September 2022 - Carport Kingdom

How to Protect Leather Car Seats from Wear

Having leather seats in your car is a wonderful luxury. The feel and comfort are hard to match which explains why it remains one of the most attractive features for car buyers. With that said, caring for leather can be a chore, but it’s worth it knowing that you can extend the life of your vehicle’s interior and keep your car looking its best. Read on for a guide to caring for leather seats. And if you’re searching for a way to protect your car from the sun when you’re parked at home, remember to explore our custom carports. Our free Build & Price tool is a great place to start.

#1 Take Cover

When it comes to the condition of your leather seats, the sun is your primary enemy. Too much direct sunlight leads to dried-out leather with cracking, fading, and other issues. Do what you can to limit how often your vehicle is sitting out in the sun and baking on the inside.

One of the best ways to do that is by parking in a covered spot. Adding a carport somewhere on your property is a huge step toward giving those leather seats the care they deserve. Fortunately, our carports are affordable, easy to customize, and can be installed quickly once the order arrives.

As a nice side effect of parking under a carport, you will also be protecting your vehicle from many other harmful elements beyond the sun. In the winter, rain and snow will be kept off of your vehicle, and it will be protected from falling items like branches in a storm. These issues might not directly impact the health of your leather seats, but they are still threats to the overall condition of your vehicle, so the carport will serve you well throughout the year.

#2 Keep It Clean

Another good step to take for the condition of your leather seats is to keep them as clean as you can. It’s easy to lose track of this point in the busyness of day-to-day life, but simply vacuuming off the seats regularly will prevent buildup from degrading the condition of the leather. Try to make it a habit to quickly vacuum off the seats each weekend and you’ll be left with seats that stay in good condition far longer than they would have otherwise.

#3 Tint & Shade

Parking under a roof like the one at the top of a carport is a great way to block the sun from harming your seats, but that isn’t always possible. As an alternative, look into other methods to keep the sun off your seats, such as tinted windows or sunshades. These options will greatly reduce the damage that the sun can do to your seats, and they are both simple and affordable. Consider keeping a sunshade in your car during the hot summer months and simply unfold it under the windshield when you are parked out in the open on a sunny day.

#4 Condition Periodically

Applying leather conditioner to your seats is something that you don’t need to do as often as cleaning the seats, but it is a useful step that will improve their long-term health. To get started, be sure to clean the seats thoroughly first, using a product that is designed specifically to clean leather. Then, when the seats are dry, apply the leather conditioner and follow the directions on the package to complete the process.

Is caring for leather seats a little more work than what it takes to care for cloth seats in a vehicle? Sure – but it’s worth it. Once you understand the game plan for how you can keep your leather seats in good shape, you’ll realize that it doesn’t actually take that much effort and you’ll be rewarded with comfortable, long-lasting seats that you can enjoy each time you slide in behind the wheel.

And remember, if you’re considering adding a carport to your property as a covered parking spot for your favorite vehicle, explore the free Build & Price tool at Carport Kingdom. If you have any questions, contact our team. We hope to serve you soon!

How to Fix Paint Scratches on Your Car

/in Blog, CK /by clickgiant

The paint on your car has two important jobs. First, it keeps the car looking great day after day. With a quality paint job, your vehicle will look nice and will be a source of pride – especially after a fresh wash. But paint is not only about aesthetics. Beyond the visual, paint also helps to protect the condition of your car. It keeps water away from directly contacting the metal, which could lead to corrosion. So, maintaining a solid layer of paint around the vehicle will go a long way toward both keeping the car looking great and maintaining its condition over the coming years.

When the inevitable scratch damages your paint job, it’s helpful to know how to address that issue promptly. In this article, we’ll provide some basic instructions on how to fix paint scratches quickly and easily. And, if you are interested in avoiding some future scratches, consider adding a carport or other metal building from Carport Kingdom. You can start with our Build & Price tool and you’re always welcome to contact us directly with any questions.

Identifying the Type of Scratch

The first task you need to address is determining what kind of scratch you are facing. While you will get better at this task with experience, you should be able to make a pretty good determination even on your first try. To help you get started, we’ve broken down car paint scratches into three general categories –

Deep scratch

This is a paint scratch that goes all the way down to the bare metal of the vehicle’s body below. It generally requires a pretty significant event to cause a scratch this deep – so you won’t be dealing with this big of an issue simply because you drove too close to a tree in your driveway and gently brushed some branches. While these kinds of scratches are uncommon, they are also very difficult to fix. Most likely, you’ll need to get professional help to properly fix a scratch that has made its way to the bare metal level.

