Placement of doors in 40x60x14 workshop

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have a 40x70 with an overhead door centered at one end, and then on the opposite end, placed on the side wall is a sliding door. I like the position of the doors, but I'll never have another sliding door in ND. The winter snow/ice makes the door unable to open. I think at some point I'm going to have that door swapped out for another overhead door. The building was already in place when we purchased the place, so previous owner must have thought that sliding door was a good idea. I have no idea why.

 

[jjeff]

I have a 40x70 with an overhead door centered at one end, and then on the opposite end, placed on the side wall is a sliding door. I like the position of the doors, but I'll never have another sliding door in ND. The winter snow/ice makes the door unable to open. I think at some point I'm going to have that door swapped out for another overhead door. The building was already in place when we purchased the place, so previous owner must have thought that sliding door was a good idea. I have no idea why.

Maybe cost, overhead clearance inside of shop?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Maybe cost, overhead clearance inside of shop?

Probably cost. It's the same roof truss layout across building roof. And the roll up door on the other end is either 14' or 16' (I forget which at the moment, but my 14' (height) 5th wheel clears it fine. I'm probably going to at least have a door contractor look at it this summer and tell me what my options are. But I'm sure the sliding door was cheaper to install originally.

 

[Ed27]

If all else is equal, put the doors on the end away from the prevailing winds.

Good point, rScotty

 

[Ed27]

Without knowing anything about your potential use, I would say two doors isn't enough. I have a 40 x 48 building and when I bought the property it only had one 12 x 11 door centered on the end. I added a 9 x 8 on that end, but constraints keep me from adding another. I would like to have two 9 x 8 doors flanking the 12 x 11 but can't because of the where it sits. With a 60' long building, you might put doors in both ends. Structurally doors in the ends are easy. If you don't want to install a lot of doors initially, you can frame the ends with door openings and put the doors in later if you want.

Good points. I'm leaning towards doors in both ends. Can access both ends of building, breeze on hot days, leave room for stuff on long walls.

 

[Ed27]

East Tennesee, Do you get much snow there? Where I am at it is not a good idea to place a door where the snow slides off the building.
@rScotty has a good post on the doors being away from the prevaling wind direction.

Our snow is limited, but occasionally we can get some heavy snows. Good point about snow and a door on long wall.

 

[Ed27]

I have a similar height building but 40x81. I have 4 doors on the long side and 1 on an end. Also two house size entry doors. Makes it easier to get things in and out for me.

Wow, that's a lot of doors! Great idea for moving lots of equipment in and out.

 

[workinonit]

You need at least 3 rollup doors. 2 of them need to be across from each other on the sides so you can drive through. The other wherever suits best. I have a 30 x 50 with a bay dedicated to my lift. The other bay I can drive all the way through. Or for me, tow something that is incapacitated into the shop or out of the shop. Bite the bullet and put the doors in now.

My 40 x 60 is an equipment shed. So no doors. I still have issues with where to put stuff so I can get to it. If you don't have doors you can't get to things you have in the building.

 

[Ed27]

You need at least 3 rollup doors. 2 of them need to be across from each other on the sides so you can drive through. The other wherever suits best. I have a 30 x 50 with a bay dedicated to my lift. The other bay I can drive all the way through. Or for me, tow something that is incapacitated into the shop or out of the shop. Bite the bullet and put the doors in now.

My 40 x 60 is an equipment shed. So no doors. I still have issues with where to put stuff so I can get to it. If you don't have doors you can't get to things you have in the building.

Hmmm, good point about a lift. How about one door on each of the gable ends, which would provide easy access to both ends of building and driving through if necessary. Then put a third door on one of long walls dedicated to car lift.

 

[EddieWalker]

I haven't built my shop yet, but in my plan, I'm going to have two big roll up doors at each gable end of the building, and a regular 3 foot door off to the right. My thinking is that I'll be able to drive my tractor in one door, and out the other with the batwing up, and not have to back up. That leaves a door on either end of the building to still pull things in and out of.