New Drive Through Carport in Mt Eliza. One Way or Another – Take Your Pick

Our prowess for designing carports that are tailored to each property is revered by our clients and competitors alike. For more than twenty years we’ve been carefully listening to what our clients want, reviewing the existing services and landscape features of each home, and translating wishlists into reality – whilst keeping within desired budget constraints for our owners.

Prior to beginning works on this brick pillar carport, with a customised timber gable roof, the owners removed a tired-looking arbour shelter that was being strangled by a very old wisteria. Wisteria is pretty when it flowers for a short time each year, leafless after it sheds its leaves in autumn, and rather scraggy in-between. So, the decision was made to get the loppers out, and then reduce the underlying arbour to a collection of hardwood fit for an open fire, leaving the double ended driveway free and clear for a brand new carport. Designed and built by Custom Outdoor Living, the carport now allows the choice of driving in from the right end or the left end of this horseshoe driveway. Either way, we’ve now got the owners covered!

In this case, it was important to not interfere with the asphalt driveway surface or the existing stormwater drainage pit.  The bricks edging and retaining the driveway and garden beds were also key structural elements that clearly shon a Do Not Disturb sign.  Our trades sprung into action by building the four new brick posts first.  The timber trusses were bolted firmly into place and a Monument coloured corrugated iron roof was secured in position.  Next we added a customised stormwater system using fascia, gutters and PVC pipes cleverly suspended just below the horizontal truss-line.  This pipeline drained on the outer edge beside one of the pillars, and then took a little elbow turn through a ground-level drain that fed straight into the existing grate.  To protect and camouflage this ground pipe, custom flashing has been used.  To keep costs down, our owners decided to take responsibility for the underside of the roof at a later time, and we were happy to line the eaves only, in-keeping with their wishes.

Now, this 24 square metre carport stands proudly in the centre of the circular driveway.  At 4 metres wide and 6 metres long, it blends beautifully with the original home and garden areas.  The gable ends have also both been trimmed with feature timbers in a contrasting colour to mirror one another.

Matt Goodie, our Managing Director and Lead Designer, is always on top of our construction projects, and he sticks to a distinctive and vital mindset for each and every client. He maintains, “Designing structures like carports, garages, and alfresco spaces for existing homes is something we excel at Custom Outdoor Living. The trick is to ensure that there is cohesion between what’s already been there in both the landscaping, the colours of the environment, the materials used therein, and the design style. We seek to balance the shape, keep it in proportion to the surrounding features, address things such as brickwork patterns to ensure consistency prevails, and unify all of these elements so that the end result is both appealing and functional – and that it makes sense by ultimately looking like the new design has always been there. In this particular case, for example, the bricks for the pillars match those used for the house and the driveway edges. From the street, and from the house, this new drive-in and drive-out carport in Mt Eliza is as neat as a pin! It just looks right from every angle!”

And it’s a definite win for the Carport and Garage Design and Construction Team at Custom Outdoor Living in Melbourne!