Suggestions for making Shed Doors

[Ted Jay]

Hi Ted,

I get the feeling that you kinda WANT to build the doors. I say go for it. It would be simple enough to build a simple frame from good straight lumber however thick you want the door to be. If you cover both sides with plywood you don't even need the 45 degree bracing unless you just want to include it. I'd insulate it well if you're in a cold climate. If you were to build it this way I'd be sure to include plenty of solid blocking in the framing for all hardware. I've built lots of shed doors like this that have lasted for years.

Best Wishes!

I guess I really do Kinda want to build them. Thanks for mentioning or noticing that Stephen.

I went out this afternoon to start on the frames. I moved out the motorcycle, power washer, shredder/chipper, and a pull behind cart, that I would load with everything that I would need or might need while building the add-on. Moved a few more things and was already wore out. The temp outside was 86* with humidy about 70%. While I was remeasuring the openings and moved some wood into the shop the LOML comes over and tells me it was to hot and humid to be outside working, by this time my shirt was already soaked along with my bandanna. So I put everthing back in and called it a day, and here I am.

By the way.... So far, everthing that I done for the addition to this metal building I have done by myself, with the exception of the making and forming metal sheeting. Well,... the son-in-law helped me hang some metal and put some roof blocking in.

This project started out as a simple lean-to. I was going to add a roof with four posts, keeping the same slope and height as the orginal. This was for the sole purpose of parking the trailer and to keep other equipent out of the weather, as best as a lean-to can.
This is a picture of the "shop" after we moved in two years ago


So I started building the roof for the cover, might as well make it full length, to put more stuff under it. I also didn't want it to look "unsightly", I have a nice neighbor next door. I wouldn't be able to see it from my house, but I like the neighbors, their good folks.


One day the wife makes the comment when I was putting the blocking in the roof joist, that it would make a good extension to the shop building for storage...... click.... click (that was my brain making noises) BOOM, the bulb exploded.


Well, I originally started this on Thankgiving weekend last year, and usually just get to work on it during the weekends when weather permits and honeydo's allow. I only have the small section of wall and doors to complete that you see in the original post up top, the side facing the neighbors is done and the front facing the street.


Let me say this.... I do not build on a regular basis, I kinda plan a little. Sometimes things don't go the way they should... "beat to fit and paint to match", some of the time. There were a few kinks along the way, and strange things that I did. I had the neighbor, who's 72, watch me while I was building this. The wife said he would stand at the fence and look at whatever progress was made. Occasionally he would ask why I did what I did, and I would answer him, and ask his opinion, I take criticism very well.

I have over 135 pictures, to date, of the addition. If anyone cares to take a look at the pics, I have a flickr account. Feel free to make comments or suggestions if you can.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9522896...7600583694780/
Ted

[Jim Becker]

I think you did a darn nice job on that addition, Ted!

[Ted Jay]

I think you did a darn nice job on that addition, Ted!

Thank You Jim!
The neighbors wife made the comment that, I made it "blend" so well with the original building, that without getting up close, you wouldn't know it was an add-on. That's what I was hoping for also.

[Stephen Edwards]

I think you've done a fine job, Ted! It's nice that you have a photo record of the progress, too. Your attitude is right on. Thinking through the steps is the key to any project. Thanks for sharing your shop with all of us.

[John-Paul Murphy]

you could build a sliding door....just a thought

[Ted Jay]

you could build a sliding door....just a thought

I thought about that when Doug made the the same suggestion a few posts back.
My only concern about sliding doors is their ability to keep as many critters out as possible. That was my concern about roll up doors also, the gap at the top of the door. I have since found that they sell "brush" kits that can be mounted to the edges of the door to keep out any small visitors. That's also an additional cost to the door price also.

I think I have made up my mind to go ahead and make the doors.

As I mentioned earlier, yesterday was just a terrible day as far as humidity. felt like I had been out all day even though it was only a little more than an hour and a half. It's actually a good thing I decided to quit and stay inside. It would not have been a safe thing to do to stay and continue working. With the way I was having to wipe my eyes and I even had a bandanna, I can just imagine trying to cut something on the TS and having sweat drip in my eyes, trying to reach for the cutoff, half blind.... Going back inside was the safest thing to do.

