Carport Empire’s full line of metal carports, RV covers, garages, barns, pump houses, and storage units offers the perfect solution for any use. In addition to a huge customizable inventory, each carport and building category offers a variety of sizes to suit any need. As one of the nation’s largest distributors, Carport Empire makes the buying process as simple and painless as possible while offering the best prices per square foot on installed carports or steel buildings.

Carport Empire makes purchasing easy by:

• Having a trained and experienced staff of carport and steel building professionals available to assist on the decision making process. Each professional, after determining the customer’s needs, can provide answers to any questions and provide guidance on making the right decision.
• Carport empire’s professionals can also advise on cost effective upgrades and customization options to ensure that the end product delivers everything required by the customer. In addition to size and style choices, customization options include a variety of colors, panels, trims, roofing add-ons like gables, and trims for the exterior of the structure. Options for customizing an interior include upgrades such as insulation, shelving, and storage.

• Buy now deals – These packages provide additional discounts to Carport Empire’s already low prices. These packages are made available on some of their best tubular steel buildings, utility carports, carport garages, motorhome carports and multi-bay carports for the purpose of making them affordable for any budget.

• Professional installation of certified and non-certified carports – Carport Empire provides, and only deals with, experienced and qualified professional installers for carport or steel building installations. Available in all 48 continental states, installers can build carports, garages, and any other building offered by Carport Empire on a variety of surfaces, to specifications which will deliver the greatest benefit to the customer. When state or local regulations require certification, Carport Empire can provide engineering stamps of approval for wind speed and/or snow load ratings.

• Financing packages – Carport Empire offers a variety of financing options to fit within the budget of any customer. Relationships with a long list of lenders mean that Carport Empire’s customers can arrange lending terms even without a perfect credit score. Financing options start with rates as low as 6.9%, Same as cash options for up to three years, and zero down opportunities on carports across Carport Empire’s inventory.

The combination of customizable inventory with great customer service and flexible financing options make it easy to select and buy a metal carport, RV cover, garage, barn, pump house, or storage unit from Carport Empire. For more information, visit www.carportempire.com or call (800) 985 7678.

Going green is no longer a tagline for the trendsetters, it’s an accepted and expected way of life and it can easily be incorporated into building and outfitting your new metal carport, metal garage or metal utility building.

Simply by choosing a metal structure, you’ve already made a great green choice. Metal construction requires no harmful chemicals such as resin, adhesive, wood treatments or pesticides commonly used in traditional wood frame construction. Metal is highly resistant to water, mold and mildew which can emit harmful toxin into the air you and your family breathe. Metal and steel building elements also are 100% recyclable at the end of a structure’s usable life. And Carport Empire’s metal carports, metal garages and metal utility buildings are built to last – particularly if they’re certified, meaning that they’re engineered to withstand heavy snow loads and high wind speeds.

Metal enclosed carports, enclosed garages and steel utility buildings are easy to insulate, which can help conserve energy, further control moisture and resist pest invasions. Reflective insulation is made with aluminum foil, which is completely nontoxic. Foam board and spray foam insulation contains no HCFCs, VOCs or Formaldehyde and does not settle or give off gasses over time, as do some other sealant products. It completely seals your structure, keeping outdoor pollutants and allergens out, which makes for a healthier hangout space – an important consideration if your enclosed carport, garage or utility building will be used for a children’s playroom, workshop, office or the like.

Lighting your open carport or the exterior of your enclosed garage or metal building can be achieved with solar light fixtures or compact fluorescent bulbs. Motion sensor lights help save energy and money because they’re only on when someone is in or near the structure. If your carport, garage or utility building has a window, use a blackout curtain to help keep out sunlight and heat. And if you’re structure houses your water heater, wrap the heater in an insulating blanket to help contain heat.

To learn more about metal carports, garages and buildings and their eco-friendly attributes, contact Carport Empire at 1-800-985-7678.