Medium scratch

In this case, your scratch has made it down to the paint, but not through to the bare metal. A moderate impact is needed to scratch your car in this manner, such as when someone opens their car door into your vehicle on accident. Scratches at this level may be able to be repaired on a DIY basis, but that will depend on the size of the area affected. A small scratch that goes down to the paint is much easier to fix than one that runs along an entire side panel.

Surface scratch

With any luck, this is what you will be dealing with more often than not. A surface scratch is one that has only impacted the clear coat layer that protects your paint – but not the paint itself. With the right supplies – more on that in a moment – you can easily repair these kinds of scratches and repair the health of your clear coat.

Addressing Surface Scratches

If you determine that your scratches are only in the clear coat layer, you’ll need to pick up a few supplies and you can get started on the fix right away. Here’s what you’ll need –

Rubbing and polishing compound
Clean towel
Scrubbing pad

You can pick up all of these items at your local auto supply store, and none of it should be very expensive. Start by using the rubbing compound on the scrubbing pad, and work it over the affected area in a circular pattern. Then, wipe off the area and move to the polishing compound to repeat the process and create a nice shine. As long as the scratches were as light as you believed, the area should look much better and you can wrap up the project.

More Advanced Repairs

When dealing with scratches that go down into the paint and below, you are going to need more supplies – and more effort – to get good results. And, as mentioned above, you might not be able to fix all scratches on your own. You’ll be much happier with the results you get fixing serious scratches if you simply take the car to a body shop to be fixed up.

The big differences here as opposed to above are that you’ll need to sand down to the paint level and you will need paint that matches the body of your vehicle. On that second point, look in your owner’s manual for a paint color code that you can use to shop for some appropriate touch-up paint. If you can’t find it in the owner’s manual, some online searching for your car’s make, model, and year should reveal the info you need.

For sanding, get a very high-grit sandpaper – perhaps around 2,000 – and go over the area in a circular motion to work your way down to the paint level. Then, the touch-up paint can be used, and the compounds can be applied to hopefully create an appealing shine in that area of your vehicle once again.

Prevent Scratches from Happening in the First Place

Fortunately, if you’re dealing with scratches, there are some simple solutions that should have your car’s paint in better condition in no time at all. After you go through the trouble of repairing them, remember to do your best from letting them happen in the first place.

When shopping, park in places that may be a little further away from the store. Most people aren’t willing to walk, so that means fewer car doors hitting your own. And of course, remember to consider an enclosed carport made by Carport Kingdom. Gone will be the days of cats nesting on the roof of your car or incidents with unwanted items making contact with your vehicle. Learn more about our carports today and remember to explore our free Build & Price tool. We hope to serve you soon!

How to Build a Man Shed

/in Blog, CK /by clickgiant

When you hear the word shed, you probably think first about a place to store your rakes, shovels, wheelbarrow, and other yard tools. Or, you might even use a shed as overflow storing from the house, using it to hold boxes that don’t have anywhere else to live. While practical, that’s not exactly exciting. Things are different with a man shed, fortunately.

The idea here is to create a space that is all your own and is perfectly customized for whatever you have in mind. Adding a so-called “man shed” to your property is a great way to indulge in a favorite hobby or pastime without using up space in your house or existing garage. In this article, we’ll get into some of the details of how to build a man shed. Of course, you’ll need a building to serve as the shed in this equation, which is where Carport Kingdom can come into the picture. Explore our free Build & Price tool to see what’s possible.

Establishing Your Concept

The first step in how to build a man shed doesn’t require any tools at all – it only requires you to sit down and think about what exactly it is that you want to create. For some people, this is obvious. You may have had an idea for a man shed in mind for years and you are finally getting the opportunity to make it happen. If that’s not the case for you, however, this list of ideas below may help to get the wheels turning.

