We are building a new garage/wood shop/studio and are putting in two 9′ wide x 8′ tall garage doors. Except for the hardware which is available, I’m looking for plans and design tips on building my own wooden doors. There are many, many commercially available doors and companies, but I cannot find any websites dealing with the DYI for the doors. Being a avid woodworker/builder I think there would be signifcant cost and design advantages by DIY. Any suggestions or experiences?
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What type are you thinking of? You are right most are fairly simple. I have been thinking about this one myself for some time, have not done one yet. The wooden carriage style are expensive in the $3000 range. Most of the ideas I have gotten has been from This Old House when they install them and the manufacture rep goes over how they are built.
Usually a wooden 2x2 or 2x3 frame with 1/4 ply on one side foam in the center and the decortive touches on the outer skin. Aside from that they are the same as a steel door in operation except that the gauge of tracks, hardware, springs are up graded for the weight. Some are four some are three sections depending on what the outer skin is to be and if there are windows.
Wallyo
Edited 2/12/2008 11:29 am ET by wallyo
This is good topic for this board. It would be nice to see some photos from guys who have made their own doors.
Of course the basic design and measurements are easily taken off any existing door.
Type of wood is another question as is the weight of the door. How long will a door opener last when it's lifting a much heavier-than-aluminum door?
This kind of frame is a good place to use your Kreg pocket screw jig.
Had site built three carriage style overhead doors about ten years ago, 3/4 ply backer, 9' long, cedar t&g, stiles and rail overlay. Ended up pretty heavy, but the important thing is that they are counter-balanced well. The closers on these are still fine after 10 years of daily use. Back then these would have been too costly to purchase, now there is alot more competition.
Are those doors on tracks? Four sections? I haven't seen counter balancing on wooden doors, only springs. Where are the weights hung? Are they inside a protective pipe or something?
If you can weigh the sections, I should be able to help you to get the correct spring configuration....
Kevin
Thanks Kevin, I'll keep that in mind, but I'm not the one whose building the doors...at the moment.
Do you have any advice to offer on materials, techniques, etc?
HVC, I hit the wrong reply button.....not the only time i've done that!
I've installed enough doors, but have never built my own, and would not be qualified to offer advice on the construction, or materials. I feel I could take a look at a factory made door, and come up with a plan. Maybe a trip to a showroom might help.
Also, some manufacturers just veneer the exterior to give a carriage house look with out the cost, or the complex joinery.
Edited 2/12/2008 1:36 pm ET by PearceServices
Not weight counterbalanced, I wasn't clear with that. Once complete the doors were weighed, as installed on the tracks. The correct torsion springs were then installed. I believe the door should be balanced when it is halfway open.
Rich
Yes, thanks for the clarification, that sounds like what I remember too.
I have an 18 ft door made from wood and type of hardboard panneling. It is HEAVEY.My 1/3 hp garage door opener was still working when I replaced it after 25 years. But the overload feature was worn out..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I build replacement panels for customers.
I cut all my stock to length, all butt joints between the rails and stiles.
Depending on the rail width is what length GRK I use to screw the joint. Last set had 5" rails so I used 10" GRK's.
I would assmeble the door panel dry, without the panels, then use my router and a 3 wing slot cutting bit on my router, dissassemble one rail and slide in the panels.
Then I cut 1/2" quater round to go around all 4 sides of every panel.
I made 3 replacement panels in about 6 hours.
Woods favorite carpenter
Somewhat related subject: the torsion spring on my 7x16 door broke and am deciding if I should do the job or hire someone. But where to get all the hardware torsion or extension spring etc!
Richard J. Kinch's site will tell you how to calculate a torsion spring, he has numerous links to hardware suppliers. I have found local guys not willing to sell parts direct, they will service and install the part but not sell it. Here is the link to his site:
http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm
As to an opener can you use what you would install on a 7x16 steel a 3/4 horsepower instead of a 1/3 or 1/2?
You have to build the door then weight it section by section, but you could probably on a 9x8 wood use a hardware hit from a 16x7 steel, should be close to the same weight when done. If that is the case I wonder if through HD or LOWES can you buy a hardware kit with out a door at the store level or have a kit ordered? When they retail the doors the panels are box A the door box B. Also they are always running the forklift through the panels buy the whole damaged thing; panels, hardware at 2/3 off retail bring the panels to the recycler use the hardware.
Lets keep thinking here I like this!