Are you an up-and-coming professional music producer? Got a teenage future rock star in the house? Or is Dad aching to relive his own garage band glory days? Whether for professional use or just for fun, you can turn your enclosed metal carport, metal garage or metal building into a working music studio with a few simple soundproofing tricks.

If you’re a frazzled parent who just wants the noise kids call “music” these days to go away, you’ll want to make sure that the enclosed carport, garage or utility building where your teen and his friends will practice is soundproofed from the inside, so you can enjoy your home and garden in peace. If your carport, garage or building is being outfitted as a recording studio you want to keep exterior noises from entering your recording space. It’s important to know which soundproofing method does what. Here’s a quick rundown:

•    Sound Isolation creates a sound barrier between your recording space and any adjacent areas. This typically is achieved by using heavy materials to block exterior noise from coming into your studio.

•    Sound Absorption materials improve sound quality by reducing or controlling echo and reverberation.

•    Sound Diffusion materials distribute sound evenly throughout your space and prevent dead spots, allowing for proper mixing of your recordings.

A top sound controlling method with multiple non-noise related benefits is insulating your metal carport, metal garage or metal building. Fiberglass, foam board and reflective insulation all have noise reducing capabilities, particularly if several layers are installed. Cover your insulation with a sound absorbent drywall product like QuietRock, a drywall/fiber-cement sandwich with a sound-absorbing layer of visco-elastic polymer. If your structure has any small gaps, holes or cracks, seal them with foam board insulation, which can be sprayed either across the entire wall or used to fill in gaps where other insulation types can’t cover.

Cover the walls and windows of your enclosed steel carport, steel garage or steel building with heavy soundproofing blankets, made of insulation with a quilted cover. These are the same blankets you often see in furniture moving trucks and on freight elevators and they can absorb up to 60 percent of the noise in any room. Walls and ceilings of your carport also can be covered with acoustic panels or studio foam – that’s the egg carton-like pieces that you often see in images of recording studios and radio station broadcast rooms.

Floors and doors also are a consideration. Carpet the floor of your carport, garage or utility building, adding a sound-reducing carpet underlayment beneath it. This will help reduce the sound of footsteps and falling objects. Add an acoustic panel to your carport’s metal door, or invest in a soundproofing or sound isolation kit for your metal door or garage door.

If you’re planning to add an open or enclosed metal carport to your property, be sure to do a little legwork before your Carport Empire professional installer arrives, especially when it comes to wiring. Although Carport Empire does not provide electrical wiring services, your new or existing structure can be wired for electricity and phone service. Your best bet is to talk with an electrical contractor or telephone service provider first, as your plans, as well as the locations of your existing underground utilities wiring (including not just electrical and phone, but gas lines too) may affect the placement and orientation of your new carport.

In planning your electrical wiring, a prime consideration is lighting. Wiring likely will come from the same wiring that powers and lights your home or existing attached garage, depending on how close your new detached carport is from your house. If your carport is small, one or two lighting fixtures may be adequate. A larger, double-bay or triple-bay metal carport, metal garage or metal building may require multiple fixtures to provide adequate lighting. And if you plan a corner workshop table, for instance, you’ll need to be sure that an electrical outlet for a plug-in lamp is nearby.

If your carport is enclosed, most any standard lighting fixture should work fine. Open carports, however are subject to moisture conditions, particularly in rainy, snowy or humid coastal climates. If your new carport will have an open or partially open configuration, you’ll need to install appropriate outdoor lighting fixtures that are resistant to moisture. Consider adding floodlights around the corners of your open carport, and pathway or driveway lighting in the ground leading up to your carport to help ward off vandals and thieves.

For open carports, solar-powered lighting costs more than electricity-powered lights initially, but will save you money on energy costs in the long run. A solar light with a motion sensor assures the light will come on only when someone is around, then automatically turn off after a period of non-movement. This avoids wasted energy and money when no one is around, plus helps to alert you if a unwanted prowler – whether a thief or a four-legged visitor such as a rascally raccoon looking for a free meal – has approached your carport.

