I can't even image paying $4k - $6k per door. I found a web site that allows you to price out Copay doors on-line. A 10' x 10' steel door in my area is $467. The web site agrees with what I paid locally when I replaced mine. The site is:
Hi Jack,
Me either...
Thanks, but I don't want steel doors... The doors are going on this building:
Regards,
Austin
Hi Bill,
I am getting estimates of $4k+ per door, and I need four of them. I made a material list, and they are about $1k each for material.
I have an idea of how to make them, but have no experience making garage doors...so I was hoping someone here had that experience...
That's got nothing to do with the actual door it self (as in the panels), that's something that I'd have to deal with if I bought the doors or make them, or had someone else do it.
Great suggestion, thanks!
Regards,
Austin
Hi Austin:
I just noticed higher in the thread that the doors will be installed on a Gothic
1800's era barn. In that case, I don't think sectional doors would be the appropriate design. I believe that slidding wood doors would be more appropriate with the modern touches such as automatic openers being hidden. What's wrong with the old style vertical hung doors that are and have been on barns for ages then you could hold to the original design.Bill
Hi Bill,
Here's a picture of the door design I want to make:
The doors need to open vertically...I don't have room for sliders, be automatically operable, and be able to seal well, as we are in New England (cold), and the garage is heated (radiant in the 7" cement floor ;-).
Regards,
Austin
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 13:16:55 -0500, "Austin Franklin" scribbled
I made my gara^H^H^H^H shop doors, four hinged panels opening vertically (like regular doors) 11 or 12 years ago. So I used regular door hinges (ball bearing, 3 to a panel). The have lasted up to now, no problems, although they are desperately crying out for a new coat of finish.
Construction method was a sandwich of two 1/8 lauan door skins (plywood) and 1-1/2" styrofoam. The edges were 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" western red cedar. Everything glued together with Weldbond (I don't think other "weatherproof" catalyzed PVA glues like Titebond II were available then, at least not in my neck of the woods.) Also put in some cedar blocks where the hardware would need to be (e.g.for door knobs).
To make it look like a frame and panel construction, I glued suitably edge-moulded 1X cedar on the outside of the panel. (3/4 X 3" for the stiles and top and middle rail, 5" for the bottom rail. So the total thickness is 2-1/2 inches.
To prevent air infiltration (very important, I'm in the Yukon), I just glued a 1X4 to the vertical edges on the inside. The 1X4 overlaps the adjacent panel by about 1". Regular weatherstripping on the frame.
The main problems in construction were keeping them flat and ensuring sufficient clamping pressure, especially in the middle. To keep them flat, I made a temporary 2X4 and plywood table and added a few sheets of drywall & plywood on it. For the pressure, I made 4 cauls (slightly longer than the doors) out of the best straight SPF 2X4s I could find. I hand-planed a slight convex curve to them (about 1/4" down at each end), so that when I applied pressure to the clamps at each end, the pressure would be applied in the middle first, and by the time the clamps were reefed down, there was pressure the full length of the door.
Of course, I can't use an automatic garage door opener, but like Charlie is quite rightly fond of saying, cars are made to stay outside.
HTH
Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address
"Man is a tool-using animal. Weak in himself and of small stature, he stands on a basis of some half-square foot, has to straddle out his legs lest the very winds supplant him. Nevertheless, he can use tools, can devise tools: with these the granite mountain melts into light dust before him: seas are his smooth highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds. Nowhere do you find him without tools. Without tools he is nothing: with tools he is all." Thomas Carlyle
I made my first post before the others appeared, but it sounds like you are on the right track. Some manufaturers use a ship lap & some use a tongue & groove between the sections. The tongue & groove will let will give you a better seal between the sections. On a 10' wide door I would recommend that you use at least two if not three middle verticals.
If you are going to use 15" radius track you should make the sections
2' tall or less. Anything taller will have a harder time going through the turns of the track.Depending on the thickness of the door you will may need to get longer track brackets or space out the jambs to compensate for the door thickness.