Wallyo
Wallyo,I used the trutex site as a guide to replace the torsion spring on my garage door two years ago. I'll never pay to have it done again. I ordered the spring from a guy on eBay, B. D. Farmer, had the spring in two days. He's a nice guy and straight up. He just has the spring drop shipped to you. It took a couple of hours as I went slow, but there were no problems.I have been thinking about building doors for our new house as well, so I'm all ears on this topic.Frank
Doctor that is good to hear I have been waiting for it to warm up so as not to be fighting the cold also. It sound like you may of only had one spring I have two to replace, one broken the other should be replaced with the broken one.Man those doors are heavy, when needing to open it I have been having to help the opener by lifting at the same time, clean and jerk fashion.Wallyo
I will help you get parts if you would like, where are you located?
I am in BOISE ID. need to figure spring size, have not got that done yet as I told the doc I was waiting for things to thaw a bit.
If you have torsion springs, you just need to measure the overall length of the springs, not including the cones, also measure the ID of the spring assembly, and measure the length of 20 winds of the spring, that measurement is then converted to decimal, and divided by 20 to give a wire gauge, usually around .243 or so.
Then if you replace both springs, you will need a left hand and a right hand wound. Additionally, if you know the brand, it will help if your measurements do not come out to standard sizes, they can cross reference the manufacturer, and typically get the right ones.
If you have a door opener, it will help with proper operation, should the springs not be an exact match.
Rocketdog
I thought I would put in my 2 cents ... ;>)
I thought about building my own for the last replacement of my garage doors (Wood). I was thinking about using exterior grade ply or strand board. Then sandwich foil faced foam between. I was thinking of using hardy board or trek decking for the front. The foil faced foam would be good for insulation and cut down on heat migration without too much added weight or thickness. The trek decking or Hardy Plank would cut down on maintenance. We get so much heat and bad weather in north Texas.
The problem is weight. I just couldn't get past how to implement what I wanted without too much cost and being to big (width).
Just some things to think about.... ;>)
I haven't read replies to you, but do you know how heavy Trex is? and that it has almost no structural strength? I would use it for very little other than decks.
DanI know that Trex is heavy....I was thinking of using it as the covering only. The strength was being supplied by the Ply/strand board. I didn't want to have maintenance issues with the new garage door. It was such a problem that I finally bought a door from one of the local garage door installation groups and had them do it. .....;>)Sorry, I didn't mean to high jack the thread.....:>(
You might want to think about buying a cheap flat panel door and applying a cedar overlay. I bought a door made that way a couple of years ago. It looks great and has held up well. The owner later decided to get a matching one made of solid cedar for his shop and it has been nothing but headaches. Heavy and prone to warping. Its only advantage is that it looks good from the inside too.
The best way I have come up with is to order a 9' x 8' wood, flush, insulated garage door. Order the tracks with longer wall brackets to allow for your overlay design, and the springs for the extra weight of your overlay design.
Flush doors are relatively inexpensive, probably not much more than a hardware only order. A local garage door dealer should be able to order.
I have used cedar 1x as material for overlay design, glued and pinned to the flush doors. I think a product like Azek would also work.
Cut and prime all parts to your overlay prior to ordering door, than they can be weighed to determine how much more weight the springs will be required to lift.
Thanks for all the input and interest. I got some ideas from http://www.garagedoorsinc.com They have some great looking doors and some DIY kits, but are $$$. They want $2200 for a stain grade 9x8. I don't need a museum piece. The idea of a flush door with overlay sounds like a practical and economical way to go. Hey, I could change the look each year. A local house did that with cedar shakes to match the rest of the house. The issues relating to the weight of solid wood and then sizing the right tracks and springs/torsion is one obstacle (and potential longterm problems) that I may not want to tackle alone.
There is still a lot of potential out there. Why should the garage door manufacturers think they have a monopoly on the door market? Most of their designs are bland and boring. We all can build our own interior/exterior swinging doors can't we?
When door swung out or slid on tracks who built them they were too big to ship in the 1920's must of been a local carpenter. The reason I am interested in this is we now have a historic district and colonial steel overheads no longer fly. My sister is in that district and my brother inlaw wants a overhead door knows it needs to be a carriage house look. In fact they still have the original door it rolls on a wall mounted track that curves around the corner of the garage and runs down the wall. They have lived there 17 year and opened it twice. The out side was convered with plywood in the 70's it is two pannels. hinged in the center.Wallyo
You can buy steel "Pan" doors that are embossed with a carriage house look, you can also buy a fiber-resin door that is wood, but more stable, also made to look like carriage house. If you paint either option, and apply the wrought iron hinges and latches, you could not tell the difference from the street.
