Garage Doors

[Defender 11]

I wasn't too sure which section to post this in so I hope this is ok.

Now my Land rover stable is a little larger I need to replace my ageing wooden garage with steel building.

The openings are going to be 2.5m wide by 2.7m high and i'm looking for some cheap and secure ideas for the doors? I don't want roller doors because of how much they reduce the head height, I'd like to be able to back a vehicle on a trailer in the garage hence the 2.7m height.

So has anyone built their own? Do you have some pictures of the construction you wouldn't mind sharing?

I really like the idea of using the polycarb panels to add light something like the pic below maybe (Just an idea at the minute so i'm open to all ideas please):

frosted galss door

[simonr 291]

I think you should build a pair of these:

 

 

[missingsid 142]

Wow I really like them but possibly not the most secure?

[Bigj66 278]

17 minutes ago, Defender said:

I wasn't too sure which section to post this in so I hope this is ok.

Now my Land rover stable is a little larger I need to replace my ageing wooden garage with steel building.

The openings are going to be 2.5m wide by 2.7m high and i'm looking for some cheap and secure ideas for the doors? I don't want roller doors because of how much they reduce the head height, I'd like to be able to back a vehicle on a trailer in the garage hence the 2.7m height.

So has anyone built their own? Do you have some pictures of the construction you wouldn't mind sharing?

I really like the idea of using the polycarb panels to add light something like the pic below maybe (Just an idea at the minute so i'm open to all ideas please):

frosted galss door

I have roller doors and the roll sits above the lintel so no loss of headroom. You’d probably need about 400-500mm additional height above the lintel to fit them.

[simonr 291]

I also have a roller shutter - 1t's 350mm above the lintel and opens to 2100mm Height.

The box it lives in is mostly empty space.  I reckon another 600mm of slats would easily fit in the same space.  I like it a lot - it's very practical & fairly wind-proof.  The individual slats are hollow Aluminium, filled with foam.  It doesn't provide much insulation - but better than none.

[zardos 30]

So I have some classic barn style doors on my garage as this gave the maximum height (thought mine do have a top and bottom frame pieces it is possible to have a design not with there).



I strengthen them up by adding a thick ply back sheet and changed the hinges to bolt through instead of screwed on.

But basically these are constructed in the same fashion as a gate I built.

The barn door style does have the drawback that it needs a large space in front to open.

The basic design idea is

 

Basically for the gate I made an rectangle frame using 2 x 4 treated timber with half lap joints at the corners (screwed and glued) and the middle and diagonal braces were also half lapped in.

The cover front and back with the material of your choice.

Best to coach bolt hinges and materials front to back so the outside only has the flat dome head so nothing to easily undo.

Security, each door can have a bolt top and bottom with padlocks and a gate hasp with padlock to connect the 2 doors.

Edited January 10 by zardos

[zardos 30]

Picture of the gate frame as an example of the design (this is similar design to my lidget garage doors

 

[Simon_CSK 104]

4 minutes ago, zardos said:

Picture of the gate frame as an example of the design (this is similar design to my lidget garage doors

 

The hinges go on the left side in the photo so the the weight of the door is supported.

[zardos 30]

1 minute ago, Simon_CSK said:

The hinges go on the left side in the photo so the the weight of the door is supported.

Yes hinges on left side (if the gate bottom is nearest in the picture 😉 ) but as the diagram in my first post.

Also really need a router to build to cut out the half lap joints in the middle of pieces.

 

[Simon_CSK 104]

4 minutes ago, zardos said:

Also really need a router to build to cut out the half lap joints in the middle of pieces.

 

Or some good sharp chisels. (What we did in woodwork at school many many years ago.  Ouch is that 40 years)

[Retroanaconda 746]

There are pictures of mine in my workshop build thread. They’re wooden side-hung doors, ledge and braced design as above. Mortise and tenon joints for the frame with cladding on the outside, thin ply on the inside and insulation in between. 

I used a circular saw and a chisel to do the lap joint for the diagonal on the big door, and also to make the tenons. Set the depth and just run it across lots of times and then break it out and clean up with the chisel. 

[Simon_CSK 104]

12 minutes ago, Retroanaconda said:

There are pictures of mine in my workshop build thread. They’re wooden side-hung doors, ledge and braced design as above. Mortise and tenon joints for the frame with cladding on the outside, thin ply on the inside and insulation in between. 

I used a circular saw and a chisel to do the lap joint for the diagonal on the big door, and also to make the tenons. Set the depth and just run it across lots of times and then break it out and clean up with the chisel. 

Your showing your age with the chisels and experience with the saw. 😉

[Anderzander 814]

He’s only about 15 .... 🥺

[Snagger 880]

A tramber or shutter door that uses horizontal tracks along the roof so that it goes up and over would save the space taken by it rolling up.  An alternative is to have horizontally opening roller doors, the roll standing in the corner of the garage.  Takes a little floor space, but the biggest negative is having to keep the track along the floor clean.  
 

Alternatively, concertina doors don’t take up too much space as they open or close, and will fit most locations that have sloped driveways if each panel is narrow enough.  Sliding doors are also an option, and can be done in multiple overlapping panels if there isn’t a wide adjacent space for the door to slide to when opened, like aircraft hangars.  These all have the same need to keep the floor track clean.

[FridgeFreezer 2,048]

I have a tall & wide roller shutter on my old garage, you lose about ~300-350mm above the door but there's more compact versions out there.

