Building a carport with round poles?

[MushCreek]

Any of you guys built something with round poles? There's a place locally that sells new, green treated telephone poles up to 20' at only $2 a foot. That's a lot cheaper than other timbers.

I want to build a simple open carport to keep the weather off of my truck. I know round poles will be a lot more work, since I'd have to notch them to bolt them together, but right now, I have a lot more time than money. I want a reasonable attractive carport, since it will be close to the house. I'm not interested in the cheap-but-ugly metal carports that everyone else in SC has.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

You certainly can, but there's more than notching them to consider. They will taper along the length and won't be perfectly round, so every step of the construction will involve planning for that and shimming and trimming to accommodate it.

A treated 6X6 is only $3 a foot. I don't think the savings would even come close to being worth the extra work.

 

[Bretny]

Are the 6x6 ar $3 a foot for ground contact?

Notching round posts isnt that big of a deal. Screw a 1x2 to it and use it as a square edge. I would do this before you install them.

You need to notch 6x6 square posts anyway.

 

[MushCreek]

I'm going to faux timber frame it. Vertical poles, with a cross piece about a foot from the top to make a 'bent'. Then attach top plates on top of the poles, and attach heavy rafters to them. Throw in some diagonal bracing, and it's done. I'll use purlins across the rafters to attach tin roofing. Basically, I'm framing the roof for a log cabin on top of poles.

As for cost- these are 10" round poles. 8X8's are pretty spendy, if you can even find them.

 

[ATC]

My buddy used 6 telephone poles, and set a RV camper trailer frame on top with a metal roof over it. It actually looks pretty decent, and he stores his tractor and skidsteer under it.

I would have no hesitation using telephone poles for the legs.

 

[rburke65]

Check out YouTube....I’m sure there is help for you.