Securing carport roof to house siding

[Andrew Duane]

I'm considering having a concrete parking slab poured next to my garage, and will likely put up posts and a roof to make it into at least a covered carport. The house is standard cedar clapboard siding over plywood sheathing. Is there a best way to secure the new roof structure to the side of the house? I don't care about being weather tight obviously, but I don't want to damage the house, or risk the carport being blown over in a storm.

Studs will be hard to find under the siding/sheathing; is the sheathing itself sturdy enough to handle this? Should I secure a ledger board and attach to that, or will that invite rot to the siding? Maybe a half dozen lag screws with small standoffs to leave airspace? Support posts on both sides of the roof to hold up the weight so it doesn't bear on the house?

[ameijers]

Is the inside of the garage finished? You could run, say, a 2x8 down the length of the wall on the to stiffen it, then use lag screws with standoffs into the studs (or blocking between them) to hold the rim joist/ledger board of the carport roof. (pretty much like building a deck.) Unless it would look too tacky for your neighborhood, I would just pour the slab with 4 or 6 soda cans in the right spots to receive the posts for one of those alumium carport kits. A heavy snow or bad summer storm will damage them, but you avoid having to asphalt the roof or paint the wood. Even if you build it out of wood, if you can't reinforce the wall, I'd use posts on both sides.

aem sends....

[IBM5081]

Agreed - Use posts on both side with corner bracing at the top of the posts. The carport should be freestanding. To anchor the structure to the house would leave openings in the siding which could leak or invite insects.