[Jeome Hanby]

Hi everyone. Just found your site!

I'm renovating/rebuilding a foreclosure we purchased. Currently, the garage door itself is destroyed and the bay is closed off with plywood. The current door was a 12' wide model. I could get a decent price on a 16" model or an 8'/9' model, but all the 12' doors I've found are very expensive. My initial notion was to salvage all the hardware on the current, wrecked door and build a new frame and panel door to replace it. After thinking it over, I'm now wondering if I could frame in the current 12' opening to use a standard 8' garage door and a 32" entry door. The current setup has no entry door into the basement (other than the garage door). The house is brick and I'm trying to avoid any brickwork...

Any advise would be appreciated!

 

[joecaption]

Post a picture.
Hard to suggest how to do it without seeing it.
Going to eat up what "saving" you have with a smaller door once you spend it all on the framing materials and brick work that will need to be done.

 

[A Squared]

Hi everyone. Just found your site!

I'm renovating/rebuilding a foreclosure we purchased. Currently, the garage door itself is destroyed and the bay is closed off with plywood. The current door was a 12' wide model. I could get a decent price on a 16" model or an 8'/9' model, but all the 12' doors I've found are very expensive. My initial notion was to salvage all the hardware on the current, wrecked door and build a new frame and panel door to replace it. After thinking it over, I'm now wondering if I could frame in the current 12' opening to use a standard 8' garage door and a 32" entry door. The current setup has no entry door into the basement (other than the garage door). The house is brick and I'm trying to avoid any brickwork...

Any advise would be appreciated!

So what Does a 9' door cost and what does a 12' door cost?

 

[iamrfixit]

I would pass on trying to build a door. The new door would need to end up very close to the same weight of the old door or you are going to need new springs as they are very closely sized to both height and weight of the door. Considerably heavier and the track and rollers may not be adequate. Usually by the time the door is worn out the rest of the hardware is not far behind anyway.

Building a door is not as easy as it sounds. You need the right materials and good joinery or the door will never last. Personally unless the house is a show place I would choose a good quality steel door over wood any day. They last for many years and don't require a lot of maintenance.

I have an 8x7 on one stall of my garage and absolutely hate it. With a short approach after a left turn it always requires backing up and repositioning to get through the narrow opening. Unless you drive a micro car the 8x7 is very narrow, a mid sized car or small suv is a very tight fit. The wife and kids have sacrificed a few side mirrors over the years.

A 9x7 door is much better but that would not really leave you much room to put in a walk door. It would really depend how you want to use the garage. If you have a long straight approach and never plan to have anything but a small car the 8' door might work for you. If your driveway is such that you have to turn into the garage at all I would definitely just bite the bullet and buy a 12' door.

 

[firehawkmph]

Not sure who you are checking on the door prices with, but talk to a local garage door installer that works for himself. 12' door should be less than a 16' door. Don't try to save the hardware from the old door, throw it out or recycle it.
Mike Hawkins