I have a Carteck sectional door on the current garage that lets me get the 127 ambulance in and it's lovely, it costs about 100mm of roof height (literally less than the thickness of the lintel above the door, less than a standard up & over door) and it's sealed and insulated (about 50mm thick) which is glorious. Over a certain size you need an electric opener, which is very bling and I haven't regretted spending the money. Just dug the order out, the door is 2750 tall.

Full pics & write-up of fitting it is in my garage build thread:

 

I can recommend these guys:

https://www.garagedoorsonline.co.uk/shop/Sectional+Door

 

[Defender 11]

3 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

I have a tall & wide roller shutter on my old garage, you lose about ~300-350mm above the door but there's more compact versions out there.

I have a Carteck sectional door on the current garage that lets me get the 127 ambulance in and it's lovely, it costs about 100mm of roof height (literally less than the thickness of the lintel above the door, less than a standard up & over door) and it's sealed and insulated (about 50mm thick) which is glorious. Over a certain size you need an electric opener, which is very bling and I haven't regretted spending the money. Just dug the order out, the door is 2750 tall.

Full pics & write-up of fitting it is in my garage build thread:

 

I can recommend these guys:

https://www.garagedoorsonline.co.uk/shop/Sectional+Door

 

Thank you for the link I will have a look (I never thought to search build threads for garages!). 

The 100mm is the interesting bit that's pretty much what I need as the opening is 2700mm and the eaves are 2800mm.

There's no room for a roller. So it looks like either side opening or sectional. 

[landroversforever 877]

Bear in mind that rollers can also be fitted on the outside if space inside is at a premium.

[FridgeFreezer 2,048]

I lied, it's more like 130mm for the rails, mine are sitting ~15mm down from the rafters but it's probably possible to do a tighter job of it than I managed solo up a stepladder.

Just been out and waved the tape measure at it, the end of the tape is hard against the rafter:

 

Here you can sort of see the frame bolted to the rafters:

 

Loads more photos in the garage thread of course.

[Defender 11]

3 hours ago, FridgeFreezer said:

I lied, it's more like 130mm for the rails, mine are sitting ~15mm down from the rafters but it's probably possible to do a tighter job of it than I managed solo up a stepladder.

Just been out and waved the tape measure at it, the end of the tape is hard against the rafter:

 

Here you can sort of see the frame bolted to the rafters:

 

Loads more photos in the garage thread of course.

Oh wow thanks for that much appreciated, great information! 

[ernestelliott 0]

On 1/10/2021 at 4:26 PM, simonr said:

I think you should build a pair of these:

 

 

 

Looks great but probably not secured. Rollers I guess is the only choice you have at least. 

[Badger110 165]

 

On 1/11/2021 at 2:43 PM, FridgeFreezer said:

I lied, it's more like 130mm for the rails, mine are sitting ~15mm down from the rafters but it's probably possible to do a tighter job of it than I managed solo up a stepladder.

Just been out and waved the tape measure at it, the end of the tape is hard against the rafter:

 

Here you can sort of see the frame bolted to the rafters:

 

Loads more photos in the garage thread of course.

 

 

I fitted a similar system to the neightbours workshop/garage build i did last year, but they were horizontal openers as the entrance was over 4 metres.  They're more suited to applications that allow space down one side for the door to move ( about 400mm is requried ) and of course the length needs to be more than the width of the door!

Size wise, probably the same price as it came in at £3500+VAT supplied( port holes were £120 each! ) we fitted them in a day and a half

 

 

 

 

[FridgeFreezer 2,048]

From memory, looking at the invoice for mine it was about 1600 quid delivered with the electric opener, but they had a special offer on so I got a discount as well as my choice of RAL colour for no extra cost.

[davie 16]

just fitted a month or two ago a roller door, needs 300mm above and we left 320 which was tight but worked.  As somebody said you can get a box and stick door outside if needed to increase height.   am sure a talented person could stick box above roof level to use all height and make waterproof with some joinery work to help hide.  

[Happyoldgit 675]

I have two pairs of large, side hung, wooden doors on my twin bay garage come workshop. The frames are still good but the tongue and groove infill is well past it's best, I suspect to the due south aspect and old tar based barn paint that has been slapped on over the years. One or two of the frame side timbers are getting a bit iffy too. There's an awful lot of weight and leverage bearing on these timbers.

Before I was taken ill last year I had a couple of roller shutter suppliers / manufacturers out to look at the building, discuss and quote. 

Fortunately there is more than enough room to mount the roller boxes well above the frames. I thought the total to supply and install was pretty good (would need to check the quotes for exact figure. I was all set to order, my son and I installed a new circuit and set of 13a sockets in readiness .....then life got in the way.

All being well I fully intend to get a set installed ASAP.

[BogMonster 218]

Depending on the configuration of the site and the building if you can put the doors in the ends then headroom for roller doors is less of a problem. My doors are 3m x 2.8m to fit the boat in and I was over-cautious on headroom inside because of the sloped approach and the boat A frame but there ended up being plenty of room. Don't forget it doesn't cost much to make a building a bit higher because mostly it's fresh air, the materials cost of making the walls a foot higher is very little. That's looking from the perspective of having built a timber framed garage but it should translate (more or less) into a constructed building as well as it is no more effort to build or erect a 3.5m high wall than it is to erect a 3m high wall.