Carriage-House Style garage door construction technique that applies “veneer” boards onto a standard overhead garage door with hidden fasteners.
See P. 8 of Fine Homebuilding April/May 2012, #226 for a version of this post.
This is a Carriage-House Style garage door construction technique that blends the functionallity of an overhead garage door with the curb appeal of a Carriage-House Style door. This technique applies “veneer” wood boards onto a standard metal overhead garage door using hidden fastners in a way that allows for natural seasonal wood movement. It also creates a 1/16″ airspace between the boards and overhead garage door panels so the wood can breathe.
J channel is used to hold all the stiles and panel boards vertically and L clips that fit into 1/16″ routed slots on the back of each board holds the boards horizontally (side-to-side) – see pictures. The top, bottom and intermediate rails are attached to the garage door panels by sliding the router slotted rail in between two previously properly attached J channels running the length of the rail. This detail is not shown in the pictures.
The L clips are made from the J channel and the J channel is an item commonly available in 10′ lengths at semi tractor trailer repair supply houses like Stoops Freightliner in Indianapolis.
The stiles and rails are 2X6 and the panel boards are 1X4. Lap joinery is used throughout. All edges are routed with 1/8″ round-over, sanded and stained before installed. After installation, the stile and rail edges are distressed by an orbital sander, then restained with a contrasting stain.
The overhead door was ordered from Coplay with springs sized for the extra 135 pounds added to the garage door. They also provided extended brackets to allow for an extra 1-1/2″ door thickness.
My wife’s garage is shown in the picture – I installed another on our house. They have withstood two years of Indiana weather and look like they were installed yesterday. I am fabricating another one for my 1835 hand-hewn log building located next to my home – it was my cabinet shop from 1975 to1984. I outgrew that wonderful shop and built a new one on a nearby four-lane highway.
I had a 30 year career practicing my passion – woodworking. I no longer hire out, but I do have the pleasure of doing projects like this.
Questions? My email; [email protected]