Since our garage is at the back of our property and faces the house, we wanted the garage to mimic the back of the house with a door, window and canopy to match.
The only change we wanted to make was the depth of the canopy so we would have more covered space at the garage. We love the canopy off our kitchen, but we wish it was deeper than 3 feet. For the garage, we decided on around 6-foot depth.
Since the canopy wasn’t on the permit drawings, we originally planned to build it once the permit was closed. But given how delayed we were with the garage, we decided to risk it and build the canopy all in one shot.
The canopy construction is essentially the same as on our deck: they created a box and then used cedar posts to hold it up.
Having the canopy in place also meant that we could finish the fence on either side, finally giving our neighbour privacy after 7 months of having none. I also painted the posts so everything would blend in once the final fence boards were stained black.
We were going to use MDF for the canopy facia, but a miscommunication with the roofing guy made us pivot and have the cladding guys install matte black metal to the front. I wasn’t thrilled at first, but in the end it looked great and I was happy to not have another thing to do.
While the cladding guys were working on the facia, I installed the cedar soffit.
Once the piece around the post was done (which required two notches), the rest moved relatively quickly. I was able to finish 95% of the canopy within a couple of days.
I also made sure to run wires for our pot lights around the mid-point so we can install those later.
The final piece was particularly challenging. After a few wasted pieces, I figured out that I could likely get the final piece on by removing the back tongue piece. Using the table saw, I ripped the board to the right width and then removed one of the tongues.
I managed to get the piece in place, but then I had a new problem. Because the cladding guys had added a piece of metal trim where the canopy met the garage, my nail gun wouldn’t pierce through the metal. I eventually used some metal screws, sparingly, but I’m not entirely happy with the final result. When the weather is better I’ll try to get some cedar filler and see if I can hide the screw heads.
We’re still waiting on the pot lights to arrive and then we’ll add 3 pot lights, once again matching our house canopy.