Hi All,
I have yet to find the door style I want. My garage door is 18′ x 7′. Wondering if there is a weight limit to which the opener will not lift a door if I build it to heavy… Love to make a western red cedar flat panel door.
Like to hear some comments,
Thanks
Replies
Weight is relatively unimportant for the opener, you just use heavier springs.
Made a 9 ft high by 9 ft wide by adding a panel and 2" strip to a 7 ft door, no problem with the opener power, just put an extra twist on the torsion spring.
(no safety lectures please on overstressing the spring, plenty more where those came from)
Bought an insulated plywood door and applied 1x4 horizontal T&G cedar. Had to read just the door tension after to allow for the extra weight.
Like the others have said, no problem with the opener. What I would be more concerned with is making sure you have adequate strongbacks or stiffeners on the back of the door, so when it's opened it doesn't collapse under its own weight.
The way we've done it is to buy insulated flat-panel doors and then just apply whatever face we want on it. A garage door company will come install them after that and take care of bracing, springs, and openers, for a fairly reasonable fee.
The flat panel insulated approach sounds great! What I would do is run the western red cedar through my planer to maybe a 3/8" thickness. This would reduce considerable weight.
What were you thinking in terms of strongbacks Wood Guy? Maybe 1X glued and screwed on edge?
The door guys have a thick gage of steel shaped like a top hat they screw to the back of the door. I'm not sure where to get it if you're doing this yourself though. The 1x might work but the steel would be a lot stronger.
Planing the cedar down to 3/8" is a good idea. The best way we've found to make the paneling look right is to set the door up the way it will be installed, run the cedar (assuming you're running it vertically) all the way top to bottom, then set up a straightedge and crosscut everything at once on a 10° bevel. I'm not sure how that system would work on your door; I've only done it on 8' doors. Make sure the doors get installed in the same orientation; even small discrepencies are obvious.
"This is a process, not an event."--Sphere
We just bought one for a job that was just cedar nailed onto flat panels. They used 1" x 4"s to frame the perimeter, and ran two up the middle, so that when it is closed you would swear it swings out like french doors.
Once I saw how it was made - and got the bill - I wished I'd made it myself.