Building Exterior Carport Half Wall

Like I've mentioned before, we use our carport a lot. It kind of triples as a wood shop, dining area when it's rainy or too sunny, and an actual carport for our antique car. Suffice to say, we get tons of use out of this space. So in order to make it even more useful, and to define this area a bit further, we decided to build a half wall on the edge. This half wall would provide storage space on the side of the carport and also provide a bit of counter space / bar space / work space at the top.

Once we were done with the fence, we had a good amount of leftover wood. Great, nice looking cedar wood which was just begging to be used for something. And what would be a better use of it, other than building a practical, exterior wall shock-full of storage space?

The first step was to create a base for everything to rest on. We used two heavy 2x6 cedar planks and anchored them to the cement with 1/2 inch anchor bolts. Using a masonary bit we drilled into the concrete and then bolted the wood to the slab.

 We sawed off the tops to create a some space to allow the boxes to rest.

For the construction of the wall it was decided to make independent boxes out of the cedar that could be stacked for strength.

That way these boxes could work as cubby holes for storage for the inside and basically make up the frame of the wall. Little feet were put on the base boxes for more clearance and support.

Building the top shelves...

And putting on backing of cedar.

Here you can get an idea of what this is going to look like...

For the top we put on some heavy 2x6 Doug Fir boards.

And we nailed on the last of the cedar as siding.

This siding should protect the storage area from the rain.

And to finish it off further, we decided to paint the top in a glossy white paint to provide a bit of contrast and to protect the wood. We used fir boards for the top and fir isn't naturally weather resistant like cedar, so some kind of protection was necessary.

Also, to provide a bit of contrast we decided to stain the siding part with the same linseed oil that we used for the fence.

This wall has provided us with so much more storage space!

And ta-da! I like the contrast a lot. 

Another aspect that I really liked about this idea was the compartmentilized aspect. Our backyard is small, so it's important to use the space well. So, by putting up a half wall and further sectioning off this area a little we were hoping to utilize our space even further, to make it cozier and more practical.

Now this area feels a bit more put together, a bit more finished I would say. And we have already gotten tons of use out of it, mainly storage space, however the counter top has also been used as workspace, speaker area and bar area up to this point!