something. It's got out-rigger style braces for the legs that I couldn't use like that. So I rivnutted them inside the frame to support the legs more. Also started on the gutter. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/26018/19708_jpg-3824091.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/26018/19685_jpg-3824093.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/26018/19691_jpg-3824094.JPG Great thinking on holding it down! 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe