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Carriage House Doors

Posted by 141drew Posted onApr 20, 2009 at 4:35 PM and filed under News & Editorial


We are often asked about carriage house doors. The great thing about swinging doors is that you don’t sacrifice any ceiling height with clumsy closers and they often look wonderful from both the inside and out. “Real Carriage Doors” has a great gallery of gorgeous examples and they have really inspired me to look for a carriage door solution to my upcoming garage addition. The only issue? I really want a single 16′ opening and that’s a bit of a stretch for most swinging solutions. Anyone have any creative ideas?


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J

Jononon

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Have you considered split folding doors ?

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Many of the advantages of carriage doors, not least great aesthetics, and the size of the opening is almost immaterial.

(Pics stolen from Flickr)
 
D

danfromsyr

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yeah like the poster above, folding curtain doors.. with a Carriage design..
do some googling on curtain doors.. similiar to say banquet rooms, auditoriums, school lunch rooms etc...


and yes I also love the look of a classic carriage house.. now how to pull that off on my gambrel barn style. garage.


Dan in NY
VW club of CNY
www.vwccny.com
 
B

Brad54

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When I worked in restaurants, we had to open "walls" like those folding doors all the time, and it was a pain. If you **** them just a little bit they bind (there wasn't a track on the bottom, just the ceiling. I can't imagine there'd be lower track with those folding carriage house doors, as it'd fill with dirt, sand, rocks, etc.)

Chances are pretty good that you aren't going to be parking a car smack in the middle of the new garage... if you do, it'll only be for a little while.

I'd go with the two doors, and the small section of wall between them, and then take advantage of that section of wall between the door: it's the perfect place for an old-time wall-hanging thermometer (like Mail Pouch, or any number of soda thermometers... I have a Hire Rootbeer one hanging), a fire extinguisher, and a small garbage can (I have small vintage Texaco oil drum there). I've also seen nice vice tables mounted on the wall between doors--steel table top just a little bigger than the vise, angle iron supports going down.

There's a lot you can do to work with the twin carriage doors.

-Brad
 
T

Torque1st

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I have an 8' opening at the ear of a garage I am planning. I though about split doors but getting any with enough insulation in them is hard. A regular garage door is poorly insulated also.

I even thought about making my own doors with 3.5" of insulation, siding to match the exterior wall, with FRP sheets on the inside, but getting hinges and hardware to work and the door sealed on that type of door is difficult.

I will probably end up with a standard garage door even tho I do not want it.
 
J

JB740i

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I wish I'd seen these pictures before I finished construction on my house and detached garage. They look amazing.
 
J

JBroderick

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The challenge of the 16' opening has been around for some time. And, you're right, we discourage extra-wide doors because of their structural issues and practicality. There are a couple of options for 16' openings, but new construction always gives you the most flexibility. Folding doors are a great fit for a large, clear opening. And each door leaf will have a nice, slender proportion. Another, oft forgotten way to get a large opening is to use sliding doors. If you have the space for them, they are an attractive solution to this time-tested problem. http://www.realcarriagedoors.com/sliding-garage-doors.php . A little advice as well: Remember about clearance. Folding doors will eat up around 4-1/2" of opening per door pair. So if you are constructing new, you may want to frame for out an extra foot. Good luck on your addition!
 
K

Klunker

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No good in snow conntry, you have to have the drive way clean of that 6" of snow that fell before you can open the doors. Will have troubles closing the doors with snow and ice on the drive if you don't.
Look very nice, not very practical, I'll take function over form any day.
 
H

HoosierBuddy

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JB740i said:
I wish I'd seen these pictures before I finished construction on my house and detached garage. They look amazing.
Click to expand...

Price them and you'll be more than amazed. You'll be dumbfounded.

I need/want to build sets of carriage doors for my barn. Currently the 8' X 7' openings have flip up steel doors that are in sorry shape and ugly to boot. I couldn't afford to buy them from the listed company. It was $$$$$$$$$$.

I spoke to a local Amish cabinet maker about building them for me, but he wasn't interested. I guess if I want them I'll have to build them myself.

Phil
 
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R

Ryan

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Klunker said:
No good in snow conntry, you have to have the drive way clean of that 6" of snow that fell before you can open the doors. Will have troubles closing the doors with snow and ice on the drive if you don't.
Look very nice, not very practical, I'll take function over form any day.
Click to expand...

I'm in Austin, TX... We don't get snow or ice... and if we do, I won't be taking my hot rods out.

But yeah, price is a concern...
 
T

Tman

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I built two rolling barn doors on mine. Steel frame, 1 3/4" foam core. simple sheething now but am going to add a 16 light window, some galv steel sheeting and oak when I finish them.
 
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waltmcq

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I thought about carriage doors but went with a eight foot slider.
Shop.jpg

just%20061.jpg
 
E

eborcim

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Build a steel frame from 1" square tubing with correct geometric bracing and you can span 16 feet easily. Dress it up with a wood veneer and insulate, and you have a big carriage house door.
 