Among the least expensive, yet effective ways to insulate your enclosed carport, metal garage or metal building is by installing reflective insulation. This lightweight, moisture-resistant insulation made with polyethylene foam and aluminum foil acts as a barrier against air infiltration and is resistant to all three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation. Carport insulation, when installed properly, it acts as a thermal break, radiant barrier, vapor barrier and sound barrier. These factors mean that it helps keep your structure warm in the winter and cool in the summer, reduces energy costs and condensation, and muffles outside sounds coming into your enclosed carports space.

Developed based on technology first used by NASA, reflective insulation works by reflecting heat away from surfaces, unlike other insulation methods that simply slow down conductive heat transfer. The carport insulation’s aluminum foil content reflects 95 to 97 percent of the radiant heat that strikes it, allowing only three to five percent to be emitted through the installation. This is important in metal carports, steel car cover, metal garages and metal storage buildings because during the winter, heat inside a climate controlled metal structure is reflected off the insulation’s surface back into the building, keeping it toasty inside. During the blazing summers, heat radiated through the roof is reflected off the insulation’s surface back to the roof, never getting inside your structure.

Reflective insulation is non-toxic, fire resistant, mold and mild mildew resistant and helps ward of pests including insects. It can be used in most any area of your new metal carport, metal garage or metal building including stud walls, side walls and around pipes and duct wraps. Since it’s moisture resistant, it can be used with other insulation materials in any type of climate or weather condition. And it’s easy to install, around any enclosed car port, using just pair of scissors or razor knife, staple gun and high-quality foil tape with no protective gear (such as gloves and breathing masks) needed.

Many reflective carport and garage insulation products on the market today are Energy Star qualified and eligible for Energy Tax credits. Be sure to check with your insulation provider or manufacturer for Energy Star certification and tax credit eligibility.

Among the most effective and easy-to-install insulation choices for your enclosed carport, garage or metal building is foam board. The same stuff that NASA has used to insulate a space shuttle’s external tank, keeping its liquid hydrogen fuel at minus 423ºF and its liquid oxygen tank at near minus 297ºF to prevent ice buildups on the inner fuel tank’s exterior surface, can be used to keep your metal carport toasty in the wintertime and cool during the summer.

While fiberglass insulation works by slowing down the rate of passage of heat into your home during hot summers and out of your enclosed carport, garage or metal building in winter, foam board insulation brings that passage to a halt by completely sealing all cavities and spaces in your structure’s walls. These unsealed voids are the primary source of energy loss, which means more money out of your pocket and into your energy provider’s coffers.

Enclosed car port foam board is a bit more expensive than fiberglass and may require professional installation. But its “R value” (its measure of thermal resistance) can be three times that of fiberglass. The higher a structure’s R value, the better its insulation’s effectiveness. If you plan to spend lots of time in your carport, garage or metal building (for instance, if you plan to use it as a workshop, office or recreational room), the long-term energy cost savings over fiberglass can be significant.

Foam board insulation can be applied to steel carports, enclosed garages or pole building in several ways: as rigid panels attached to your carport, garage or metal building inner walls or as a chemical mixture prayed from aerosol containers or a pressure sprayer (A third method involves foam board in the form of loose beads poured into masonry blocks in more traditional construction). Rigid foam board insulation typically comes 4’x8’ sheets and can be cut to fit your structure’s walls using a craft knife or fine toothed handsaw, then applied to your walls using construction adhesive. Two important notes: 1) Because foam boards absorb water vapor, you must cover the insulation with a moisture or vapor barrier and 2) because foam board is flammable, building codes in virtually all areas require that it be covered with fire resistant paneling or drywall.

Foam board also can be sprayed directly on to your walls via aerosol containers or pressure sprayers. It is recommended that you hire a professional installer for this method, as it can involve complex equipment. And because foam boar seals your enclosed carport, garage or metal building so tight, an air exchange may need to be installed. However, this results in superior indoor air quality because air pollutants such as pollen and dust have no way in. Foam board insulation also can help ward off mold, pest and insects for most enclosed carports.

