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Carriage type garage doors

DGJ | Posted in Construction Techniques on August 30, 2005 07:00am

I have a customer that wants me to build a set of carriage doors for his single car garage. There seem to be many companies building nice doors that look like carriage doors but are actually overhead doors. He wants them made in an Arts & Craft style with windows at the top.

I am looking for information on construction of this type of door. I have concerns that the doors will sag especially loosing the strength at the top with windows taking up structural space. My initial idea is to use 3/4 inch plywood backing (all the strength would come from the plywood) with 1/2 or 3/4 inch boards afixed to front creating the look customer desires.

I also need to find a source for heavy duty, functional hinges.

Any knowlege you can share about building these doors would be appreciated.

Thanks
DGJ

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Replies

  1. MarkVB | Aug 30, 2005 07:20am | #1

    I recall one overhead door company using light weight insulated doors and then gluing on 1/4 inch beaded cedar with batten boards to give the look of carriage doors. I'm thinking of trying this myself when I replace my overhead doors. MarkVB

  2. User avater
    jazzdogg | Aug 30, 2005 07:26am | #2

    Saw them on This Old House a few years ago; maybe they provide a link or credit the maker on their website or in back issues of their magazine.

    -Jazzdogg-

    "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie



    Edited 8/30/2005 12:27 am ET by jazzdogg

  3. scrumseeker | Aug 30, 2005 01:59pm | #3

    In the past I have done a few custom garage doors similar to what you are describing.

    I ordered a flush style wood (hardboard) insulated door of the proper size.

    The tracks were made to stand 1" further off the wall than standard, and I applied 1x material (glued and pinned) to suit the design, right to the individual panels. 

    The additional weight must be considered to get the correct spring for this door to work properly.

     

  4. SHG | Aug 30, 2005 04:31pm | #4

    I'm unclear, does your customer want real carriage doors or overhead that look like carriage house?  If the overhead, there are a bunch of manufacturers with prices ranging from reasonable to outrageously expensive.  If you search the web, you'll find plenty to choose from.  The best of the bunch is Hahn's - Carriage House Barn Doors

    If you're talking about real carriage doors, spanning a single door opening, the size and weights are just about the same as a large front door.   You might want to consider using somebody like this:  Real Carriage Door Company - Carriage Garage Doors that swing out like they're supposed to!

     As for using 3/4 ply backing, consider the additional weight that puts on the doors and bear in mind that you will have to compensate for that weight. 

    SHG

    For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.

    -H.L. Mencken

    1. DGJ | Sep 01, 2005 06:23am | #5

      To all who responded:Thank you for your response to my question. The customer wants
      REAL carriage type doors. The width of the opening is 107 inches which means each door will be a little over 53 inches wide. I too am concerned about the weight of 3/4 inch plywood but considering most good exterior doors are 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick, I felt 3/4 inch plywood would make the doors strong, the 1/2 to 3/4 inch board would make them attractive and the two combined would make the doors the correct thickness.Thanks,DGJ

      1. wrudiger | Sep 01, 2005 07:16am | #6

        From what I've seen out there you definately do not need 3/4" plywood.  The common custom door design appears to be doug fir mahogany frame filled with sheets of insulation and 1/4" ply glued & screwed both sides and 9/16" finish siding.  Here is one example (follow all the links at the bottom of the page for more finish details):

        http://www.designerdoors.com/Studio/comm/details_overhead.htm

        and a better construction details drawing:

        http://www.hahnswoodworking.com/pages/chconstruction.html

        Lots of pictures for ideas:

        http://www.designerdoors.com/download/pdfs/DesignerDoors-Overview.pdf

        These guys do overhead, but you can apply the same technique to traditional carriage doors.

      2. Danno | Sep 01, 2005 01:31pm | #7

        I hope your customer doesn't live in snow country--can be hard to open those outswinging carriage doors with snow drifts piled in front of them (and most people keep their snow shovels in the garage).

  5. Wango1 | Sep 03, 2005 08:14am | #8

    HD's has Clopay garage doors that now have different grades. The Coachmans seem to be what your looking at.

    1. BobChapman | Sep 04, 2005 08:06pm | #9

      I did exactly what you are wantng to do for my own garage doors.  RO was 8' high x 9' wide.  I had my local welding shop make up metal frames of angle-iron with the hinges welded to the frame, and with an anti-sag strap from corner to corner of that frame.  I had the frame powder coated locally,

       I then applied mahogany strip flooring to the frame, and outlined it with mahogany rails and stiles.  Looks great, no sag, works fine. 

      I used a standard garage door opener withhome-made push rods to open the doors: just mount the opener wrong-end-to on the ceiling! 

      You just have to remember that when it snows, you have to shovel in front of the doors before opening them!

      Bob CHapman

      1. DGJ | Sep 06, 2005 06:15am | #10

        Thank uou for your response. I had not considered a metal frame idea. Did you use commercial hinges or did you design the hinges yourself. If you purchased them, where did you find them? If you designed them, what were your design peramaters (flush mounted to door frameor hidden)? Were you able to include windows? How did you attach the mahagony flooring to the metal frame? Is there any chance you might have a photograph of the frame and finished door you could share? Thanks,DGJ

        1. BobChapman | Sep 06, 2005 02:44pm | #11

          "Thank uou for your response. I had not considered a metal frame idea. Did you use commercial hinges or did you design the hinges yourself. If you purchased them, where did you find them? If you designed them, what were your design peramaters (flush mounted to door frameor hidden)? Were you able to include windows? How did you attach the mahagony flooring to the metal frame? Is there any chance you might have a photograph of the frame and finished door you could share? "

          Commercial hinges.  I searched the Internet for them, but don;t remember where I got them, now.  Try McMaster Carr and Grainger.  I do remember that after I ordered them, I found another place selling them for half the cost, and they are not cheap.  But you need 6" x 6" and 3/16 or 1/4" thick to take the weight.  And made of steel.

          They are standard butt hinges, one leaf welded to the angle-iron frame, the other mortised into the door framing.

          I had the frame punched with 3/16" holes along the edge of the face (see photo), and used stainless steel square drive screws (McFeeley, search online) to attach the boards.  The screw holes didn't line up exactly with the board widths, but I got at least one screw into most boards, at one end or the other, and it has been enough to hold them.  The boards are tongue-and-groove.

          Let me know if you have other questions

          Bob

          1. BobChapman | Sep 06, 2005 03:15pm | #12

            ... and make sure that you shop around for the frame.  My low bid was about $300, from the local steel distributor, including the steel, and the top bid was about $2000!!

  6. deftandlevel | Apr 27, 2019 09:35pm | #13

    FHB did an article a while ago about insulated carriage doors. I used the plans to make my own. I used zip system instead of the CDX and skinned it in cedar to keep the weight down. I got the glass from a second hand window.
    Just regular ball bearing hinges. So far they work great.

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