Carport vs. patio, a fence dillema? (long, w/diagrams!)

[magpie]

We just moved into a new house and are faced with a fence-building decision. One way or another, we have to build some sort of fence (and soon!) to make the super small back yard a safe/contained space to let our dog out. We also would like to have a fence up to make our kitchen a little less wide open to the sidewalk (as I currently sit at my dining table in my PJs, I can wave and smile to the parade of neighbors out for their morning walks!). The backyard is awkward in that it doesn’t really “connect” to our back door, which is off the kitchen. There’s a huge carport right off the kitchen with covered parking for two cars. We have two choices:

Option A: Keep the carport and build a somewhat awkward little mini-patio off the kitchen that will connect to the backyard. If we do this, we’ll make the fence have a lattice top, so we shouldn’t lose too much light in the kitchen and we will build some kind of pretty vertical, potted herb garden on the inside of the fence, so the view out the kitchen window/door is nice.

Pros:  we get to keep our covered parking (even with the little nib of carport we take up with the fence, there’s still plenty of room to park two cars in the carport).  
Cons: it’s awkward/closed off.

Option B: Fence across the driveway and turn the carport into a huge covered patio, right off the kitchen, that would be totally open to the small backyard.


Pros: This space could be used as a really nice fully fenced place for kids to play, to have patio furniture and hang out, etc. It’s also right off the kitchen, so kids could play there while I’m making dinner/cleaning up.  Also way less awkward than Option A.
Cons: We lose our covered parking. There’s still plenty of room to park off the street in the driveway, but it won’t be covered. No idea how important that is in the climate here (Nashville—I suspect it might mean a lot of icy windshields in the winter). We asked our neighbors across the street (who do not have covered parking) and they said that it was definitely a tough call, but that they were “very jealous” of our covered parking.

Other factors:  We have a huge front yard with a great front porch for hanging out/playing in, so this back space would not be the only outdoor area.  While I'd normally just live here and see how it goes before committing to anything, we need to make this decision sooner rather than later because taking the dog out on her leash a million times a day is getting old and I really want to have some dog solution in place before our second baby is due next month. Price on either option is more or less the same.  Photo of the space (sorry, it's extremely messy--we just moved in last week and are still unpacking--the grill and all that crap at the back of the carport will move in either scenario). The small yard is way back there and partially fenced.

[ECB]

C - Turn 1/2 the carport into a patio and keep part of it for one car??

We have a carport and I LOVE it. LOVE.

But we also have a patio and a screened in porch in the backyard that I also love!!

Where your doors are situated, I see the benefit to having an entertaining space right there.

For the fact that you have a great front yard, though, and space to enteratain there too- I don't know that I'd want to give up my carport for another entertaining space. So - I think if I HAVE to choose between A and B, I go for A.

[imojoebunny]

Definitely A. I love our carport for bikes, toys, and one car, and there is a premium for covered parking here (They call them carages here because they have 3 sides with walls, but not doors due to weird code rules. I would fence a smaller space for the dogs. Our dog is pretty good with kids, but when they play, they don't want the dog where they are playing. A lot of kids are afraid of even nice dogs, so when others are over, it is nice the dog can be separated.


We considered putting an automatic gate over the drive and fencing the carport, driveway, and around our front yard, so it would be all one fenced space, but it was expensive, so decided not too, and now, I am really glad we didn't. We also put a wooden gate on our front porch, so if we are sitting on the porch, watching the kids play, the dog can be outside on the porch, but not in the yard with the kids.

[ijack]

Right now how do you use the back yard? Do you see it being a place your kids play unattended at some point?

[CrazyLucky]

Could you do an electric fence for the dog and re-evaluate in six months?

[steph96]

It seems like there has to be a way to get both things so that during the summer you can have the patio and during the winter/inclement weather you could have the carport.

[explorer2001]

Option D: gate off the carport. It looks like option B but gives you the flexibilty to use the carport either as a carport by pulling the cars throught the gate or as a patio with the cars parked in the driveway.

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 10:54:09 GMT -5 ijack said:

Right now how do you use the back yard? Do you see it being a place your kids play unattended at some point?

Only if we did the fence as such that it connected to the carport/covered patio.  The back yard is super small and is set up right now as a garden with shrubs/flowerbeds.  There's no lawn there.  Our lawn is in the front and there's a picket fence around it, so kids will play there (attended though, right now there is no unattended play space, but my kid is only 2.5 and the other will be born next month).  My daughter is already loving it out there.

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 11:08:42 GMT -5 explorer2001 said:

Option D: gate off the carport. It looks like option B but gives you the flexibilty to use the carport either as a carport by pulling the cars throught the gate or as a patio with the cars parked in the driveway.

We looked into this, but it's much more expensive to get an automatic gate to pull cars through...plus, I'm pretty sure my dog would run out the gate every time we opened it to pull cars through.  She's wild like that

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 10:59:47 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Could you do an electric fence for the dog and re-evaluate in six months?

I hadn't thought about this.  It wouldn't solve the kitchen being wide open to the sidewalk, but it might be a decent solution for the interim...  I think my dog might be the kind of dog who runs through electric fences though.  If a skateboard goes by (which so far has been happening a few times a day), she absolutely loses her shit.  I'm also worried that she'd harass everyone who walks by and bark a lot if she could see them.

