Door ideas for new shop.

[Matthew Curtis]

I will soon be building a new shop (detached garage). I was looking for some ideas for the door. I am not keen on the overhead use of traditional garage door. I am looking for someting insulated as I am going to heat the space as well. What are you all using in your shop?

[Dan Blackshear]

Sliding door on mine, not insulated, but it would not be hard to do.

The building I use for a shop was already here, but if I was to build my own and knew It would never need to have a vehicle parked in it, I'd probably go with a double door for getting machines and sheet goods in and out and skip on the roll up door.

[Ray Schwalb]

On my former garage/shop, I built a pair of outswing doors with a cedar half lapped frame 1 1/2" thick, put 1.5" foam where the frame wasn't and skinned both sides with plywood. My doors gave me an opening about 7 ft square. Thus far I haven't needed anything bigger. Of course you could buy a similar sized prehung unit, but mine was inexpensive: under $200 for all. On my new shop I'm going to build similar doors, but big enough to get a truck in- 9 ft high by 8 ft wide.

[Keith Harrell]

Sliding door would my first choice. The one I built for mine however is a double outward opening door. It just a typical Z frame type. One is fastened shut 99% of the time. I did add that blue sheet(1" thick) insulation to it.

[John Gregory]

My shop is about 20' X 20'. Heated with Propane and cooled with a window A/C mounted in the wall. R13 in the walls an R30 in the ceiling. The door is a steel out swing french door. The door is foam insulated and provides a 72" opening when both doors are swung open. I think security and insulation is important.

[Roger Jensen]

I didn't want an overhead door either so I used three doors with strap hinges. I used bolts through the doors, with friction nuts (not sure if that is the right term) so you need a wrench on the inside to get them off.

There are sliding locks on the left and middle doors to keep them closed securely. I use the door on the right for normal traffic in and out. I have been really happy with the way they turned out.

Roger

[David Hostetler]

Insulated, radiant barrier equipped overhead doors. The house had the overhead doors, I added the R10 / radiant barrier this year. Works pretty well so far.

[Jim O'Dell]

The detached building that came with our house that became my shop had a 10' wide regular garage door. I took that out, raised the opening to about 86" so my van will fit in, and made 2 5' wide doors that open outward. I used 4 12" strap hinges, bent so that the mounting bolts are inside for security. I made the doors as torsion boxes. Filled the open cavities with the rigid foam board cut to fit, then put the last skin on. They have been up for about 5 years now, and no problems. I do need to fix where the strap hinges are so that it is more weather tight, just haven't gotten around to it yet since I don't heat or cool the shop. Jim.

[David Helm]

I still prefer a slider, like the one I put on my shop. Relatively inexpensive to build, but solid as a rock. Slides easily and I can get anything through it. I haven't insulated it, but it would be easy to do with closed cell foam.

Shop exterior and office interior 011.jpg

[David Roberts,Fitchburg,Ma]

I still prefer a slider, like the one I put on my shop. Relatively inexpensive to build, but solid as a rock. Slides easily and I can get anything through it. I haven't insulated it, but it would be easy to do with closed cell foam.

Shop exterior and office interior 011.jpg

I have to agree on a sliding door, I put one into my polebarn/woodshop, except I went inside, and put 2" iso insulation board on it. If there is rain or snow and its blowing, the weatherstriping at the bottom catches it.

[Bret Duffin]

I didn't want an overhead door either so I used three doors with strap hinges. I used bolts through the doors, with friction nuts (not sure if that is the right term) so you need a wrench on the inside to get them off.

There are sliding locks on the left and middle doors to keep them closed securely. I use the door on the right for normal traffic in and out. I have been really happy with the way they turned out.

Roger

I built triple doors on a 12'w x 8'h opening. The door in the middle swings in and is hinged to one of the side doors which both swing out. Cane bolts hold the two side doors in place most of the time as the middle door gets most used.

I made these doors lightweight and insulated using 1/4" AC plywod front and back over a 2x clear cedar frame with 1-1/2" styrofoam sheets sandwiched inside. I can easily lift each 4 x 8 panel.

The crossbucks are decorative and are 1 x 4 cedar and match the loft doors above.

Cost of materials including the heavy hinges and oher hardware: less than $250.00 but I scrounged the styrofoam.

If anyone is interested I will provide construction details, just ask.

Bret

[Thom Porterfield]

My solution is similar to Roger Jensen's. I bought three half-light insulated steel door panels (Stanley brand), installed 1 1/2 pair of 4" heavy bearing butts on each. I use draw bolts to the header and sill to keep the bi-folding set in place--the left panel hinges on the jamb, strikes the center panel. My doors face south and the natural light entering the windows is a delight.

[Murray Roblin]

I built triple doors on a 12'w x 8'h opening. The door in the middle swings in and is hinged to one of the side doors which both swing out. Cane bolts hold the two side doors in place most of the time as the middle door gets most used.

I made these doors lightweight and insulated using 1/4" AC plywod front and back over a 2x clear cedar frame with 1-1/2" styrofoam sheets sandwiched inside. I can easily lift each 4 x 8 panel.

....

If anyone is interested I will provide construction details, just ask.

Bret

Hi Bret,

I'm interested in the construction details.
- Are the doors a simple skinned perimeter frame or are there additional stringers inside the perimeter?
- How did you protect/finish the edges of the plywood skins? Are they rabbeted into the frame?
- One of the doors has a second door hanging off of it. When closed, or when closing, there is an equivalent 8' wide door hanging off of the hinges. Do you see any sagging, and/or did you beef up the jamb?

Thanks,
Murray

[Bret Duffin]

Hi Bret,

I'm interested in the construction details.
- Are the doors a simple skinned perimeter frame or are there additional stringers inside the perimeter?
- How did you protect/finish the edges of the plywood skins? Are they rabbeted into the frame?
- One of the doors has a second door hanging off of it. When closed, or when closing, there is an equivalent 8' wide door hanging off of the hinges. Do you see any sagging, and/or did you beef up the jamb?

Thanks,
Murray

Hey Murry,

I attached a little Sketchup drawing.

Yes, it's a simple plywood skinned frame and the plywood edges are sanded and painted but exposed.

The frame stiles are made of 2 x 2 clear western red cedar, the rails are 2 x 4 of the same wood. I re-enforced the hinge area with a 2 x 6 block. I used cedar because it's fairly stable and lightweight. I used 1/4" A/C plywood to keep the wieght down also. By keeping them light and using heavy duty hinges, sagging has not been a problem and handling the doors is a n easy one-man operation.

So build the frame first, I just butt joined and used long screws. Then cut 1-1/2" styrofoam sheets to fill the hollow area of the door. Then I sandwiched everything together between the two sheets of plywood using a 1-1/4 narrow crown stapler. Make sure you do this on a flat surface to help keep the doors flat. Then I added the cedar trim detail to the outside using 1 x 4s.

I've got the middle door swinging in and the two side doors swinging out to save room in the shop. Sealing the gap between the door and the jamb is a bit of an issue with this arrangement and you might want to consider swing everything the same direction.

Hope that covers it, Bret

[Murray Roblin]

thanks for the info.