Also it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put a metal u-bar strut across the back of each section to keep them from sagging when open.
Before you buy the hardware you should know approximately what the finished door is going to weigh. There are different grades of hardware & track for different weights & the spring calculation is totally dependent on the weight of the door & the size of cable drums you are using.
If you are going to use an opener you may need to get it from a door dealer (installed or not installed) that has a rail long enough for a
10' tall door. Most retail openers will only open up to 7'6 w/ standard rail or 8' w/ an extension kit.Doordoc
Sure you can build your own...and there's several ways to do it. I build them (at the 6K number you mentioned) for historic and high dollar homes. I'm not sure where you're located, but it may be worth you while to talk to some of the door companies in your area. If you're able to find one that will work with you, life will be much simpler. You'll need a pro to make sure you get the right hardware. That door is going to weigh a LOT more that a standard garage door. You'll need rollers that won't blow out, a spring that will properly counterbalance the door and track that can safely hold that 700 pound sucker up over your head. Standard hardware won't work (at least for very long).
Building the door is pretty simple for someone with basic woodworking skills and tools. Here's a link that shows the construction technique that I use:
Another link that gives some other construction ideas (if I recall) is:
Larry L.
Aust>>
I was going to make some doors for an enclosed carport but then moved. Here's a link to instructions for a double door of the kind I was interested in building:
Good luck, H.
If you want the doors to look appropriate for that style, they should be swinging doors, not a vertical rollup type. I think the latter would look out of place.
Mike
So you get the look of a swinging door with the function of the vertical
- disregard my earlier post then.
Interesting difference between where I live (Southern Ontario) and New England. The buildings around here in that style would more likely have swinging than sliding. A vet's barn comes to mind - late 1890's construction.
Mike
BTW - that's going to be a great looking building when finished!
What a lovely thought.
Meanwhile, I'd say that if you're building your own door, why not do it the way they did things way-back-when and skip the springs and just counterweight the door? Rope, pulleys and a few steel/iron plates.
Mike
Hi Mike,
That was my hope ;-)
Swing would be fine as well, but again, sealing them would be a bear, as well as automating them. I also think they have to swign out (as the car is on the inside), and with the arch, that would be a problem.
Thank you very much. You should see the railings I did on the top and back sides ;-)
Regards,
Austin
Hi Luigi,
Yes, very much so...thank you. Some great suggestions in there.
Regards,
Austin
If you can solve the swinging problem (which I'd have to see firsthand, but shouldn't be too difficult), you then just need an automatic swinging gate opener.
Many houses around here have them, so that the owner can feel secure, even though it'd be simple to just walk AROUND said gate if one had nefarious intent.
Hi DD,
OK, I've heard this...but what is the origin of this info? Is it simply experience, or is there some calculation that can be done to see what track radius I'd need for 30" sections? Is track available with a larger radius?
Regards,
Austin
Hi Gene,
I think it's a sealing thing...how do you seal the single piece door well? Part of it is outside, and part of it is inside...so there is really no surface that you can seal against, unlike the rolling sectional ones, which are on a slanted track that can press against the opening (or at least a stop in the opening with some sort of seal on it). I guess you could devise something for the door you're mentioning...but I think it just wouldn't be as good.
That would be my guess...
Regards,
Austin
It's a snow thing. Ever tried to pivot a one-piece door against a 3 foot snowdrift up against the bottom of the door??
dave
Gene wrote:
The issue is snow. You CAN seal a one-piece door. It's a little bit of a pain, but I sealed mine fairly well, by placing the seals on the appropriate surfaces. The bottom half of the door has the seal attached to the door jamb. The top half has the seal on the door. There is a section at the pivot point that has an separate piece that bends out of the way. It's worked remarkably well for about a year now.
dave
Aust>>All this talk about garage doors brings up a question that I've wondered > > for >
Right! Or...a door that swings out...
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