There are advantages and disadvantages to having a carport. Let’s start with the advantages since there seems to be fewer of them in my opinion. The nice thing is that your car is still covered from some of the harsh elements of weather. You would avoid hail damage or other debris to your car or other valuable equipment. By not having a door that opens and closes like you would if you had a garage door, makes coming and going a little easier.
I would say most people today have garages and that seems more logical than having a carport. Some of the disadvantages of a carport is that you do not have a secure place to put your car to avoid theft or vandalism. Your storage space for a carport would pretty much be deminished unless you had a closet area whereas most garages have extra space to hang lawn equipment or bikes on the wall and/or ceiling. Carports are open for everyone to see your car or whatever else you store under it. And to be honest, I think carports take away from a homes character. Even if you are extremely organized, sometimes carports give the appearance of clutter around the outside of your home. I do not find them in the least bit attractive.
Having a carport would make selling your home more unattractive and possibly lower the value. Having a garage that securely closes would increase the value of your home because I think most people are at least looking for a two car garage versus the carport that most of the time is for one, maybe two cars.
It really is a personal choice and it may depend on what you can afford. If you are constructing a home with a carport, I would suggest that maybe you build it to where you could easily close it in and make a garage that way things will be secure and lessen the chance of theft or vandalism.
This is all just my opinion and I am not sure mine really counts. It truly is all about your taste or what you can afford. Maybe there are ways to make carports look very nice and I am just not sure how since do not have one and I am not sure I would ever want one. Its so nice to lock things away in the garage out of harms way and to also have nice garage doors that accent the home nicely.
