Carriage Style Garage Door

tjeieio

Anyone ever build a carriage style garage door? You know, the kind that opens up like double doors on hinges, with no garage door opener. I want to replace my conventional door with a set of these to make the building more attractive and to go better with the style of our house.

I have a fairly simple plan drawn up using 2 x 6's for the frames and cedar t&G for the center parts. They will each have 3 windows with an arched top. Everything will be put together with tongue and groove and dowel pins. Each will be about 5' wide.

I would be interested in getting suggestions and/or pitfalls of doing this myself. To buy them is a fortune.

troubleseeker

Have you looked at the fiberglass overhead doors that are made to look like cariage doors. Sure when you get close, it is plain that they are not "real", but from a little distance they are pretty convincing. Building them with T & G and windows presents many opportunities for water instrusion, and a not very long life. The overhead units are not cheap, but they will last longer than a home made set of doors, plus allow you to have an automatic opener. Believe me, the humor of manually opening and closing the garage will wear off real quickly.

tjeieio

Thanks for the insight. In my case, the main concern I have is to find a way of eliminating the rails and garage door opener. This is because I plan to use the garage as a photo studio. You need all the ceiling room you can get - plus having a garage door opener in the middle of the room blows the illusion of a professional studio. I may ultimately just close off the garage door opening and use a couple of windows and a regular door.

troubleseeker

Well, that sheds a whole new light on the matter. I have done similiar situations where owners wanted to maintain the look of the garage, but convert the inside to play rooms or kid's dens. I first replaced the existing overhead door jambs with Azec holding it about 1/4" off the existing concrete, , and then bedding it in a high grade marine polyurethane for maximum defense against water leakage. Then nail stops on the inside side of the door jambs at the depth that you want to set the door into the wall, keeping them 1/2 off the concrete.Then stack the loose door panels, bedding everything with quality sealant, and screwing the edges of each panel to the stops with ss screws. Trim out the outer perimeter with some Azek (pvc trim) , again bedding everything as installed. My only concesssion to the " authenticity" of the garage door from the outside is that I install a "kicker", ripped from Azek at the botttom to help divert water away from joint at the bottom of the door. Now, go inside and frame a wall behind the door to give you whatever look you want at the windows, and finish the wall to match other wall finishes. A professional looking room inside, with the integrity of the exterior architecture.