W

wantedabiggergarage

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Carriage doors, are pretty much still all around me. People hate them on the now more rare times, we get much snow. You have to shovel in front of the doors, to open them, so you better hope you removed your shovel from the garage.
 
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TooTall

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I looked into wood carriage doors for the 8' side doors on a new garage that's now almost finished. The cost was the killer. $6800 from a custom maker in Wa state and nearly as much locally. I had plain steel doors made with heavy duty hinges and a steel frame for like $800. I'm going to face them to make them look like wood carriage doors. One thing to consider is the sun in Texas will KILL real wood in no time, no matter what you do. Unless the doors are on the north side of the building, I would think REAL hard about it.

Kurt O.
 
R

rinny_tin_tin

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TooTall said:
I looked into wood carriage doors for the 8' side doors on a new garage that's now almost finished. The cost was the killer. $6800 from a custom maker in Wa state and nearly as much locally. I had plain steel doors made with heavy duty hinges and a steel frame for like $800. I'm going to face them to make them look like wood carriage doors. One thing to consider is the sun in Texas will KILL real wood in no time, no matter what you do. Unless the doors are on the north side of the building, I would think REAL hard about it.

Kurt O.
Click to expand...

Same problem here regarding price - so I decided to build my own for a fraction of the cost....Good UV resistant paint will fix sun problems and wood.
 
F

FunfDreisig

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JBroderick said:
.....Another, oft forgotten way to get a large opening is to use sliding doors. If you have the space for them, they are an attractive solution to this time-tested problem. http://www.realcarriagedoors.com/sliding-garage-doors.php ......
Click to expand...
"Oft forgotten" is an serious understatement. I've been a regular visitor/poster on this forum for over a year now. And I can count on one hand the number of sliding door examples I've seen here. And the number of sliding door suggestions are not far behind. :(

FWIW I can't imagine building a new garage / workshop in the Texas Hill Country that didn't take advantage of the benefits of sliding doors: they cover large openings, allow flexible configurations of open/closed doors, require near zero floor/overhead space (inside and out), and yes they can be insulated & weather tight on all for sides :)

Funf Dreisig
 
F

FunfDreisig

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Foul said:
Do tell. That's what's kept me from considering them up here in Vermont.
Click to expand...
I've posted this before but at the risk of boring others...

The sides can be sealed by adding "blades" perpendicular to the edges that rest against blades perpendicular the wall. This is similar the seal formed at the center of a typical sliding glass door. You can make these "blades" as simple or as complex as you need to create a tight enough seal.

The bottom of sliding doors can be sealed with another "blade" that is inline with the door and runs in a simple groove. This blade also stop sliding doors from swinging in/out and eliminates the need for pinch rollers etc. If simply stopping the draft is not enough, you can add brush style weather stripping along the bottom of the doors. Yes the grooves will gather some dirt but they are easy to vacuum or blow out during normal garage cleanup. And yuo can cut these grooves deeper than the blade to give you some room below the blades on the doors.

The top edge is a little more difficult because it requires you to hang the doors exactly parallel to the wall OR to add a trim strip that is shimmed to be parallel with the door rail. This trim strip need to rub along the inner top of the doors and have a brush like weather strip.

Off course the actual doors can be insulated by simply filling the space formed by the frame and the outer "skin" with whatever insulation you would use in a thin wall in your area.

Funf Dreisig
 
W

wot sales

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The best door, but expensive, is a hangar door – as in airplane hangar. These doors fold in the middle horizontally and scissor up. They do not intrude on the inside space at all, and because of the way they raise, with the bottom of the door in the track, you can park a car outside almost up to the door and still open the door. And you can buy them as wide as you can afford.
I previously posted a comment and photos on this: Re: Where to find such a door on 10-18-2008, 10:41 AM.
 

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R

rinny_tin_tin

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JOYO said:
rinny_tin_tin,
could you post pics? I'd like to see what you did.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have not done it yet as I still have to put up the siding, channel drains, etc. But when I do - I'll make sure to post the pics. Basically, my plan is to build a rectangular frames with steel angle iron and include steel gussets as a diagonal truss, to prevent sag, and then skin the door with wood. Hinges will be 1-inch ID pipe fitted with a grease fitting and welded to an angle iron frame. I'll make sure to upload the pics!
 
P

paintman

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FunfDreisig said:
"Oft forgotten" is an serious understatement. I've been a regular visitor/poster on this forum for over a year now. And I can count on one hand the number of sliding door examples I've seen here. And the number of sliding door suggestions are not far behind. :(

FWIW I can't imagine building a new garage / workshop in the Texas Hill Country that didn't take advantage of the benefits of sliding doors: they cover large openings, allow flexible configurations of open/closed doors, require near zero floor/overhead space (inside and out), and yes they can be insulated & weather tight on all for sides :)

Funf Dreisig
Click to expand...

This sounds like an interesting idea, Does anybody know where I can purchase sliding doors for my 16 x 7 opening in Dallas?
 
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