Garage/Boat shop doors

[Clinton B Chase]

Hi all,

I am making my garage into a permanant boat shop and aim to insulate it quite well for winter time work. I need some leads on garage doors that would insulate from sound and the cold and look nice from the outside. I am inclined to get the swing open doors on account of the their good looks, but can be swayed to replace the current overhead door as well. Please post pics and product info if you can. I am working with an architect on the project and she would like the info in the next several weeks. Steven Bauer is likely doing the work! Thanks all.

Cheers,
Clint

[Mrleft8]

Swing out doors look good, but realy are fairly impractical. The swing space needed for them to work is substantial. I like sliders. You can put a regular access door in the shop for day to day use, and just open the slider when needed. There are turn buckle type heavy duty latches that'll keep the slider snug to the gasketed/insulated door frame when not in use.

[Wayne Jeffers]

Swing out doors look good, but realy are fairly impractical. . . .

Granted they need swing space, but I built swing-out doors for my shop in Ohio that I was very pleased with. I laminated frames, filled the insides with a full 4 inches of styrofoam insulation, and used 3/8-inch T-111 siding as door skins. They were very well gasketed and were probably about as energy efficient as the 6-inch side walls with insulation I used in the shop.

That said, I’d be interested in hearing more about the latches you mention that will keep a slider snug. A slider is certainly a simpler solution to having a big door, but I’ve never seen one that would seal worth a darn. Do you have a link to the latches you mention? Or can you post photos?

Wayne

[capt jake]

You say you have overhead doors presently? If they are metal, why not insulate those? That is what I recently did on one of my shop doors that was way too expesive to replace simply to get insulation. 1 12/" blue foam board from the hardware store glued into the recesses in each panel. I actually had a tight enough fit that the glue may not have been needed. Big difference in sound and heat transmission; price was right too.. :)

[bob goeckel]

i built sliders with t-111 and pine trim and 2x4 backers. they slide past one another to open either bay of my shed as i don't have much room to open both at once. and i saved my open space inside for hanging canoes. best decision i've made about the shop.

[Tom Lathrop]

I have a metal insulated overhead door on my workshop. It is a taller than normal garage type door but is still a bit less than the advertised 8' vertical clearance. One big problem with overhead doors is the reduced inside ceiling clearance taken up by the tracks. When open it also blocks any lights from above it. Works great --- but. If you can afford it and there is space, the commercial roll up doors used in truck repair garages would be ideal

I'm building swinging doors on my boathouse since I need all the vertical clearance available (10' high by 12' wide). Even sliding doors would have interference with the roof overhang and also block the second set of doors (for a smaller boat) when open. So swinging doors are the only reasonable option. I will make them as torsion boxes for stability with 5.2mm meranti aquatec ply on each side and 2X6's cut in two for spacers. No insulation as I will not usually be working in there.

[hoss]

The answer to your question is a question. "How much snow do I get" If the answer is a lot do not build swing doors.

[Mrleft8]

Those door latches.... I have no idea where they came from, but they were brand spankin' new in 1982 when I installed them on the woodshop's back door at Marlboro college. They were basically a toggle clamp kinda dealt with an "L" shaped leg instead of a padded clamp face. You mount the toggle on the door casing and put an eyebolt on the door (Or actually I think it was more of a hasp eye like for a padlock). You adjust the amount of "pull" by adjusting a turnbuckle. We used 4 on that door because the building was so racked that nothing else would make the door suck up tight. The difference was dramatic! It was suddenly no longer painful to go to the shop between November and April!

[Ron Williamson]

Farm supply places have those latches.
We have some extras(2) now that we've abandoned the sliders.
They were a bitch to seal along the floor because we needed to get vehicles in and out all winter.Because of this, they would ice up and trash the threshold or freeze the door in place,open or closed.
R

[TomMcKinney]

Try Fine HomeBuilding magazine- I know they had multiple advertisments for such ( I use to subscribe) or post on thier their forum site- I recall one house shown that had insulated overhead garage door that looked like a swing open carriage door when down and convinsingly so in the pictures published. if I find the issue I'l let you know.

[Carlsboats]

I built swinging doors for my 24X32' shop -- frames, insulation, ply sheating inside painted white, and diagonal cedar T&G outside, left natural for appearance. No outside latches. A 2X4 cross bar keeps them closed/locked, plus slide latches into the header and sill. Heat retention is good. We duct tape the doors in winter, as we do not need to open them from Nov. to Apr. We have two pairs of doors, with each opening measuring 9X10 feet. One pair might have been adequate, but with two pairs, we can have a boat stored on one side of the shop, and have doors open on the other side to pass a long piece of wood across the saw, or work on a long mast. Only disadvantage of this set up is that it took a while to make the doors. I'll send some pix to Steve Bauer if he's interested.

[KNOCKABOUT]

My boatshed/garage as swinging doors and I ave to agree with some who have noted the advantages of having clearance, where in my instance I use for storage (hook, old wood, oars, poles, ladders, other old stuff).

[WFK]

Here's a shot of my old shop doors. 2 side by side and a section I could swing up for the tall project. Overall opening was 12 X 12. The doors were lightly framed, sheeted in plywood to give it shear and then trimmed out and sided. I've since removed the doors and am in the process of turning my shop into a living room,.........and of course, built a bigger shop.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid44/p9afb8703940f6fe073f3496271a4f312/fcdc7faf.jpg