ᐅ Paving the driveway now, building the carport later – what is the best approach?

Hey,

the driveway will be paved soon. At some point, we might also set up a carport. What is the best approach? Paving everything first and then having to open up the paved areas again at the support points for the carport seems counterproductive. It might be better to know in advance which carport will be installed to plan those points now. But depending on when the carport will be added, it might never happen, so the planned points could end up being wrong. Do you have any tips on how to handle this best?

Additional question: Does anyone use a carport purchased via e*bay or perhaps bought at a home improvement store? Any experience with that? What should one pay attention to?

Thanks for your feedback!

Our experience: simple paving.

At the locations of the supports, you can always remove 4 pavers to install driven posts or posts set in concrete using an earth auger.

There are thousands of carports available online; just pay attention to the size and height.

A Polo requires something different than a motorhome measuring 8 meters (26 feet) in length and 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in height.

No, that is common practice. It took us one day to install our 12 H-posts. So, stacking the blocks, setting them in concrete, and then cutting the blocks back to size.
Don’t forget how much material you end up having to dispose of when making a few holes.
The only thing you should do beforehand is to lay one or more electrical cables accordingly.

I also paved the parking space back then and have now built the carport after 18 years. At the time, I did not plan for the foundation.

Unfortunately. But back then, I wasn’t even sure if a roofed structure would ever be needed.

I did it myself. The prefabricated carports from the home improvement store were extremely unattractive and much too expensive.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Actually, I had also thought about paving everything and then removing a few stones for the concrete / H-post. Using an earth auger was also my idea. The neighbor said it’s quite a tough job. Especially since the ground under the paving is also compacted, it would be difficult to get through.

Regardless, can you use KG pipes (DN 100?) as formwork, where the concrete is later poured in, or for the H post base?

The exact position of the posts is not yet determined, so do not set any placeholders in concrete at this stage.

What about rainwater?
Should it be drained openly, or should a connection be installed near the expected post location?