Insulating your enclosed carport, garage or metal building conserves energy, saves money, reduces pollutant gases and controls noise and condensation. Several types of insulation work beautifully for metal structures. Among the best is fiberglass.

As the name suggests, fiberglass is made of tiny fibers of glass and works by slowing down the flow of heat into or out of your home. For example, during the summer, your air conditioner cools the air inside your home. Nature kicks into gear, trying to balance out temperature levels by sending heat through your roof, walls and window panes.  Fiberglass insulation won’t completely stop the transfer of heat into your home (or out of your home during the winter) but the glass fibers trap and absorb much of the heat, slowing its movement significantly. As a result, your air conditioner doesn’t wear itself out competing with nature to keep your home cool and you don’t get sticker shock when your cooling bill arrives in the mail.

Fiberglass insulation also prevents harmful condensation that causes corrosion and facilitates the growth of mold. It limits transmission of exterior sounds into your structure, plus absorbs reverberating sounds within. And it helps to boost lighting efficiency with reflective, laminated facings that make for attractive wall and ceiling treatments.

Fiberglass comes in sheets and is attached to inner walls and attic ceilings. Drywall can be installed over non-laminated fiberglass layers in your enclosed carport, garage or metal building for a finished look. It’s easy to install, but can be irritating to the skin and harmful if it gets into your eyes or mouth, so be sure to wear long sleeves and pants, safety goggles and mask and follow all safety recommendations.

If you own or are planning to add an enclosed carport, garage or metal building to your property, consider the benefits of adding insulation. If you plan to use your structure as a workshop, art studio, office, play or recreation room you’ll want to make sure it’s comfortable and energy efficient. Quality insulation is a great way to ensure comfort and efficiency – and it may even put a few dollars in your pocket.

In an effort to encourage energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive construction and retrofitting of new and existing structures, the Federal government, many states and municipalities, manufacturers and utility companies are offering a plethora of rebates and tax incentives. These incentives apply to both residential and commercial builders and owners who install or upgrade insulation and purchase energy-efficient appliances. A great source to find out what’s offered in your area is the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association’s Simply Insulate website.

Insulation of your enclosed metal garage, metal carport or metal storage building offers many benefits:

• Reduced heat flow and costs for heating during the winter and cooling during the summer;
• Reduced consumption of fossil fuels which means less pollutant gas emitted;
• Condensation control, which helps to avoid harmful mold buildup and corrosion of metals;
• Noise control.

Three main types of insulation are best for metal or steel garages, carports and buildings: Fiberglass, foam board and reflective insulation (more on each of these in our upcoming blogs). Made from extremely fine fibers of glass, as its name suggests, fiberglass slows down the flow of heat into your house during the summer or out of your house during the winter. Foam board is sprayed onto walls, roofs and foundations, and can be used in crevices and small areas where other types of installation won’t fit. Reflective insulation makes use of foil to resist heat transfer and act as a moisture-resistant barrier against air infiltration.

Our next few blogs will go deeper into each of these types of insulation. Take a look, then call Carport Empire at 1-800-985-7676 if you have any further questions about the type of insulation that’s best for your enclosed carport, garage or metal building.

Many homeowners simply use carports and garages to shield their automobiles and other equipment from the rain, snow and sunshine. But others outfit their enclosed garages, carports and metal storage buildings as offices, workshops, artist studios, recreation rooms or one of a million other uses. If that’s the case for you, you’ll definitely need to have your Carport Empire structure wired for electricity.

While many of our clients and readers may be do-it-yourselfers, we recommend leaving dangerous tasks like electrical wiring to the professionals. However, thinking through and planning your electrical needs will help your electrician determine exactly what you need. Preplanning can avoid over-wiring of your structure, saving you thousands of dollars. And, it will assure that you don’t end up with an under-wired structure that lacks the electrical capacity you need. Retrofitting your structure for added electrical needs could end up costing you even more.