I have done a few jobs where I bought sections only, fastened them together, and hung them from rolling track, it works nicely, For the heavier doors, I weld a 2"x2"x3/16" steel frame together, and lay the panels into the frame so that you can only see the frame from the inside, then hung the frame by rollers onto track.
I think the fibre resin, as it is wood, and will be painted a color to satisfy the historical society should pass approval. If you need links to the doors, or the hardware, let me know, I will find them, and post them for you.
The historical district has no problem with a overhead door. And actually no problem with a steel door, the problem is matching the door as closely to the original, as possible, if the original is still there. In our case it is, usually they come out to look at what you have before they approve what you are getting. The new one needs to be close to the same proporitions and number of lites, if any as the old. So we need to come as close to it as we can. I am doing some work there today I will try and get a picture of what they have.Wallyo
Edited 2/14/2008 11:16 am ET by wallyo
Any chance you could take the existing door and modify it to be a "flip up"? They make hardware that pivots the door up and slides it back. I forget the name of the manufacturer, but it does exist.
Hi,
I just had installed a 8'by7' carraige door by clopay that is really nice. I let them do the framing to fit the new door into the bigger-wonky opening and the whole thing cost $2400. I feel that's a bargain for what I got. The picture is a close up but from the sidewalk ~15' away it looks exactly like a barn door and you can't really tell its a roll up. Its a primed finish that can be painted to match the house.
View Image
My wife spec'd the hinge straps and the lions-head door knockers...both are real metal and the door knockers actaully work.
Just a data point to help you make the time vs money trade-off decision.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Edited 2/15/2008 7:07 pm by madmadscientist
Mad could you do us a favor and post a few more pictures of the inside, the tracks and maybe stop the door in mid cycle with a close up of the panel joints if it is not asking too much, I know from your posts you are pretty busy. I think what is getting some of us, is we could come close to that or better and why does a good looking door need to cost 2500 when you could get an off the rack steel one for 350 seven times the price. I think they get away with it because historic and up scale sub divisions require them so you have to pay the piper. Most everyday people will say how much for one of those steel ones, sold.thanks Wallyo
I agree...manufacturers can make some nice stuff, but so can we craftsmen at a fraction of the cost. As I mentioned in an earlier post http://www.garagedoorsinc.com has some great stuff, but even their DIY 9x8 was $2200. They did send a nice CD with hundreds of their doors installed and pictures of their operation. Looking at their assemblies, they are no different than large home exterior doors with rails and stiles. The only added feature from doors is a 1/4" plywood panel attached to the back and some polysty' in the voids for insulation. The only mystery I seem to get from all these posts is how do you size the torsion/track mechanism for the weight you create. Garage Doors shows pics of all their mechanisms, hinges and what not....no rocket science. Obviously they know what works for their wooden designs. I'm still looking for that one inspiring post that says "this is how you solve the mystery".
Wally
I've built several garage doors, a few down in TX and one here in IA, I'd post a pic but don't have one right now, can get you one tomorrow if your interested.
I have an old garage that is post and beam so I cant change the door size all that easily. The opening is somewhere around 106" wide and only 77" high.
I bought two sheets of 1/2 or 5/8ths(have to look, cant remember) 4 X 9' sheets of exterior ply.
I laid these two sheets of ply on some horses to create a 8' X 9' piece. I ripped one sheet down to get the 77" and both to get the 106" piece that I needed. Then I took cedar in 1X6 and laid them out vertically and perpendicular to the ply, all across the width, exterior glued and nailed in place. Then I did a simple frame around the perimeter with two vertical strips down the middle so as to make it look like a pair of carriage doors.
I then cut my 77" X 106" piece into three equal parts. I decided that I didn't need four horizontal pieces, after all some of those early garage doors were one piece, why not three instead of four?!? I figured I'd cut down on one seam. I made my rips with about a 5 bevel just like if you were stacking corner boards on a house, water will not run uphill into the seams. Because I bought the cheap alum door I had the nice weather striping that goes at the bottom of the door to seal it, works good.
On this particular door I painted it but I took linseed oil to all the inside parts, the joints and any butt ends, nothing exposed that would absorb moiture and cause rot.
I did all this without any way of knowing how I would mount the damn thing! I decided to go to Menards an buy a cheap aluminum door so that I could get the hardware. Probably a better way of getting this but that was all I could come up with at the time.
I mounted the hardware just like the instructions said, except I mounted it on my three wooden slabs as opposed to the cheapy aluminum ones.
I added some windows to the top piece just as the old carriage doors would have. One thing that I haven't done that I just keep putting off is adding the faux hardware, like Mad's doors have, gives it that authentic look.
