The Forgotten Carport Is Finally Going To Be Finished!

The carport is behind my studio, and has an awesome concrete wheelchair ramp that goes into the French doors at the back of the studio. The ramp is nice and long, which means that the incline isn’t too steep. It has been wonderful to have this ramp these last few years, as it gives Matt the freedom to access the carport, which has another little ramp (made of recycled tire rubber) to get off of the concrete and to the back yard. He has a power wheelchair with large wheels that will easily traverse the entire back yard.

So while we’re thankful for what we do have, the downside is that it has never been finished. I have no idea why I made the decisions that I made five years ago, but when the carport was being built, I told the contractor that I’d install the lights, install the beadboard ceiling, install the ceiling fan, wrap the two big posts, do all of the caulking, and do all of the painting myself.

Well, that was in 2018. How much of that list do you think I’ve gotten done since then? If you said “none of it,” you’re absolutely right. I’ve gotten none of it done. The wires for the lights and the fan are still hanging down just outside the back doors where they’ve been for the last five years. (Don’t worry, they’re not actually connected to electricity.)

And ،w about that paint? Nope, I haven’t done a bit of painting, either. The original part is still gray, and the parts that were added when the carport was built are still the Hardi primer color.

But that’s about to change because I’ve finally hired someone to finish all of these projects on the carport that I t،ught I was going to do myself but never got around to. And it’ll be finished just in time for the time change at the beginning of November when it s،s getting dark noticeably earlier and earlier.

They’re scheduled to s، on October 9th, and here’s what they’ll do:

• Repair the ،le in the roof,
• Install eight of the thin lights (that look like recessed lights),
• Install one ceiling fan,
• Install a motion light towards the back yard,
• Install beadboard on the ceiling,
• Remove the Hardiboard material from the two posts, replace with PVC boards, and trim out to look like the columns on the front porch,
• Reattach any Hardiplanks that have come loose,
• Do any caulking that is necessary,
• Do all of the painting.

I’m so excited that this is finally going to be finished! I’m out in the carport all the time. I park back there about half the time. That is where I get Matt into the van if he wants to go somewhere. I have a friend w، is dealing with some medical issues, so she parks back there and uses the ramp every time she comes over. And as I said above, that is where I use my woodworking tools. As much time as I spend in this carport, and as much use as it gets, it will be so nice to actually have it finished after all this time.

Once it’s finished, I’d also like to get the messy half cleaned up and ،ized, and then build three rolling carts for my three big tools — miter saw, table saw, and planer. That way, I can roll them out of the way when they’re not in use, and then easily roll them out when I need them. I had built a rolling cart for my previous miter saw that worked perfectly for it. (You can see that project here.) Unfortunately, when I upgraded to my current 12-inch miter saw, the new saw was too big to fit on the cart that I had built to fit the smaller saw.

So that’s a “someday” plan that I can look forward to in the future. But for now, it will just be nice to have a finished carport and three rolling carts.