Converting pole structure?

[wrigh003]

Kind of a weird idea- wanted to see if anybody had done anything similar.

The end of my house has a carport on it that has been on the plan to convert into a closed garage for a while- the plan's getting closer as I chug slowly along on the rest of the house... Still trying to get a better idea of how the best way to do it is, but I think it'll be mostly fairly straightforward until I get to the end and try to figure how best to do the doors.

What I have is a 23'x23' carport built out of 6x6's and 4x6's, a total of 8 posts. I figure I can frame up walls to go inside the structure, sheathe the whole shebang (whch will add some extra rigidity, too, a bonus, and then insulate/finish the inside, maybe leaving the beams exposed. Might look cool. On the end, though, not sure how would be the best way (or if it's even possible) to hang a beam so I can delete the middle post. I posted pictures on here once- I'll see if I can dig them up.

The reason for getting away from the middle post is that the structure is a little undersized as-is, and our driveway comes in at an angle that makes it a little tricky. Nobody's hit that post in the center yet, but i'm afraid that might change if I narrow the opening by a foot or two to fit two indvidual garage doors.

See this other thread for a couple of pictures- it must have been REALLY late, because I couldn't count.
Link

 

[Willy Victor]

Got ratty neighbors? I see a building permit in your future.


Willy

 

[IDASHO]

Id go for it.

Check your local zoning and building codes. Quite often, pole barns (which is what yours really is) do not require permits, just so long as they meet required setbacks. Reason being, is that (normally) they are considered temporary structures, due to not having a true foundation.

Id pour the slab, throw some mud sill down, and frame in the walls from post to post.

Could you get some photos from behind the front wall, showing the framing where that center post attaches?

More than likely, to delete that center post you will have to build "wing walls" and install a header in order to delete that post.

 

[james]

here's a shot of the inside of my new 30x40' pole barn before the concrete went in. Should give you some ideas

 

[wrigh003]

I didn't understand "ratty neighbors" at first- my first thought was "well, some of them have a little stuff that maybe they could put up somewhere behind their house, and maybe some of them could mow their yard a little more often..."- I guess I need to let my Monday AM coffee kick in.

Code? Inspections? Zoning? Not much of that out here. I might pull a building permit just to make sure that I don't run afoul of anybody, but there's not much/any enforcement of those kinds of things out where I live in unincorporated AL. Good and bad, I guess- I have spent some time on my house correcting old DIY'd/half-baked ideas of the previous owners, and that's kind of par for the course. Building to code or not seems to be a personal choice out here.

I was thinking the same thing on seeing what's behind there before being able to tell what to do. The ceiling of the carport is currently covered with 4x8 sheets of plywood, joints between them covered with 1x3s. I might actually use that plywood to sheathe the garage when I get to that part, but since I'm not quite ready to tear into it, I don't want to pull that down just yet. I have a suspicion that whoever built this structure probably intended it to BE a garage, but maybe ran out of money to finish it off- the house has several little things like that. It was a foreclosure that we bought from the bank, so the "previous owner ran out of money/motivation/time" thing comes up now and then.