I weighed the doors so that I knew the counter weight and bought springs to equal that counter weight. My door weighed in at about 220 lbs.
I have had it installed for 6 or 7 years and not a single problem with it.
Counting the door that I bought I doubt that I have $400 in my door.
The ones that I'm posting pics of I did in Austin TX and I dont have a pic of the one I did here but can get it.
Doug
Edited 2/15/2008 8:46 pm ET by DougU
Doug all I can say is WOW!!Must of been sweating those last two cuts though one sneaze and you were at square one. I guess you found no problem with three sections on a track usually used for four? I would think a wider wheelbase, for lack of another term works fine, I guess narrower five sections would be a problem. How many hours you think on just constructing one door not the hanging? Man you can hardly see the seams!
Wally
On the doors that I built I think that I have probably one to one and one half days worth of work in them. Really not that tough to do.
My thinking on the three panels instead of four was simply just to cut out one seam. Figured it wouldn't matter and it really doesn't. I would guess that you could do 5 just as easy as 3.
Doug
In my experience, the more sections of door, the smoother the door will roll. It can be an insignificant difference depending on door size and design. The counterbalance system looses strength as the door raises, and in a perfect situation the door weight is being transferred to the horizontal tracks proportionately to the decrease in spring tension.
The door weight is transferred to the horizontal track when the roller gets there, therefore the more rollers, the smoother the transition.
While a door that is 8' wide x 7' high will work fine with either three, four, or even five sections, a three section, 8' high door with the top section designed with insulated glass and a tight radius track will work very awkwardly.
SS
When I rationalize(in my own mind) your thoughts on the sections it does make sense, maybe I got luck in that my door(the one I described to build) is only 77" high and not terribly heavy. I guess it is better to be lucky then good!
The two doors pictured do have 4 sections though and they are standard 7' doors. I built those the same way that I did the one I described but the guy I was working for was the one that over ruled my 3 section idea, maybe he was more in tune to how it worked then I!
Doug
Doug,I think these garage doors I put in my shop last month only took about an hour, I don't understand why yours took you so long. <g>They swing in so they still work after a big snowfall.
Brian
Well you got a pretty good grain match to boot!
I'll have to work on my speed!
Doug
Your solution is inspiring and the direction I want to go. I would like to go with the thinnest plywood (1/2") for weight savings. If any bow developed when open and lying overhead, adding a stiffener horizontally would be easy with minimal weight. Even using a metal one scavenged form an old door would work. Using cedar is a good choice as it is light and naturally weather resistant. The issue still remains is obtaining the track and correct torsion/counterbalance. I would think a scavenged spring system would be easier to size to any opening because from my viewing of torsion systems the mechanisms seem to be as wide as the door their paired with, e.g. can you cut down a 16 foot torsion to fit a 9' opening? The spring system would just require a stiffer or less spring. Finding a cheap new 9' door for parts is probably tough as 16x7 and 8x7 are more common.
When at Home Depot this weekend i noticed they had a cheap 9' door, probably with extension springs.Wallyo
rocket
Didn't have time to respond to this this morning when I read it.
I checked and I did use 1/2" ply on the door that I made here at home, I think I used 3/4" on the ones that I posted pictures of.
I was concerned about the door sagging when open so I went to a garage door company and bought stiffeners - I added one to each slab.
ON the two doors that I pictured we had a door company come out and do all the install work but on the one here at my house I could not use a torsion spring, had to use the old fashioned springs, they have done fine and its been ~6 or 7 years.
When I watched the guys install the doors they needed the weight of them, they then provided the torsion springs for that weight. I would think you could go to a garage door company and buy the springs for your desired weight.
Finding a cheap new 9' door for parts is probably tough as 16x7 and 8x7 are more common.
some of these door companies have the old doors around that they take out, maybe you can buy(on the cheap)a good enough used one. I know around here I can get used off of them.
Doug
I ordered the cedar today...it's tough in AZ as we are way south from where cedar grows and the lumberyards don't have much choice. I'm using 1x6 T&G for the panels and 2x6 for the rails and stiles. I'm getting fancy with curved windows and all at the top. Essentially it should be like building a 4 section cabinet door. I tried to get 4x9 plywood...it doesn't exist in No. AZ (we're like a 3rd world country). They did have 5/8" siding in 4x9 with the grooves cut, T-111 like, so I ordered 4 sheets of that. Having the siding groves running horizontally inside the garage would look okay. I'm still not too sure if I want that much weight. I might even plane the 1 1/2" 2x6's down to 1 1/4". I was hoping for 1/4" plywood. It might work if I stagger 1' x 8' 1/4" ply glued across the back of the panels (2 per panel) and plan on a metal stiffener for each panel. Most of the wood door manufacturers I see on the web do the 1/4 ply and stiffeners.