Well, today was a beautiful day, the high today was at 79*, slight breeze all day, humidity was alot lower at about 50%.
I hung the last two sheets of sheet metal, and attached the corner trim. I also decide to reduce the size of the door opening for about a five foot door.
Did I say it was a beautiful day to be working outside today?




I'll keep you updated.
Ted

[Wayne Cannon]

Have you considered a six-foot top-hung sliding door? Yes, like Norm's NYW shop door. You can slide it open 2', 4', or the full 6', and it won't interfere with any vehicle, ceiling space, or floor space. They are inexpensive, easy to build/install, and don't sag. Hardware is readily available at most lumber and hardware stores. My shed has one 4' and one 6', plus I have one 8' for a wide gate between my fence and my shop.

Downside: They are hard to seal tightly enough to keep out drafts and mice, which is why I haven't yet replaced my shop's roll-up doors with them.

It looks like the front of your storage shed may be flush with the front of your shop, so it should work fine. Otherwise, you would need to cantilever the track to the left of the shed, which could look tacky.

[Ted Jay]

Have you considered a six-foot top-hung sliding door? Yes, like Norm's NYW shop door. You can slide it open 2', 4', or the full 6', and it won't interfere with any vehicle, ceiling space, or floor space. They are inexpensive, easy to build/install, and don't sag. Hardware is readily available at most lumber and hardware stores. My shed has one 4' and one 6', plus I have one 8' for a wide gate between my fence and my shop.

Downside: They are hard to seal tightly enough to keep out drafts and mice, which is why I haven't yet replaced my shop's roll-up doors with them.

It looks like the front of your storage shed may be flush with the front of your shop, so it should work fine. Otherwise, you would need to cantilever the track to the left of the shed, which could look tacky.

That's one of the things I'm trying to do Wayne, to seal it up as tight as I can. I don't even plan to put a handle on the outside, access will be from the inside only.
Ted

[Ted Jay]

Well, it's been a while since I updated this thread.
I got the outside door hung a while back, and it was working just fine. So I started on the inside connecting the storage area to the shop area.

I had to remove a tall shelf cabinet where I wanted to cut a door. I wanted to leave it intact so I could use it as a drawer cabinet, after I turned it on it's side. It's about 8 foot tall, 5 foot wide and 2 foot deep. I have 2 of these on both ends of the cabinets that you see in the picture.
After clearing the shelves off and putting things anywhere I could, really made the shop look cluttered. (I didn't even need to do that to make it look cluttered.)
Taking the shelf cabinet out was no problem, the upper cabinets were screwed to the side of it. I had to brace the upper cabinet up and slide the shelf cabinet out.


It's amazing how much room that cabinet took up. I know... the shop is a mess anyway. I'm slowly moving things into the storage side, where I built some open shelf units.


After taking out the conduit and cutting the girt that was in my way, I proceeded to cut the sheetmetal outline for the connecting door.


I then framed around the sheetmetal to stiffen it up and reduce those sharp edges.


Well, yesterday I started putting the conduit back in to get power to the back room. I'll take pics of that and post the progress, as slow as it may be...

Later,
Ted

[Herbert Wallace]

This is how I did mine. They have been up 3 yrs, and haven't sagged yet.

[Ted Jay]

This is how I did mine. They have been up 3 yrs, and haven't sagged yet.

Well, in my last post I did mention that the door "was" working fine.
I bought the wrong hinges, or I should say not heavy duty enough. The top hinge is bending and leaving almost a 1/2" gap in that upper corner. So I bought some heavy duty ball bearing hinges to replace them with. It's not at the top of my top priority list, restoring power to the other half of the shop is.
I did notice when taking out the old conduit to cut the door, that there was no neutral wire, it was just a two wire system. Should I add a nuetral to the rest of the wiring going to the outlets?

Ted

[Jim Dunn]

So is a double out-swing steel pre-hung door set like I used in my shop.

Something I have noticed is that pre-hung doors aren't fully wrapped with metal. I have 2 doors for my wife's garden shed to install and plan on using fire proof steel doors and barn door rollers and track. Of course nothing of any value is going in the shed