Simple garage door plan

[BW]

Hi all,

first time here, so I hope you can help! I have bought a house and as seems to be normal, have run out of money before finishing all the work that needs to be done. I need to replace an old 1930's wooden garage door and have decided to try to make one myself! Minimal experience, but very keen to give it a go. What I am hoping someone can help me with is to try to find a simple plan for making a wooden door. It is the style that opens in the middle outwards. About 2/5 of the door at the top is taken up by 6 small panes of glass and the bottom 3/5 looks like it was made of wood panelling. I would like to replicate the same style of door, or at least similar. If anyone could point me in the right direction as to where I could find a site or book on various styles of wooden garage doors, I would appreciate it.

Many thanks,

Brian.

[BW]

Hi all,

first time here, so I hope you can help! I have bought a house and as seems to be normal, have run out of money before finishing all the work that needs to be done. I need to replace an old 1930's wooden garage door and have decided to try to make one myself! Minimal experience, but very keen to give it a go. What I am hoping someone can help me with is to try to find a simple plan for making a wooden door. It is the style that opens in the middle outwards. About 2/5 of the door at the top is taken up by 6 small panes of glass and the bottom 3/5 looks like it was made of wood panelling. I would like to replicate the same style of door, or at least similar. If anyone could point me in the right direction as to where I could find a site or book on various styles of wooden garage doors, I would appreciate it.

Many thanks,

Brian.

[Nospambob1]

alt.home.repair probably has experience also

[Leon]

This question comes up occasionally and 95% of the time it is advised to have a pro do the work. The doors can usually be bought and installed cheaper than you can buy the materials and most are dangerous to install and adjust. This repair is not one that you need to pinch pennies on.

[Anonymous]

What dangers are involved in hanging a couple of hinged, "French-style" doors ?? ?? ??

[Eugene]

Not the easiest first project. First you need to research the material. Decide on a wood that will hold up to rain, snow, freezing, etc, and is strong yet light. Next step is to decide how to build it, simple frame with thin skin on one or two sites, or complex panels in slots. Decide on the proper joints to stay together through all the openings and closings, wind and such. Then make the strength of the hinges and mounts for the counterweight springs strong enough to hold. I'm not saying it can't be done but you may be able to find a premade door already the right size/style and just rehang it yourself. It took me a Sat afternoon to go buy a door, remove the old one, install the new one, replace all the trim and frame around it and install the opener. Wasn't real difficult but I am pretty handy, a first timer it might take a bit more time.

[Larry Jaques]

Beside the fact that vertical garage door hardware is -safer- than most of the tools we use, and that the OP wanted a hinged vs. rollup/lifting door style, it's awfully early for Leon to have been drinking that heavily...

Must be the Mothers Day blues.

On Sat, 08 May 2004 13:49:00 GMT, "" brought forth from the murky depths:

Sex is Evil, Evil is Sin, Sin is Forgiven. Gee, ain't religion GREAT?

---------------------------------------------

Sin-free Website Design

[Leon]

LOL... I bet that single door weighs quite a bit..

[Mike Marlow]

Brian:

How about some more information? Are your doors curved at the top, or simple rectangles? When you say wood panelling, do you mean that there are vertical "seams" in the surface? Perhaps similar to what T-111 looks like? How about a picture? Do you have the ability to post a pic on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking? If so, post it under an obvious subject line and advise this group that you posted it in the binaries group. That might help generate some ideas for you.

I can think of several things I'd consider doing in building a garage door like yours. Some of them require some fairly special purpose tools, some require some developed skills and techniques, but none of them are beyond reasonable finances or typical ability to learn. As one other poster pointed out, the jointery you select will probably be the biggest skills challenge to your project. There's enough options in joinery that even the most basic skills should be able to master it with a little patience.

Also - let us know what part of the country you live in. Materials selection is affected by your local weather.

Finally, here's one site that I came across doing a simple search for wooden garage doors. Not completely what you're looking for but it might start some ideas working...

site just has some design ideas... some more web searching for design ideas and then post some more questions.

[xrongor]

i see people dancing around the subject, but ill say it straight out. go buy a door. you dont have the tools to do it, or the experience.

if you must, your best bet would be to fix the old doors up.

randy

[Hylourgos]

Here's a site I liked:

[Bob G.]

======================================== I do not see how the installation and adjustments needed would be at all dangerous...(not an overhead door)... BUT I do agree that buying a pre manufactured door most likely would be cheaper (much cheaper) then buying the material and making one yourself...

Bob Griffiths

[Eugene]

Um, this isn't your first time here. There are a lot of suggestions and answers in the two previous threads where you asked the same question.