Garage Workshop: French Doors or Large Opening

[Bernie May]

I put double exterior sliding doors on my shop. You can control how much door is open and they don't protrude like French doors do. I built them with foam and tinfoil inside of them for solar radiance and insulation. I absolutely love them.

[Jim Andrew]

I have 3 overhead garage doors on my shop. Bought insulated doors, and installed them myself, and used weatherstrip trim around the doors. Not as energy efficient as a insulated wall, but not bad.

[Wayne Cannon]

Re: Security of out-swing doors.

An additional way to secure out-swing doors is to replace one screw in two or more hinges with an extra-long screw with the head removed (or with a case-hardened pin) protruding so that it penetrates the other leaf of the hinge (i.e., both leaves).

[Terry Therneau]

More detail on my French doors.
The construction is simple: 3 vertical (2' centers) for each door, and 3 horizontal, engineered 2x4s set so the door + ply is 2 1/2 thick. Long pocket hold screws in the corners using an older (very simple) Kreg jig that clamps to the board, but the strength comes from the ply. Then I added 3/4 cedar boards to the outside in the classic pattern, just for looks. I had to trim out a bit of that addition where the hinge barrel sits. I glued in high density foam board, glued and nailed the ply onto the frame. The hinges need a little deeper leaf so that screws are in the center of the 2x4; I got those online somewhere and everything else was the local Menards. The hardest part in building them was creation of a completely flat reference surface: the shop was first set up as a garage and the floors slope to a center drain. Some shims and patience before nailing on the plywood skins.

The wall was framed for a standard garage door (some future owner might want that instead), long screws in the hinges so as to catch the full framing. For the door stops I used 1 x 2, but before nailing them on put a kerf 1/2" deep kerf on one edge using the table saw (thin rip blade almost touching the fence). The resulting gap is just the right size for the standard weather seals used in an exterior door; a few bucks at the big box store. I have no exterior handles -- the shop has a standard door for me to go in and out. They lock shut with a bolt into the sill- the standard ones that you see in a garden gate.

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I don't know why these are sideways. The second shows the bottom of the center post, from inside the shop, which has a sliding bolt in it (brass) and the gate hardware holding the right hand door.

Terry T.

[Wayne Cannon]

Thanks for the additional details, Terry. --Wayne

[Robert Engel]

The gable is usually not a weight bearing wall (meaning not supporting roof) unless the roof is a rafter/ridge pole type construction.
You still need a header. For that span I would go with double 2x10's.

The doors Terry described are the way to go IMO.

Or make your own garage doors.

[Randy Red Bemont]

I would use french doors. I am in the process of building a new shop and I will have french doors on the front. My doors will be 8' high so carrying in plywood will be much easier. I'm using the french doors for light, looks (has to look good for the HOA) and ease of bringing materials and such in and out.

Red