Carport to Barn

Our carport to barn project focused on turning an old carport into a beautiful barn. When we first moved to our home it came with a pretty large carport next to our house. It was in great shape but it quickly collected all of our stuff and didn’t really serve any other purpose. To convert to a barn carport we decided to enclose it completely and add a side door which led out to the pool and hot tub for ease of storing chemicals and other pool supplies. 

We chose barn doors instead of roll up doors for looks and cost. We wanted it to look like a barn and turned to Pinterest for ideas. I was disappointed to find there weren’t a lot of examples of what I had in mind but I found one example and my husband and I got to work! 

Starting the project

We started with cleaning everything out…. this wasn’t a small task! Next was cutting into the metal siding to frame out the pedestrian door. We chose one with windows to add extra lighting. This was an exciting first step for me. Prior to having access to this side door I had to walk through our backyard, around the fence and into the carport to access pool chemicals.  

Then we added plywood walls for ease of adding things to the walls, including electrical outlets. We choose not to insulate in between the metal walls and plywood because the carport wasn’t completely water proof or climate controlled anyways. We live in a relatively mild climate so this carport to barn project didn’t need the extra cost of insulation, but if we lived in a cooler climate I would have reconsidered this.

Carport to barn: Electrical and lighting

The electrical was ran all around (and above for lights) the carport barn. It was important to my husband to have electrical outlets available every few feet. We knew that we wanted a gym in there and the ability to charge outdoor equipment, so it needed plenty of outlets to serve its purpose.

After the electrical and lights were installed, the next step was enclosing the front of the carport with metal studs. We already had done the math for the opening of the barn doors and left that area open for them.

Carport barn doors and exterior siding

We ordered a barn door sliding kid and the last step would be building the doors and hanging them on the sliding kit. For the exterior front we used t1-11 siding to match our home and matched the paint as well. We put horse stall mats down as flooring although in an effort to save money this part was done in stages.

The barn doors were the final step. The hardware kit was relatively easy to install. My husband made the barn doors and added the windows because of the inspiration photo we found on Pinterest. That photo is also why we have plants in shallow feed troughs in front of the barn as well. The windows are plexi-glass which you can purchase at a local hardware store. The windows fit into framed wooden squares my husband added to barn doors. We placed a large barn light on the top front and a smaller one next to the side pedestrian door. 

The finished space has been better than we expected. The kids love the gym space and frequently go out there with my husband to work out. We love having a versatile space that still looks good!