Month: September 2022

Of the many different weather conditions that Mother Nature can conjure up, hail is one of the most damaging. In just a moment, a hail storm can bear down on your area and cause incredible damage. Cars and trucks are particularly vulnerable to hail damage, so it’s wise to protect yourself as best as possible by planning ahead.

Of course, one of the best options to keep your car safe from hail is to park it under a strong metal carport from American Steel Carports, Inc. After learning more about how to protect your vehicle from hail while at home and on the road, remember to explore our free Build & Price tool to design a structure that is customized to fit your needs.

Protect Your Vehicle with a Carport

Without a doubt, the best thing you can do to avoid hail damage – and other kinds of weather-related issues – is to park your vehicle in a covered space while at home. However, many people don’t have a garage available, or they need that garage for other purposes like storage or as a workshop. In that case, turning to a carport for affordable protection is a great alternative. Adding a metal carport to your property is an affordable project that will go a long way toward keeping your car safe. When a hail storm does move in, the roof of your carport will take the beating while your vehicle will be spared. Also, even when there is no hail to be seen, parking under cover will protect your vehicle from rain and snow, powerful sunshine, and more.

More Options for Parked Vehicles

If you don’t have the space for adding a carport to your property, consider investing in hail covers for your car. Thick blankets are another great option for protecting your car’s metal exterior. Along with a cover or blanket, remember to give your windshield special attention. Placing cardboard or another protective cover over your windshield is an excellent way to help prevent cracks.

Dealing with a Storm Safely

It would be convenient if hail storms waited to arrive until you had your vehicle parked safely undercover at home so you could wait it out without incurring any damage. Of course, the hail doesn’t care where you are, and it certainly isn’t going to wait.

If you find yourself far from home when a hail storm arrives, stay calm and make safety your top priority. Continue to pay attention to the road while seeking shelter. Any kind of covered parking space will do, such as a parking garage that may happen to be nearby. If you make your way to a covered area, just turn off your vehicle and wait out the storm. With any luck, you’ll be able to avoid damage to the car’s body.

If shelter isn’t nearby and you can safely do so, fold in your mirrors to prevent them from being cracked. You might also place floor mats on both your front and rear windshields to prevent them from being cracked.

Making Repairs After Hail Damage

Despite your best efforts, you might wind up with hail damage to your vehicle at some point. If that happens, it’s what you decide to do next that will make all the difference. By acting quickly and repairing the damage, you can avoid long-term issues and get your vehicle back to looking great once again.

In the case of minor damage, you might be able to make some repairs yourself by using a tool that is designed for a technique called paintless dent repair. The idea here is to pull out the dent from the body of the car without harming the paint. Remember, any gaps in the paint on your vehicle will allow water to get through and rust could develop, so having a solid layer of paint all the way around the exterior is important.

With that said, some hail damage is going to be too significant for the average car owner to fix alone. In that case, a local body shop is going to be your best bet. These pros will have the right tools and skills to repair the dents, add new paint, and get the car back into good condition in short order.

Protect Your Vehicle with American Steel

Weather conditions are sometimes unpredictable, and you can’t guarantee that your vehicle will never be damaged by hail. With that said, if you live in an area that experiences frequent storms, we hope the above tips are helpful! Of course, parking your vehicle under a carport reduces your risk greatly, so consider working with American Steel Carports, Inc. to customize a carport that fits your vehicle perfectly. To learn more, explore our Build & Price tool! If you have any questions along the way, our team is here to help. We hope to serve you soon!

We all know that parking in a garage is the best way to protect your car from the snow, but not all car owners have this luxury. Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways that you can protect your car from the snow without a garage. Read on to discover your options.

In the end, it’s obvious why adding an insulated metal garage or enclosed carport to your property is the best choice. If you decide to go this route, start by exploring our free Build & Price tool. Here, you can customize your building, request a quote, and more. If you have any questions along the way, our team is here to help.

Winter Car Care Preparation

Planning for the inevitable snow ahead is one of the wisest things you can do for your car. Here are a few snow-related tips to help you get started.

