Shop Doors

[Kris Bjarnason]

As we get closer to moving to a house with a dedicated shop, one major thing I need to take care of is putting something in the garage opening. The previous owner never put up a garage door, or door of any kind. So I am stuck with a large opening that isn't only 10 feet wide, but 12 foot high at the corners and arched upward in the middle.

I would like to build double swinging doors, but I am worried it might be too complex for me to tackle with the large size and the arch. I am open to putting a roll-up door in since headroom isn't an issue, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought first.

[Tony Bilello]

Roll up door is the way to go. When you need to open wide for loading/unloading large objects, there wont be any swinging doors in the way to get blown around by the wind not to mention that roll-ups are a lot easier to open and close.

[Peter Scoma]

I'm finally finished making 2 swing out style carriage doors for my shop. They are 4x8ft each constructed of 8/4 poplar. I can't wait to rip out my rollup door and throw it in the trash both for the added headroom and ability to hang extra lighting. I'm biased but I say make some incredible doors that you can enjoy for years to come. Aesthetically, its a no brainer.
PS

[Jim Becker]

A roll-up or double out-swing pre-hung insulated doors are the way to do. I did the latter on my shop in two former garage door openings. The out-swing type doors have security hinges, since the pins are on the outside, to insure that "bad folks" can't remove them to gain entry. Because they open out, they don't take up any shop space.

[Jim O'Dell]

Peter, are your doors the standard sectional doors that roll up on tracks? If so, I think that is different than the roll up doors the others are talking about. The others are talking about doors that roll into a cylinder above the door opening and take up very little space, and won't interfere with lighting. Similar to a fire door in a automotive shop, just without the fire/heat trigger to close them.
Kris, if you want to make a swing out door, you could always build a stationary section that incorporates the arch. Especially since the opening is that tall. Then make the doors 5 X 8. It could still look very stunning, and be a lot less of a problem to build. My shop opening is 10' wide, but only about 87" tall. I built my double swing out doors as torsion boxes, and so far they have held up very well. A facade could still be applied to the exterior to dress it up. My skins are 3/8" ply and the grid is 1/2" ply. I used 2 X material around the edges to be able to mortise hinges and locks into. Where the hinges are, it is a 2 X 6. I used the sheet foam insulation cut down and filled all the grids before putting the last skin on. Mine does not open from the outside, but I'm sure you could find some hardware for a french door that would allow you to do that and still be secured. Jim.

[Russ Boyd]

A roll-up or double out-swing pre-hung insulated doors are the way to do. I did the latter on my shop in two former garage door openings. The out-swing type doors have security hinges, since the pins are on the outside, to insure that "bad folks" can't remove them to gain entry. Because they open out, they don't take up any shop space.

Insulation is the key here. IF you don't need to access with a truck then the better solution for heat retention is the double door route. There are lots of ways to keep the doors from blowing in the wind etc. As Jim mentioned, be sure you have the security hinges if they are on the outside. Russ

[John Bush]

Hi Kris,
I made out-swinging doors for my 8' wide by 9' high opening. I milled the stock out of old pine barn beams. M&T for stiles and rails, panel on the bottom and windows on the top. I had a door shop(Frank Lumber in Seattle) make a frame and place hinges so it was pre-hung. Turned out well, and not that tough to do. I'm in Seattle area, if you are close come take a look. JCB.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have been dieing to build some shop doors like my grandfather had in his barn. I just haven't found the barn yet.....

Anyway.... He had an opening about like yours and made a pair of nice swinging doors for the tractors etc. and then a service door built into one of the swinging doors. I love that kind of thing. But if you ask my wife she will tell you I am a bit strange...

Don't look at the size or shape as an obstacle, look at instead as a challange, and imagine how much better it will look with your set of custom doors in place! You can do it, it is not a big job, it is just a series of small jobs that end at a pair of custom doors.....

Oh, and if you do the door in a door thing, I want a picture.

[Michael Weber]

FYI, you can use a standard overhead door opener to open and shut swinging doors. Saw a post about it here or another forum. Tried it and it works great on my home made 8 foot swinging doors. Uses a long wooden shaft and a couple of hinges. Of course the opener does take up head room so it may not be acceptable.

[Rick Moyer]

A roll-up or double out-swing pre-hung insulated doors are the way to do. I did the latter on my shop in two former garage door openings. The out-swing type doors have security hinges, since the pins are on the outside, to insure that "bad folks" can't remove them to gain entry. Because they open out, they don't take up any shop space.

ditto on the dbl-outswing pre-hung doors. Plus they look great. You can frame that large opening and have more wall space and still have enough access with the dbl doors (6'). And they would be insulated, too.

[keith ouellette]

I made out swing doors for my shop. They ended up being 4 1/2 feet wide and 9 feet high each.

Here are a few of things I did that you might find helpful.


When I made the frame of the doors I put a steel cable from the bottom outside corner to the top inside corner with a turn buckle to tense up the cable. Then I put on ply wood skins. It was very easy. I still plan on putting cedar over the exterior of the door for looks.

On the hinge side of the doors I used double 2x6's with a piece of ply wood to make up the thickness to match the rest of the 2x4 frame. That gave me a wide surface for the hinges on the doors. I drilled holes through the frame for full length carage bolts all the way through the door. I also used insulation for the door frame because My shop has a small ac.

One thing I didn't do but wish I had was to taper the back edges of each door so they wouldn't hit when I try to open just one side. I have to pull one back ward and push the other forward to open it. ((What I mean is the gap between the two sides would be wider on the inside than on the outside))

I would re do the front of the house to get rid of the arch you spoke of.

I like the double doors. Not only because of the way they look but it also keeps from having the garage door hardware and tracks on the ceiling of my shop. Not to mention it was less than half the price in materials to build the door than to buy an approved garage door here in florida.

[David Hostetler]

I have rollup doors and HATE them. LOTS of heat gain in the summer, heat loss in the winter, interferes with using the ceiling effectively.

Dream shop would be a barn with a single insulated slider on one end, and a pair of swing doors on the other end, probably dutch doors... Of course that would be on a Gambrel roof barn with a Dutch kick so the aesthetics would work out well...

[John Coloccia]

+10 to Insulated, double out-swing doors.



What you're looking at was a 2 car garage (if you look close, you can barely see where the new siding starts).

I got double outswing doors with a "handicap sill", i.e. it's just a flat plate of metal so I can wheel stuff in and out.

The key with all of this is sealing very well around the ground or you'll have constant leaks. I worked with the siding guy and asked him how to make his life easy. I ended up putting copper flash under the pressure treated sill on either side of the door, and then bent that up and bonded it to the sheeting...he eventually bonded the siding to that. The pressure treated is bonded with polyurethane adhesive and shot to the ground. Every gap is sealed with either silicone or polyurethane, including the door sill...if I ever need to take it out it will be quite a chore! The result is my shop is absolutely bone dry.