One of my favorite techniques fopr building things that are both stiff and light weight is plywood sandwich filled with rigid foam. I would even think you could get away with 1/4" plywood (though it may be hard to get it to be flat until it's glued) or hardboard (like Masonite). I haven used such "stressed skin panels" outside, but have made table tops and desk tops from them. I think a polyurethane contstruction adhesive to glue the hardboard to the Styrofoam (maybe 1" - 1-1/2" thick?) would work. Have to trim the edges of the foam with wood.
Doug I forgot to ask did you special order the 9' ply or did your lumber yard carry it? I have asked for it to use on a trailer no one stocks it here.Wallyo
One yard had the 9' and 10' exterior but i can special order as well.
Doug
Yea I can do that this weekend if you can wait a bit.
The door installed was going to only be ~$1400 but they had to rebuild the wall its in so they charged me extra to do the framing.
I can tell you its nearly silent mmoving up and down and having had a cheapo home despot installed door at the last house this is like night and day.
That and the wife loves her new metal knockers!
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
No hurry just If you have the chance. Also Your wife's metal knockers look just fine to me, do they make any noise when the door opens. YOU opened the door on this one, sorry just had to get that in.Wallyo
These are mine --
Jeff
Jeff, who is the manufacturer of your doors? They are very nice.
Thanks, Patrick
Thanks - they are from Designer Doors - http://www.designerdoors.com/
We had a few problems with bleed thru of the (very mediocre) primer that they use but otherwise I love them - plus they are insulated (garage has radiant heat).
Casing and trim is all Spanish cedar. with copper cap at top
The (false) handles are from Van Dykes - I stripped the lacquer off them, used Jax (selenium) to darken them and steel wool to relieve the finish, and then had them coated with automotive clear coat to maintain the finish.
Jeff
Edited 2/20/2008 7:44 am ET by Jeff_Clarke
Jeff, thankyou.
Here's the post the wife did on our doors.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
the Cadillac of Garage Doors
View Image<-- Here's what the house looks like today.We've replaced the pile of dirt and rebar that we apparently can't live without.. but take a look at that gorgeous garage door!! It goes all the way to the ground and everything!It's not entirely done.. we still need to put siding in place above the door, but that's what 3 day weekends were made for.
From the street you absolutely cannot tell it's a rollup door. I think the vertical stiles help obscure the horizontal breaks in the door.. you can't see them at all unless you're upView Image real close. View ImageBut by then the awesome hinges and sweet lionhead door knockers completely distract you!
We couldn't wait to pull the car in the driveway, so I'll have to wait till the weekend to get a straight on shot (and with any luck, that shot will have a nice brick driveway at the bottom.. I'm actually afraid to climb back to where the bricks are now, because the edges of our giant pit are still collapsing. We need to clear a path so I can get them out this weekend. I still need to clean all the mortar off before I can lay them)
View ImageAnd inside the garage we have our first permanently mounted light! It even has a motion sensor so when you come in the side door it goes on.There's a little more room to pull the car over to give the bikes space to get by. But this morning I pulled my bike out of the garage and right past the car in the driveway!! It's just very exciting.
View ImageAnd quiet. You can barely hear the motor at all! And the tracks are solid and aligned perfectly, and.. not sure if you can see off on the left of this shot.. but the water line is perfectly placed with ~1/4" to spare.Here's a closeup so you can fully appreciate that placement -->
Work on the patio is coming along, although it's (tell me if you're surprised here..) going to take a little longer than we thought. I'll take some pix and do a post on that next.
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
Again what type of door. I built sectional doors out of cedar for a customer about 6 years ago. A shaper makes it very easy. Bit is available to do the rails between the sections and the rest is a raised panel blade set for 1 3/4 doors. I tool about 2 days to rip, plane, sand, shape and assemble 2 10' X 7' doors.
I'm planning on two 9 wide x 8 ft high sectional doors. Cedar is not available "on the shelf" at lumberyards here in N. AZ, but I can order it through them...most likely siding shape choices, like T&G or shiplap. It would be hard to find ($$$) thicker stuff for making rails and stiles for structure, hence my thought of going the plywood sheathing route with the cedar glued/tacked on the exterior.
I used 2x6 cedar for the rails and stiles and 1x for the raised panel. I would have thought that you could buy western cedar about anywhere in the country. See you do learn something new everyday.