# 2006 IRC section R309.4 Carports



## darcar (Oct 27, 2011)

I thought I had posted this yesterday but cant find it, so I'll post again.

The issue is 309.4 states "carports shall be open on at least 2 sides."  and "carports not open on at least 2 sides shall be considered a garage and shall comply with the provisions of this section for garages".

It doesnt clarify "OPEN". At what point is a wall considered open? 10%... 25%...51%...

The comentary doesnt clarify either...

Thanks for your input


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## fatboy (Oct 27, 2011)

I would say it is whatever the AHJ determines it to be. For me, if pressed, I would say at least 75% of the wall area open to qualify as "open". I've seen lots of carports with storage built in at the enclosed end, which takes up part of the "open" side.


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## brudgers (Oct 27, 2011)

Standards for open parking structures would be reasonable approach based on common sense. Therefore, I expect Fatboy to stick to 75%.


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## gbhammer (Oct 27, 2011)

IBC 406.3.3.1 Openings. For natural ventilation purposes,

the exterior side of the structure shall have uniformly distributed

openings on two or more sides. The area of such

openings in exterior walls on a tier must be at least 20

percent of the total perimeter wall area of each tier.

The aggregate length of the openings considered to be providing

natural ventilation shall constitute a minimum of

40 percent of the perimeter of the tier. Interiorwalls shall

be at least 20 percent open with uniformly distributed

openings.

Exception: Openings are not required to be distributed

over 40 percent of the building perimeter where

the required openings are uniformly distributed over

two opposing sides of the building.


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## ICE (Oct 27, 2011)

Check with the planning dept.  Could be all you need is suicide vents.  One side should be easy to figure out.  Well, unless there is a door of course.


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## georgia plans exam (Oct 28, 2011)

FWIW, Webster defines a carport as "a shelter for an automobile, consisting of a roof extended from the side of a building, sometimes with an additional wall".

GPE


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## texas transplant (Oct 28, 2011)

darcar,

If 50% or more of the perimeter is open, we call it a carport, if less then 50% is open it is a garage.  We made that a local amendment, because in the past it had been interperted that if you put an enclosed storage area at one end, it couldn't be a carport because one end was totally enclosed and you had enclosed part of two other sides (so you didn't have two completly open sides, even though you might still have 80% or more of the perimeter open), so it was a garage.  That didn't make sense to me (and had caused a lot of fights and headaches), so we defined it.   Haven't had any fights over the current way yet, and I sleep well using that definition.


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