On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:32:00 -0600, IGot2P wrote:

On 11/19/2013 10:03 PM, wrote:
I was having a discussion with a guy who has a trailer home with an
attached garage. He said "it's not a garage, it's a carport". Well,
they both serve the same purpose, but that got me wondering when they
should be called a carport. Is that only when they are attached to a
trailer house? Yet I've seen identical looking structures attached to
houses....???? I've always called all of them garages. I never even
used the word "carport" until this guy mentioned it.

Is there a time and place to use the word carport, or is it just another
name for the same thing? Not that it really matters, but just
wondering.....


In my area, and I think most others, a carport is built to offer limited
protection to vehicles. A carport can either be free standing or more
often attached to a wall of a building. Carports do not have four walls,
and usually has only one or two whereas a garage offers much more
protection and has four walls. One of the walls of a garage normally has
an overhead door for vehicle entry and exit as opposed to a carport
which the entry is normally open.

I agree. But our first garage had swinging doors. Built around
1939. I know you said normally, so maybe I shouldn't say "except".
Changed to "but". It still seems wrong to omit but and start with
"Our".

In Baltimore when I got here in 1983, I was amazed to see very
expensive homes which had only carports, and almost no one had a
garage, even though it gets cold here and snows. Especially compared
to Dallas which is much warmer but a lot of people had garages.

The typical north suburban Baltimore carport then had a side wall,
parallel to the street, so you could keep some garden stuff and your
car without it looking cluttered from the street. But no front or
back wall.

But garages are becoming much more common in new houses, even
townhouses.

In short, carport is NOT just another word for garage.

Don