Author: clickgiant

Top Bike Storage Ideas

Biking is a wonderful activity, both for the exercise it provides and simply for the fun of getting out and exploring roads and trails in your area. Whether you like to bike alone or with a group of friends, you likely count down the days until you can get out for another ride.

For those days in between rides, you need a suitable storage solution to keep your bike in good condition. Storing the bike inside is a must, of course, but that’s not the end of the story. Explore some of the best bike storage ideas for you to consider!

How to Store a Canoe

Paddling a canoe around a pond or lake is an idyllic way to spend a day. You’d probably like to be cruising around in your canoe more days than not, but real life gets in the way sometimes. To make sure your canoe is always ready when the opportunity comes up to get out on the water, it’s important to create a smart storage strategy.

To keep your canoe in great condition, it’s best to store it under a roof. Keeping the elements off your canoe when it is not in use will protect its finish and help you get the longest possible lifespan out of this small vessel. Read more about how to properly store a canoe.

Top Hay Storage Ideas

On a working farm, hay can pile up quickly. This is an essential resource, of course, but it can take up a ton of space while waiting to be used. If your current hay storage plans aren’t working out so well, it might be time to take a fresh look at this important topic. In this article, we’ll touch on some of the top hay storage ideas that are effective and efficient.

Do I Need a Permit to Build a Carport?

There is a lot to love about adding a carport to your property. Metal carports are easy to customize, quick to construct, and require very little maintenance. For someone who wants reliable performance without investing too much time or effort, a steel carport is perfect.

With that said, all projects come with some requirements. One hindering question is, “Do I need a permit to build a carport?” Permitting is something that you will need to think about when considering a carport project, so we’d like to take a quick look at that topic in this post.

Metal vs Wood Shed: Which is Right for You?

There are two materials used for shed construction that stand out above the rest – metal and wood. Chances are, if you build a new shed, you are going to use one of these two materials. Deciding which one to use can be tricky, but we’d like to offer some advice in this article to help guide your decision.

At American Carports, Inc., we deal in metal sheds. If you decide that a metal shed is going to be the best for your needs, you’ll have no trouble finding the right option here on our site. Through the use of our Build & Price tool, you can quickly and easily customize one of our shed designs exactly to your specifications. If you’d like any help, just contact us and we’ll be glad to assist.  

How to Build a Covered Walkway

Sometimes in life, it’s the simple things that make a big difference. Adding a covered walkway to your property is a great example of how a small upgrade can make life a lot easier. The next time you return home from the grocery store with several bags of food and rain pouring down outside, you will be thankful you chose to create a covered walkway!

At American Carports, Inc., we offer many different types of metal structures. Two are perfect for this kind of project: carports and lean-tos. In this article, we’d like to discuss the basic concept of how to build a covered walkway and how our products can help. To get started designing your own structure for this project, try our Build & Price Tool. Of course, you can always contact us to get help directly from a member of our team.

Six Tips to Declutter Your Garage

A garage is a great place to store all those things that don’t have space for inside of your home. At some point, however, the clutter starts to build up in your garage and you may have trouble using the space effectively any longer. There is a fine line between using your garage as a storage space and allowing it to be so filled up with items that it’s hard to put things away and get them back out once again. In this post, we’ll provide some tips to help declutter your garage, so you can make the best use of your space again.

Livestock Barns & Shelters from American Carports, Inc.

If you own livestock, it’s important to provide those animals with shelter to keep them healthy and protect them away from the harsh outdoor elements. Unfortunately, some types of barns and other shelter structures can be expensive, making it difficult for landowners to afford these buildings.

By choosing a metal livestock barn from American Carports, Inc., you can bring down the cost of this project while still getting a sturdy, long-lasting shelter for your animals. With so many different styles to pick from, the best way to get started is by exploring the Build & Price Tool here on our site. Feel free to contact us if you have questions about our products and the many custom options we offer.

Providing Shade is Key

One of the most important roles of a livestock barn or shelter is simply to provide shade from the hot summer sun. While it’s easy to look outside in the cold weather and think that your animals might be uncomfortable, most animals can deal with cold temperatures just fine (with exceptions for extreme cold, of course). However, it can be harder for those same animals to deal with searing hot temperatures in summertime, which is why adding shade to your property is so important.

It’s pretty easy to offer animals shade when working with American Carports, Inc. to create a new metal structure. Any kind of structure with a roof is going to offer at least some degree of shade, although some will do better than others. Let’s discuss a few key points on this topic:

  • Not just shade from above. It’s important to remember that the sun doesn’t only beat down from directly overhead. The sun might be high in the sky during the middle of a summer day, but it will also get to your animals from flatter angles in the morning and evening. Therefore, a building with at least a couple of walls in addition to a roof is going to perform much better as a shade structure than a building with only a roof, such as a carport or lean-to.
  • Make sure to include ventilation. Shade is great, but if a space is too tightly enclosed in the hot weather, it could end up leading to high interior temperatures that won’t serve the animals well in the end. It’s important to ensure your livestock barn has plenty of ventilation to keep the air inside fresh and as comfortable as possible for your animals. It’s easy to add features like windows and doors when ordering from American Carports, Inc., so you can build ventilation right into your plan.
  • Easy access. A shade structure is only going to be used for your livestock if it is readily available to them when the hot part of the day arrives. Whether you drive them into the shelter intentionally or just keep it open as an option for them to self-regulation, it’s important to position this structure as conveniently as possible on your property.

Simply blocking out the sun from directly beating down on your livestock can go a long way toward keeping them healthy through the summer. This might seem like a simple thing, but it can have a profound effect on their overall well-being.

Building a Partner for Your Barn

If you already have a barn on your property, you may be tempted to just use that for your livestock shelter. In some cases, that could work out just fine. But the barn probably has other uses already, such as storage and a place for some of the animals to sleep at night. Ideally, you’ll have a separate shade structure that can be used throughout the day to give animals a break from the heat without interrupting your day-to-day activities inside the main barn.

Of course, if you don’t yet have a barn, or you need a new one, American Carports, Inc. can help on that point, as well. Our custom metal barns are affordable and endlessly customizable, making it easy to create the perfect size and shape for your needs. With a barn serving as the focal point of your livestock operation and another shade structure giving your animals a respite from the heat, you’ll have the buildings you need to keep the land working nicely for years to come.

A Timely Project

Among the many advantages that are enjoyed when you select a metal livestock shelter over a wooden structure is the short timeline required. In general, a metal barn is going to be constructed much quicker from start to finish than a wooden alternative. That means you can get up and running with this new shelter in short order and give your animals the space they need to thrive.

Place Your Order

Start your order for a custom metal livestock shelter today. We look forward to serving you soon!

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How to Protect Your Car from Heat & Sun Damage

For the most part, vehicles are designed to endure the difficult conditions that come with a life spent in the outdoors. Cars and trucks have to perform in all kinds of weather while keeping their occupants safe and dry, and they are built with that challenge in mind.

However, even the best vehicles on the market have trouble fighting back against one particular force—the sun. If your vehicle is subject to the hot sun day after day, there is likely to be damage in the end. Let’s look at what you can do to minimize that damage and maintain the condition of your vehicle for as long as possible. Here’s how to protect your car from heat and sun damage.