1. Add an insulated carport or garage to your property

Insulated garages are your best choice when it comes to protecting your car from both harsh temperatures and snow. To avoid the dreaded dead winter battery, give your car a warmer shelter. Taking this route not only helps to conserve your battery power but also extends your car’s lifespan. This option will also take away many other common winter worries including protecting your tires,

2. Buy a car cover

If you can’t park under a roof, a water-resistant car cover is your best option. Water-resistant material is essential here if you don’t want to trap moisture. Choose a cover that drapes over your entire vehicle from front to back. Using a car cover may not be as efficient as a garage, but it will still make it easier to brush or knock the snow off your vehicle once a storm passes.

3. Invest in essential blankets

The snow itself on the outside of your car shouldn’t be your only worry. Harsh temperatures can do a lot of damage when it comes to your vehicle’s lifespan. Car battery blankets are a great option for keeping your battery warmer and avoiding the dreaded dead winter battery. And grille covers help maintain the integrity of your rig. A small investment in a grille cover will easily pay for itself in the long term by preventing ice from building up in your ventilation system.

Quick Tips for Protecting Your Car from Snow

Of course, taking cover with a carport is your best option when it comes to protecting your vehicle from snow. But if a snowstorm is on the way and you need to prepare immediately, follow these quick tips.

• Protect the windshield. While there are products made specifically for covering the windshield of your vehicle in the snow, you can also use blankets or towels. When the snow is gone, peel back the protective layer to clear your windshield.
• Adjust your wipers. When snow is expected, always stand up your windshield wipers. This prevents the wiper from freezing to the windshield and damaging the rubber.
• Park wisely. Even if you don’t have a garage, think strategically about where you park. Avoid parking directly under a tree or anywhere else there is potential for snow or other objects to come crashing down on your vehicle. , as that tree may get loaded down with snow and branches could come crashing down.

Stay Covered this Winter with American Steel

We hope you enjoyed our guide on how to protect your vehicle from snow. It’s only a matter of time before winter’s first snow is here. Fortunately, you have plenty of time to prepare. If you’re leaning toward adding an insulated garage or carport to your property, remember to explore our free Build & Price tool. To learn more about our insulated metal buildings, carports, and garages, contact our team today! We hope to serve you soon.

Metal carports are incredibly useful when it comes to protecting your vehicle. With that said, they’re not particularly good at moderating temperature. Since metal conducts heat quite well, the temperature inside of your carport is likely to closely mirror the temperature on the outside. That’s not always a good thing, you so might want to consider insulating your carport to control those temperature swings and make a more comfortable shelter for your vehicle.

Read on for your guide on how to insulate a metal carport. And if you happen to be in the market for a new carport, leave the work to our team at American Steel. Enclosed and insulated carports are our specialty. Customize a structure with our free Build & Price tool to get started. If you need help, reach out to our team and we’ll be glad to assist!

Disclaimer: Insulated carports made by American Steel come with a 20-year warranty from the date of completion of installation. This warranty is forfeited if structures are modified by the owner.

Popular Carport Insulation Options

If you are convinced of the usefulness of adding insulation to a carport, there are a few products that can help you get the job done. Here are three of the most popular options.

1.      Foam Insulation

Two distinct options are available in this category, and they are both strong contenders for your attention. First, there is spray foam – the material that gets sprayed into place and then expands to fill up the area and insulate it from the outside. Alternatively, you could go with rigid foam board, which comes in large sheets that can easily be cut to fit the spaces you want to protect.

In addition to the thermal insulation advantages of foam insulation, you’ll also appreciate the way this option can help keep pests from making their way in. You always need to be aware of the chance that mice, rats, or other unwelcome guests could visit your carport. With foam insulation – either rigid board or spray foam – you will be adding a sturdy line of defense that will help keep the critters outside the structure.

2.      Fiberglass Insulation

One of the most popular types of materials for insulation, fiberglass can be used to insulate your metal building. It’s important to note that you will need to pick out fiberglass insulation that is specifically rated for use with metal buildings, and you’ll always want to buy from a trusted, reputable supplier. If you are going to spend the money to buy insulation for your carport, it’s worth going the extra step to purchase from a brand that you know you can trust.

Speaking of money, you might be drawn to the fiberglass option as a result of its lower cost compared to other materials. You may be able to purchase a quality fiberglass insulation product from a respected brand while still paying less than you would when buying another type of insulation. If you are trying to keep this project on a tight budget, look at fiberglass as a worthy option.

