Question on garage doors

[tlbuser]

I have a 10'x10' rollup at each end of my 30'x40' building. I am considering replacing them with paneled garage type doors. The reason is insulation, sealing, and security. Don't know if they are all the same, but mine are made from corrogated metal. Each side runs in a relatively shallow track (channel). There are a lot of air gaps up and down each side with no way to close it off. Wind blows thru freely. Since the rest of the building is insulated, I would like to be able to seal it better.
Also since the tracks are shallow, someone with a little effort could push on the middle of the door and force it out of the tracks, then step thru the side. I once was backing my tractor in with the door less than completely up. I did not notice the door pull rope get caught on my canopy. I popped the door right out of the tracks with out even damaging the door.

Take a look around and you'll see that either type is available in a whole bunch of variations. Sounds like you have a "rolling sheet" door. Upgrading to a "rolling steel" or a sectional door would (should) be a good trade-off. Amarr® Garage Doors: Sectional

 

[tlbuser]

Based on some of your comments I think I'll go with a 10' wide door in the middle and a 9' wide door on either side.

Now...What about spacing between the doors? I'd like to get more advice on that.

Take a look at http://www.wayne-dalton.com/DirectDrive.asp] i drive These are fairly new on the market, but for low headroom installs, they are slick!

3' between doors is IMO a good compromise.

 

[MrJimi]

I went with sectional doors, I have a 12 X 12 for my camper and anything big and two 16 X 7 for regular vehicles and the spacing between the doors will add more strength to overall structure, I did want a roll up door till I found how much a real roll up door cost, some are nothing more than a sheet of metal with plastic guides on the edges they are real cheap looking and lasting. I also bought some Wayne Dalton doors and I was not satisfied with the quality at all, I returned them pronto..
And like another member mentioned, stick with standard sizes and my building is block, you may of seen pictures of it 50 X 50, 2 story and white

Jim

 

[CurlyDave]

Think about one wide door for your on-road vehicles.

We are putting an 18' door into the garage of our house. This is a "standard" size, and one big one costs less than two small ones. Plus you only have one opener.

My shop has two 10' wide by 10' high doors. Be careful with door height. often the way the door is mounted will cheat and only give you 9' 6" of clearance on a 10' door. I speced 10' clear opening (including door) to my builder & told him I would measure it.

I would go wider rather than narrower. You only have to scrape a fender once to make up the cost of a wider door. Same with height. I have a lumber rack on my truck and I would like to be able to pull into the garage with a load on it in bad weather.

Since you are in the design stages, you can get whatever height you want.

You will live to regret making it too small...

Another thing to be aware of -- in rural areas you can install industrial rather than residential openers on garage doors, especially roll-ups. Sometimes the safety features are less on industrial, especially closing force. You only have to close the door on something once to appreciate the residential features, especially if the "something" is a kid.

 

[mjarrels]

I have two that are 10 feet wide and 8 feet tall. No more pulling vertical mufflers and folding truck mirrors. Insulated Cloypay doors.

mark

 

[bones1]

Here's a picture of a 12'wx10'tall door on my 30'wide building if it helps.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c29/shenders/barn086.jpg

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Take a look at http://www.wayne-dalton.com/DirectDrive.asp] i drive These are fairly new on the market, but for low headroom installs, they are slick!

3' between doors is IMO a good compromise.

FWIW,
Everything i've read on the I drives lately has not been good, but I have not tried them.
A friend of mine used to work for Wayne Dalton, he advised me not to......

Concerning spacing between doors, I would leave 3' minimum.

I'm installing (2) 10x10 and a 10x8 in my barn. Clopay commercial doors, equivalent to HDG, which I put on my house. Anything over 8' high will be a commercial door. Up to 8' can generally come in 2 or 3" increments. Go to Home Depot (Clopay) or Lowes (Wayne dalton) and check the catalogs with all the sizes.

 

[woodlot]

made up the doors in the workshop from inch ply skinned with sawn cedar. They're not hard to make - a day to make both garage doors plus another day and a half to mount the hardware and get the motors and tracks erected. The saving through making the doors rather than buying them in was huge.

Now that is AWESOME!

How thick is the plywood base? Did you used treated plywood for the lowest panel that's nearest the ground? Any problems with weight, like destroying a electric opener?

I can't even imagine what cedar over head doors would cost if purchaced. I wish I had seen this post prior to spending over 1K for doors on my barn. NICE WORK!

 

[inveresk]

Ply base was 1", Woodlot. It didn't occur to me to use treated ply but it's exterior quality and there's a rubber seal at the underside where they touch the slab so it shouldn't be susceptible to rot.

One door was 266 pounds and the other 271 pounds. I weighed each section on the bathroom scales and emailed the weight info. to the hardware supplier and they supplied the springs accordingly.

First time I'd tried to make sectional overhead garage doors and it turned out a lot easier than I expected. The price I was being quoted by suppliers/installers was more than I wanted to pay, though, particularly for cedar faced doors of the size I wanted which was non-standard. Cheapest quote was $2600 CAD per door - plus fitting because I live on an island. Each door cost me around $800 in materials.