Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors

   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #1  

TheGoose

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Apr 18, 2009
Messages
994
Location
SE Texas
Going to be building a shop soon. I will need at least several doors. The building will be approx. 16' tall which should allow me to have at least one 14' door opening.

The builder has spec'd me a large sliding door for the front, I think about 14' wide x 14 tall. I want this front door to be as tall as possible, at least 14'. I also want one side door to be as tall as possible. I will probably have 2-3 large doors on the building (40x60). One in front, and at least 2 on the side ,with maybe one in the rear. The other side will have a 15' lean-to running down the lengh of the building so there will probably not be any large doors there.

I heard that roll-up doors were pricey so I wanted the barn builder to put in sliders for me now and I'll upgrade in the future. I started looking online and doors were quite a bit cheaper than I thought. The doors I was looking at were in the $1K range and I was being told about $3K for the large roll-up doors.

Overhead doors are also an option but I don't like how they take up overhead space. I've seen some that the tracks went up much higher than the door opening to get them out of the way but then it was kinda a pain to get them all the way up (you had to fling them to get them fully retracted). I'm sure as time moves on it will be harder and harder to get them fully retracted.

Anybody have any recent experiences with roll-up doors or barn doors? Thanks for your replies.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #2  
I splurged on a good, commercial grade roll up when we built a little over 2 years ago - I don't regret a penny of it.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Size/Cost?
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #4  
10x10 and I'll have to go back and look at the paper work but seems like it was right at 1,200 installed.
Where you get what you pay for is in the chain unit. Ours is spring loaded and the installer adjusted so that if you stop it stays where it is stopped. As you get it close to being fully open you can let go of the chain and it will open itself all the way and stay open.
I love it.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #5  
Sliders on our barn don't seal against the concrete. There is about a 1 1/2" gap and no way to seal it. Mice & squirrels get in. I'd go for a roll up if I had to do it over again, although a few mice may still find a way in.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #6  
dusty3030 said:
I splurged on a good, commercial grade roll up when we built a little over 2 years ago - I don't regret a penny of it.

Just a note of caution: I've seen a commercial grade rollup door malfunction as it was opening. Something failed and let loose. It was a very large door, and it came crashing down crushing itself. If anyone had been under it, they would have been cut to pieces. The weight of this door would have crushed a car and its occupants.

I mention this, because I see your child in your profile pic. As long as the people are trained to never be under it when it is moving, even if it ever failed, your family and friends would be safe.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #7  
There are lots of pros and cons with sliders and rollups. Its not just about height clearance. I've got 4 of each around the place. On the the big shed I'm really glad I've got the sliders. I think they are a better choice for a shed you go in and out of a lot. They are so easy to open up all the way, or just open 'em a couple of feet when its windy. Rollups can be hard on the back. But a lot depends on your weather, wind direction, how good a seal you want etc. 14x14 is a pretty big roller. You'd want a motor on that if you intend to use it a lot. I've never owned a roller with a chain, but I've used them and they are painfully slow.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #8  
I have an 8X16 overhead door on my shop, manual lift. I am perfectly happy with it; it is adjusted to where it is easy to lift, but you are correct, in that any contemplated use for the overhead space would have to take the door into consideration. The 16 ft. width makes it so much easier to get two vehicles in and out.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #9  
When I built my shop (see my avatar) last year I went with two commercial 10x10 overhead doors. I had the overhead space available so it worked ok. IIRC, the total bill installed for the two doors was about $1700. I rent a hangar that has a bi-fold door that is 45' wide and about 14' tall. It uses an electric motor driving a "winch" and cables and pulleys to lift it. It takes up almost no room inside and as a bonus forms a 7' canopy outside when fully lifted. I have seen other versions of a door like this that used a motor/gear-reduction driving a pipe that was used as a winch with multiple cables lifting a bi-fold door. The motor/gear-reduction/pipe is the same thing used on my boat lift. If I were needing a large door with motor opening, this is the way I would go. The parts for the lift can be had for about $600. The door frame could be fabricated from something like 3" box tubing.
I had another building that had a 12x10 roll up door. That thing is flimsy and a constant pain to work with. No more.
 
   / Roll-Up doors or Overhead Doors #10  
I had a 40'x 50' insulated steel building built-at our previous place 20 years ago and had two 14'x14' insulated overhead steel doors in one end and a 14'x14' insulated steel overhead door in one side. The 14' doors required 16' walls for over head clearance... not a big problem. These doors never gave me any trouble. I had them re-adjusted once during that time. Seven years ago, at our new place I had a 50'x60' steel building built and also installed 14'x14' insulated overhead steel doors. These doors also have been problem free and have been adjusted once since the installation. They are easy to open and go all the way to the top with little effort and completely seal the opening since I heat these buildings in the winter maintaining 55 degrees with one 100,000 BTU LP gas fired unit heater. I use an around 100-150 gallons of propane each year depending on the weather. I had a choice of roll up doors, but declined since they are not insulated, don't seal as well, very heavy, and require a chain hoist to open and close.

Bill
 
 
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