3.      Reflective Insulation

If you are looking for excellent performance from your insulation on this project, reflective insulation might be the way to go. You’ll also see this product referred to as radiant barrier insulation, which is a nod to the way it can interfere with heat transfer and keep the inside of your carport nice and cool. It should be noted that it’s usually easiest to add reflective insulation from the start when your building is first being constructed, so this might not be the best pick when trying to add insulation to a metal structure that is already in place.

Reasons to Add Insulation to a Carport

There are many potential motivations for adding insulation to an existing carport, or for planning to add insulation to a new carport as soon as it is constructed. Some of the most common reasons for making this upgrade are listed below –

• Personal comfort. If you are going to spend a lot of time in this carport, you’ll want it to be as comfortable as possible. You might not have the option to add air conditioning or heating to the space, but you can even out the highs and lows with some simple insulation.
• Protect your things. Some things you might be storing inside of a carport might be sensitive to temperature changes and may fare better over the long run with the help of insulation.
• More valuable structure. This might not be your main motivation, but adding insulation to your carport is a great way to boost the value of this one building as well as the value of your property as a whole.

Not all carports need to be insulated. If you are going to use yours for parking and little else, adding insulation is probably an unnecessary step. When it will be used for other purposes, however – such as for storage of more sensitive items, or as a workshop – insulation can be a great upgrade.

To learn more about our insulated carports at American Steel, visit our Features page and remember to explore our free Build & Price tool. If you have any questions along the way, contact us for support. We hope to serve you soon!

There are plenty of great reasons to consider working with American Steel Carports, Inc. We have been in this business for many years, have an excellent track record, and offer fair prices for our metal structures. More than anything else, however, you may be motivated to work with us because of our commitment to customization. We want every customer to get exactly what they need for the project at hand, so we place a premium on making customization a breeze.

To help you get started, we’d like to provide some tips in this article on how to properly design your custom carport. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of options and possibilities, this article should help point you in the right direction. When you are ready to get started, visit our free Build & Price tool to play around with design ideas. And, if you’d like help, just contact us directly and we’ll be happy to serve you.

#1 – Start with Intended Uses

The best place to start when designing your new carport is to think about what you’ll be using this space for once the carport is constructed. That’s the key piece of the puzzle because your intended uses are going to dictate so much about the design. For example, if you want to park three cars under this new roof, you’ll obviously need enough width for all three cars to fit comfortably. Or, if you are going to use this carport for RV parking, you’ll need a tall enough roof to make room for the RV to fit below. Whatever your planned uses may be, get those organized in your head first, and then work on finalizing the details of the design.

#2 – How Much Space Is Available?

Another important piece to this puzzle is determining how much space you have available on your property for the carport. It’s great to have dreams of a huge metal carport with enough room for big projects and ample storage, but that just might not be realistic in your situation. Pick out your intended building site and decide how much of that area can be dedicated to your carport. Also, remember to consider any rules that may come into the equation here, such as setbacks from the property line or HOA restrictions.

#3 – Consider the Weather

A standard carport has a roof and little else. This basic design is what allows metal carports to be so affordable. With that said, you might want to customize your carport to add additional features based on the weather in your area. If you live in a place that deals with the persistent prevailing wind and plenty of precipitation, closing the carport in the direction of the wind will help you keep the inside dry and offer more protection to whatever you decide to store under the roof.

In snowy places, it’s also a good idea to upgrade to a vertical roof design, rather than a horizontal layout. With a vertical roof, the metal panels run up and down on the roof rather than from front to back, and they do a better job of shedding snow as a result.

#4 – One Final Note

As you plan out this project, remember to consider the fact that your needs today might not accurately reflect your needs in the future. So, when thinking about something like the size of the carport, it’s a good idea to err on the larger side rather than building something that is just barely big enough for what you need it to do today. If you have the space available, you are unlikely to regret building a slightly larger carport than you truly need, as that extra space is sure to come in handy in many different ways over the coming years. This is a far more desirable situation than needing to tear down your carport and build a new one because the first one didn’t serve your needs for long.

Start Building Your Carport Today

At American Steel Carports, Inc., we make customizing a new metal carport as easy as it could be. After you spend some time thinking about how you want your carport to function, and what features you want it to include, working with us will allow you to make that vision a reality. And, of course, if you need some help bringing your vision into focus, we would be happy to work with you to finalize a design that makes sense for your situation. If you’re ready to start building, remember to explore our free Build & Price tool! Thank you for visiting and we hope to serve you soon!

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