[explorer2001]

Jun 7, 2016 11:23:45 GMT -5 magpie said:

Jun 7, 2016 11:08:42 GMT -5 explorer2001 said:

Option D: gate off the carport. It looks like option B but gives you the flexibilty to use the carport either as a carport by pulling the cars throught the gate or as a patio with the cars parked in the driveway.

We looked into this, but it's much more expensive to get an automatic gate to pull cars through...plus, I'm pretty sure my dog would run out the gate every time we opened it to pull cars through.  She's wild like that

See I was still thinking manual wood gates and you would put the dog inside or teathered while you moved them. That's what's most common with carports here. But maybe I just live in an area with cheap people.

[ECB]

Jun 7, 2016 11:26:15 GMT -5 magpie said:

 It wouldn't solve the kitchen being wide open to the sidewalk,

Can people actually see you, though?  You say your driveway is long enough that you can park in it even w/o using the carport and based on the picture-  it doesn't seem like people would REALLY be able to see in.  That's roughly the distance from our sidewalk to our sidedoor and I'm pretty sure that no one can really see into our mudroom from the sidewalk.  Or at least nothing in detail!

I'm just curious.

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 11:29:40 GMT -5 explorer2001 said:

Jun 7, 2016 11:23:45 GMT -5 magpie said:

We looked into this, but it's much more expensive to get an automatic gate to pull cars through...plus, I'm pretty sure my dog would run out the gate every time we opened it to pull cars through.  She's wild like that

See I was still thinking manual wood gates and you would put the dog inside or teathered while you moved them. That's what's most common with carports here. But maybe I just live in an area with cheap people.

Actually, maybe this isn't such a bad idea.  We could also consider putting an electric dog fence under the gate, so she can't/won't really run out too.  That way, we'd have options to use the carport for parking if we wanted to...  I'll have to talk to the fence people to see if it is possible.

[steph96]

If your dog barking at people walking by is an issue, I doubt a fence will help that much. Your dog will still hear/smell them.

If privacy is an issue, I would buy curtains. You can close them when you are sitting at the table in PJs.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm being rude.

[LoveTrains]

Jun 7, 2016 10:59:47 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Could you do an electric fence for the dog and re-evaluate in six months?

No. I'm not a fan of electric fences for dogs at all. 
ETA: especially if your dog goes cdrazy at a skateboard, there is a chance she would run through it and then be trapped ont he wrong side. 

[SallyJ]

Can you build a new car port or extend yours to cover the entire driveway? If so, do option B with an extension on the carport. If not, consider cutting the carport in half to make option A less awkward.

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 11:34:16 GMT -5 ECB said:

Jun 7, 2016 11:26:15 GMT -5 magpie said:

 It wouldn't solve the kitchen being wide open to the sidewalk,

Can people actually see you, though?  You say your driveway is long enough that you can park in it even w/o using the carport and based on the picture-  it doesn't seem like people would REALLY be able to see in.  That's roughly the distance from our sidewalk to our sidedoor and I'm pretty sure that no one can really see into our mudroom from the sidewalk.  Or at least nothing in detail!

I'm just curious.

You're probably right.  I can see them, but maybe with the glare, they can't actually see us.  We only have one car now (getting a second one very soon though) and they probably won't be able to see once the second car is there.

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 11:55:59 GMT -5 steph96 said:

If your dog barking at people walking by is an issue, I doubt a fence will help that much. Your dog will still hear/smell them.

If privacy is an issue, I would buy curtains. You can close them when you are sitting at the table in PJs.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm being rude.

Not rude at all, it's a good point.  Sight of things in motion (ie--people on skateboards) is definitely is what sets her off.  I think it is her herding instinct (she's a herding breed).  We never had problems with her barking at people walking by the privacy fence at our last house, although you never know with this dog!

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 12:57:02 GMT -5 SallyJ said:

Can you build a new car port or extend yours to cover the entire driveway? If so, do option B with an extension on the carport. If not, consider cutting the carport in half to make option A less awkward.

I'm guessing that you can't, but I should look into it.  I think the carport was probably built where it is because of setback rules though.

[LoveTrains]

BTW, I would do the covered patio. I park my car outside 100% of the time and I live in New England (snow, frost, etc) so I don't see why a covered carport is necessary in TN unless you get crazy hail routinely.

[peggy]

Can you turn it into an attached garage at all?

[magpie]

Jun 7, 2016 13:45:01 GMT -5 peggy said:

Can you turn it into an attached garage at all?

No.  It'll always be a carport.  It's not actually attached to our house and has no walls (it's like a big roof on four posts for the cars to sit under), plus, I don't think we would ever bother to wall it in because we'd lose too much light in the kitchen.  If we did it as a covered patio, we might screen it in someday.  I don't think garages are very common in the neighborhood.  From looking around, most people either park uncovered in the driveway or have a carport structure just like ours.  We have never had a garage or covered parking in the past, but we've just moved here from Arizona (and California before that) and this is a very new climate to us.