Reading and writing. Man caves don’t have to be flashy, loud, or even exciting – you might choose to simply create a comfortable, quiet place to engage in peaceful hobbies like reading and writing. With a comfortable chair, a nice desk, and some soft lighting, you could create an area that you’d love to return to time and again for a peaceful retreat.
Project space. Do you love to build? You might opt to create a man shed that is customized perfectly to your favorite types of projects. Whether it is small-scale woodworking, painting, electronics, or other types of crafts, this new shed could become your oasis for that time of creativity.
Game room. This might be one of the most popular applications of the man shed idea. You could outfit your space with a game table, a few chairs, and whatever else you need to play the games you love with family and friends. If your games are low-tech – like playing some poker or other card games – you’ll need little more than the table, seating, and lighting. On the other hand, if your idea of fun games involves a video game console and a large screen, some additional tech is going to be required.
Sports hangout. If you love to spend evenings and weekends watching your favorite sports teams, creating a fan space to kick back and enjoy the games is another appealing option. You’ll need a TV and electricity for this option, as well as some way to tap into cable or streaming services, so think this portion out carefully before you get started. Also, the décor in your sports hangout can be customized to represent your favorite team’s colors – and some comfy seating is probably on the menu, as well.

The ideas above represent just a small fraction of the many possibilities for this space. You might decide that you like one of these options, or you might want to blend a couple of them to create a more flexible space that can serve multiple purposes. Take your time to gain clarity on what you would like to use this space for and then move on to bringing the project to life.

Some Practical Considerations

It’s pretty easy to just sit back and dream about the possibilities of what your man shed could become one day. It’s harder, however, to take concrete steps toward making it a reality, as the restrictions that come with the real world tend to get in the way more often than not. So, somewhat, unfortunately, we need to stop here and talk about the practical side of how this project will take shape.

Some of the points below may cause you to rethink your original plans and ambitions so they can be adjusted into something more realistic. Among the key considerations at this point include the following:

Space available. This is a big one – you can’t build a huge man shed if you only have a small portion of your property to work with. Right from the start, it’s a good idea to figure out exactly how big your shed can be and then use that as the basis of your planning process. Of course, you don’t have to use up every available square inch in the finished design but start by determining the maximum size for your shed and pare it down until you are left with a footprint that makes sense for your needs.
Even on a property you own, there are likely to be rules in place that govern at least some of what you can do. Remember that you can’t necessarily build right up to the property line, as many areas will have setback restrictions that require you to stay at least two or three feet away from that line. Consult any relevant building codes or HOA rules before getting too far into the project. The last thing you want to have to do is take down or move your shed after finding out later that you’ve overlooked an important restriction in your area.
Comfort in the shed. Don’t forget to factor in space to move around comfortably in the shed when coming up with your design. It’s easy to get carried away with various ideas for what you want to pack into the space – and pretty soon there is hardly any room left to walk around without bumping into something. This should be a relaxing, enjoyable space, and you’ll struggle to relax if there is something in your way at every turn.
Project timeline. Depending on where you live, there are likely to be certain times of the year that are better for taking on this kind of project than others. Specifically, if you live in a northern climate with harsh winters, it’s probably better to plan out the construction of your new shed after the snow has melted and the ground has thawed. Getting your timeline organized right from the start can help you avoid any unwanted headaches along the way.

As with so many projects, the devil is in the details when creating a plan for your man shed. Go through all of the various factors that are likely to impact this endeavor so you can sidestep future issues and see this all the way through to a successful conclusion.

Growing Into the Space

You don’t need to have a complete vision for your shed on day one of the project. Yes, it’s important to consider the factors we’ve talked about so far in this article, but don’t get so bogged down in the details that you never even get started. Instead, come up with a solid plan that you know will work, and keep it simple at the start. It’s perfectly fine to gradually grow into the shed over time and allow it to adapt to your needs and wants.

Also, you might find that it’s cost prohibitive to create your dream space immediately without any delay. You’ll need to purchase the shed itself, do some site prep, and then fill it up with the various items that will make it perfect. That’s quite a bit of spending to do all at once, so consider having the shed built and adding just a few items as a starting point to get the project off and running. Then, as time passes and your budget allows, you can purchase new elements to add to it and enhance the experience.

Expert Installation Included

One of the great things about ordering your new shed from Carport Kingdom is that the expert installation of this new structure is included with that order. You don’t need to worry about having your tools all ready to go when the shed is delivered, as we’ll assemble it and make sure it’s all ready for the next steps. That way, you can hit the ground running and take on the more exciting task of molding the interior of the shed into exactly what you would like it to be.

Thank you for taking the time to consider Carport Kingdom. As a leader in this industry, we take great pride in the quality of our structures and the value we offer to our customers. Take some time today to play with our Build & Price tool to see what you can create and what features you can add to your shed to make it ideal for your needs. Don’t wait any longer to bring this dream project to life!