I’m thinking of making a pair of 7H x 9W overhead garage doors. They are being quoted at such high cost to me that the make-it-yourself option seems better. I can get my garage door guy to bring in all the hinge, track, etc., hardware, plus openers, and do the install. I’ll just be making the 21″ H x 108″ W panels, each 84″ tall door having four sections.
Exterior finish is alkyd primer and acrylic paint. No windows or glass. Just flush, with a stile-and-rail arrangement of applied wood boards. I have done this before, but am thinking of changing the design slightly.
Each panel is a stressed skin box consisting of a stile and rail pine core, faced with plywood inside and out. Here is what I did for the door in the attached pic. The core frame is 5/4 white pine, using 5-1/2″ boards ripped to 2-5/8″ to make stiles and rails. Each panel has the 2-5/8″ surround, and one intermediate vertical center “stile.” Outside facing is 3/8″ grooveless T-111, and the inside is 1/4″ luan. Exterior trim is 3/4″ western red cedar.
I’m thinking this time of using 1/2″ 5-ply MDO plywood for the exterior skins, and maybe 3/4″ pine for the core frames, instead of the 1″ 5/4 material.
My material costs are about $450 for wood, glue, fasteners, and paint. They can be made and primed in one full day, then finished in two two-hour painting sessions on successive days. If I value my own time at $75 per hour, I am saving about $800 by going this route.
Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
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Not to change the subject...but...
That is one fine looking shed.
Do you have any more pixs. of that????
Do your panels merely butt to each other or do they over lock as they would in a factory door?
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we did something a while ago like yours except the garage door people came out and installed a compleat door, then we took the panels off and set them on the floor and trimmed 'em out, then we remounted them. The door folks came back and adjusted the spring for the additional weight, and mounted an opener.
Great looking doors and shed. Consider your design stolen.
Ironically, yesterday I searched the archives here for posts like yours. I was considering using carefully selected 2x6's for the stiles, top and mid rail, with a 2x10 for the bottom rail. Joinery would be M&T since I have a mortiser. Ex ply could be glued in a ploughed groove, then beaded board over that.
I'll need to use hinged doors, they're just the right choice for my installation. I did find an electric opener for hinged doors, essentially a pushrod attached near the top meeting rail that a motor extends or retracts.
Forget needing to M&T the stiles and rails together, if you are doing a plywood sandwich like mine. I just pocket screw 'em. Anything works that will pin the core frame together all aligned, ready for the skins.
When skinning my frames, I run a bead of polyurethane (Gorilla or clone) glue around the perimeter, and up and down the intermediate stiles, then just staple on the skins.
Be sure to place additional blocking where you'll be attaching hardware.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
Gene
I make all my own garage doors, very similar to the way you described, or even just plywood(I get the 10' stuff) and rip long ways to get two panels, and apply my choice of wood over that.
The only thing that could add to what your doing, and I think Panama already covered it, make sure your weight of the doors is calculated for the springs.
Doug
Thanks for the reminder, Doug, about weight and spring capacity. I'll tell my installer that he'll be hanging a pair of custom ply sandwiches faced with some decorative sticks, and he'll come prepared.
He'll bring his usual supply of hinges, hinges with rollers, brackets, tracks, etc. Plus the spring and cabling.
Was I right about a time estimate to build a pair of simple no-lite 7x9s? I recall that little shed one, with divided lites in the upper panel, as taking most of a day to make. I figured a pair of simples like this will take that or less.
And, yes, the 10-foot sheet goods are on order.Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
What about cutting up a sheet of foam and sticking in the cavity while you are at it?You can even use some appropirate adhesive and attach it to the panels and stiff it up some more, but I doubt that you need to do that.
Gene
Yea I think your time is close enough. Even if it ends up taking a few more hours then you thought you'll still end up with a decent pay-per-hour.
I've built some 80" doors just using 3 panels, didn't know how it would effect the final outcome but I took the chance and it worked fine. Figured it couldn't hurt! I was building the typical door that looks like horizontal swinging doors and I wanted to cut down on the joints.
Doug
Here in LA we had a 7H x 16W installed for $450, plus removal of the old door. Mesa Garage Door does nothing but garage doors, so with volume and specialization, they can make money at that low rate.
-- J.S.
A reply from the old me to the new me, because I can't edit the old post:
I heard Mesa's ad on the radio, they've upped their price to $499.
-- J.S.