Construction of garage (side) door advice sought.

[RJS]

I'm in the process of replacing the side door to my concrete-slab garage as= it is barely wheelbarrow plus knuckles wide and crack-you-across-the-foreh= ead high. Also it is hinged on the wrong side and can only be opened from= inside the garage.

The doorway is formed by means of two vertical 'fillers' with a triangular = cap. These three parts are lose. I intend to remove the lose parts and us= e the uprights to determine the width of the door which will be as high as = the roof. I've fixed RSA steel to the uprights to form the hinge and strik= er for the door. I'm intending to have a door, or at least the perimeter, = fabricated out of similar RSA which I will hang with strap hinges and fill = with timber. I have a pair of keyed-alike mortice locks to fit too.

Questions: =20

Is this viable?

If it is, shall I construct the frame such that the flush face of the RSA i= s on the inside or outside of the door and why? I am welding the motice lo= cks to the edge of the frame.

Couple of pictures here:

will be steel across the top and bottom of the opening when the door = is fitted.

TIA

Richard

[Brian Gaff]

I do hope the lock is heat proof. I did hear of a chap who did this and the lock was almost useless afterwards. I'd imagine today there are naff plastic washers all over the place. Bring back old locks I say.

Brian

[RJS]

Hi Brian

Good point. I might remove the 'guts' before welding. The locks started l= ife as a pair of ERA keyed-alike mortice locks - described as 'garage locks= ' on the packet. The supplier - a 'proper' locksmith in Ramsgate - swapped= one of the locks for a 'mortice lock with latch' (don't know what it's cal= led) and transfered the lock fingers across so that I can will be able to u= se one key for both locks. The idea is that I will be able to lock/unlock = the door from inside or outside the garage and also be able to shut the doo= r on the latch without having to lock it. The ERA locks were not cheap but= I hadn't been able to find anyone able to supply what I wanted.

Cheers and seasons best wishes=20

Richard