In planning your electrical needs for your enclosed carport, garage or metal building, think through how you will use your structure and identify all of the ways you’ll need power. There are four main categories to consider: lighting, heating, appliances and tools. Make a list of each of the items you’ll use on a regular basis that require power. Check the informational panels or stickers on appliances and other items (or the boxes in which they were purchased) for recommended or required voltage and talk it all over with your electrician. This is important because heavy electrical uses may require installation of multiple circuits of varying voltages and all must be handled according to building and electrical codes and regulations.

For example, several lighting fixtures and receptacles can share the same circuit. If you’re using your enclosed garage, carport or metal storage building for simple storage and minimal work or recreation activity, a 20-amp circuit with 120-volt receptacles may offer plenty of power. However, if you plan to spend many hours in your structure, using it as a workshop or office, for instance, you may need 240-volt capacity or dedicated circuits for larger heaters, appliances such as washing machines and clothes dryers, and some power tools. Many heavier-duty tools and devices such as electrical saws, compressors and any device with a motor larger than ¾ HP work more efficiently and last longer when run on 240 volts rather than 120. And many tools are designed to run on 240, especially automotive tools.

Putting some forethought into your electrical needs will assure that you enjoy maximum power for minimum costs based on your unique usage of your enclosed carport, garage or metal storage building. For more help, including advice on planning for electricity before laying the concrete slab for your new structure or retrofitting your existing structure for wiring, contact Carport Empire at 1-800-985-7678.

As the southern states continue to experience record low temperatures this winter season, everyone is looking for ways to stay warm. If you spend many hours in your enclosed carport, garage or metal building, no doubts you’re bundled up, shivering and thinking about heading back inside your warm home. But if your structure doubles as your workshop or office, don’t let the cold chase you from your work. Invest in a safe, affordable heat source instead.

Two basic choices are available for heating your enclosed metal carport, metal garage or metal building: electric heat or gas heat. The size and BTUH output of your heater, whether electric or gas, should be determined by the size of your enclosed garage, carport or metal building. BTUH stands for “British Thermal Unit per Hour” and refers to the unit of heat required to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Here is a quick guide to determine how many BTUHs of heat your heater will need to emit to effectively and affordably warm your structure:

• A 24,000-BTUH heater for a 1-car structure up to 250 square feet;
• A 36,000-BTUH heater for a 2-car structure up to 350 square feet;
• A 48,000-BTUH heater for a 3-car structure up to 550 square feet;
• A 60,000-BTUH heater for structures up to 650 square feet.

If your carport is wired for electricity (see our next blog on Wiring your Carport, Garage or Metal Building for Electricity), electrical heat is easy and affordable. For a smaller structure, space heaters that work via 120-volt outlets work well, but can be dangerous. Never use a space heater near combustibles and make sure yours has a tip-over feature that will automatically turn the heater off if it’s knocked over. Also, never use a space heater with an extension cord. Most extension cords are not rated for the higher power demands of space heater and could easily overload and catch fire. More powerful heaters needed to warm larger spaces, such as Carport Empire’s triple carports or RV carports, may require a 240-volt receptacle.

Gas heaters run on natural gas, propane, liquid petroleum (LP) or kerosene. Natural gas and LP heaters require gas to be piped into your enclosed carport, garage or metal building, which must be well ventilated to prevent a dangerous carbon monoxide buildup within your structure. Propane and kerosene heaters require storage tanks for the fuel. Note that kerosene emits a strong odor, something to keep in mind if you’ll be tooling away inside your enclosed structure for extended periods of time.

A money-saving factor to consider is whether the electric or gas heater you choose is radiant, infrared, fan-forced or convection. Radiant and infrared heaters heat only nearby people and objects rather than the air, making for a more targeted, economical choice. However, if your structure will be used by multiple people (for instance helpers in your garage workshop or family members if your structure is used as a recreational room), a more effective choice is a convection heater, which is designed to heat air as it rises, warming the entire area. Insulating your enclosed garage, carport or metal building, and using weather stripping on doors will help keep things toasty.

If you have questions about the best methods for heating your structure, call Carport Empire at 1-800-985-7678.