Service door in a garage door

Don't know who makes them, but we have one in a door at work. (it is old and I have no idea who made it) Each segment is hinged just like the rest of the door but three or four panels high can be opened out when needed b y hinging them on the size and latching on the other side. A stop keeps it from opening in or falling when the overhead door is opened. The bottom frame of the door is also intact and you have to step over it. That keeps the door structurally sound.

If you were to see how this is made, you could easily modify a door. Perhaps a local dealer will know what you want and can help you.

I'd prefer not to cut into the brick. Besides, I'd have to put the door on an adjacent wall where there is no driveway or sidewalk, so I'd have to pave it. And it would consume valuable wallspace where I currently have benches or equipment. Wall space is a premium and I'd rather not lose any. That is an option, but I'd like to see if a service door could be reasonable installed into my garage door first.

I found one so far...

I know they exist, since my neighbour has one. It's been there since the house was built in 1964, so kind of difficult to tell you who made it... It is a very nice feature, and amazing for the winter, instead of opening the whole damn door (in his case 18'W x 8'H, same as my door).

If you do find anyone who makes them, please let us know...

good luck

Why don't you cut a hole in the brick and install a regular door?

In college I had a friend who lived in a garage. In the wintertime he'd only open the door a little way and then roll or crawl under it. I didn't visit him much in the winter.

Just bust out one of the windows and make it into a door. You'll have to duck when you enter, but it beats fighting that big overhead door. Build some stairs so you can walk right up to the window and climb in. The other option would be to devise a roof entrance. Build a stairway to the roof, put a deck up there with a lift up door in the center of it. Put a rope ladder inside so you dont have permanent stairs in the way of the car.

If you add a column of hinges on either side, I don't see any reason why you couldn't chop a hole in your door 3 panels high, although you'd probably want to leave a metal bar across the bottom to keep the spacing right. Having done that, there's no reason why you couldn't mount a door in the hole, except that the door doesn't fold.. So you cut the door into panels to match the garage door, and hinge the panels together. Mind you, this door won't open when the garage door is lifted at all, and if you try to open the garage door while the access-port is open, you'll wreck something, so you probably want some sort of interlock on the electric door-hoist.

How wide are the stiles, bottom and top rails? I'm assuming your door is 1-3/8" thick. Fill in the blanks at

I"m sure you can design it yourself. Practice on the garage door you have now. Unless you were going to reuse it.

How many sections of the bending door would your 7' door span? Lets say 4. Get 8 strap hinges (or maybe whatever the garage door has now if you can find the exact thing, but when I had a garage, it used pretty common hinges.) and attach them on the left and right side of where the door is going to be. Try lifting the door to make sure it still moves easily up and down.

Get two sets of door hinges and mark where they should go. Drill the holes. Also mark the line of the door. Cut on the line where the hinges are going to be, and as you cut each section, screw in the hinge. When you get to the floor, or even earlier also, try lifting the door to make sure it still moves easily up and down.

Mark and drill the holes for a place for the latch and lock on the open side.Cut the open side and the top. Attach the latch and lock. Find some method to make sure the door is always shut when you try to lift it Or maybe you just won't be able to lift it when it is open. But still, find out how other doors handle this. Try lifting the door to make sure it still moves easily up and down. Then you're done.

If you wanted, you could use this door to trace lines on to a heavier wood door. Then mark the hinges, drill the holes, cut the door one hinge worth at a time, and transfer the hinges one at a time.

With a litte extra effort you could make Dutch doors, or triple Dutch doors for short people. :)

Your idea sounds great to me. If they can do it you can.

I assumed that that was done by demons.

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