By a large margin, the most often asked question I get in my inbox is, "Where can I find plans for a set of DIY carriage doors?" And you know what? I don't know of a single ...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
- Thread starter Ryan
- Start date
By a large margin, the most often asked question I get in my inbox is, "Where can I find plans for a set of DIY carriage doors?" And you know what? I don't know of a single ...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
nadogail
Well-known member
Google "diy carriage doors", several options present themselves.
captain14
Well-known member
Two members here have posted in the past with their designs ( Fergie' derelict garage and Thruxton). There was another recently but I can't remember his name or thread
This was then third thread and most recent. One title.http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306967
This was then third thread and most recent. One title.http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306967
Last edited:
hewey
Well-known member
This is a nicely detailed step by step video for making a timber gate. The same approach could be used for making timber doors. Youtube link
bczygan
Well-known member
Carriage doors present a number of difficulties and at least one advantage.
The advantage is, that when open, they don't block the ceiling and any ceiling mounted lighting.
The disadvantages and difficulties are more numerous.
In snow country, the area outside the door must be kept clear for them to open.
And they traditionally are made as frame and panel construction. This makes insulation difficult, but not impossible.
This type of door construction tends to be heavy, which means the mounting hardware needs to be beefy, and likewise, the frame needs to be as well.
In addition, many people frame this kind of door like a 6 panel door with all rectangular panels. This counts on the joints for triangulation. It is better to have a diagonal member to support the weight, but this makes construction more difficult.
Also, these doors are made of wood so exposing them to weather is a problem. Attention needs to be given to finishes that both protect them and also show off the wood. Extra wide overhangs help with this.
Extra care needs to be taken with sealing and weatherstripping.
And special equipment is needed for automatic opening and closing and locking.
I understand the attraction of their style. I would like doors like that myself. But the difficulties are legion.
They do make an overhead sectional door that looks like a carriage door, but I think that is a hokey solution.
Bill
The advantage is, that when open, they don't block the ceiling and any ceiling mounted lighting.
The disadvantages and difficulties are more numerous.
In snow country, the area outside the door must be kept clear for them to open.
And they traditionally are made as frame and panel construction. This makes insulation difficult, but not impossible.
This type of door construction tends to be heavy, which means the mounting hardware needs to be beefy, and likewise, the frame needs to be as well.
In addition, many people frame this kind of door like a 6 panel door with all rectangular panels. This counts on the joints for triangulation. It is better to have a diagonal member to support the weight, but this makes construction more difficult.
Also, these doors are made of wood so exposing them to weather is a problem. Attention needs to be given to finishes that both protect them and also show off the wood. Extra wide overhangs help with this.
Extra care needs to be taken with sealing and weatherstripping.
And special equipment is needed for automatic opening and closing and locking.
I understand the attraction of their style. I would like doors like that myself. But the difficulties are legion.
They do make an overhead sectional door that looks like a carriage door, but I think that is a hokey solution.
Bill
Gotcha640
Well-known member
My friend and his girlfriend manages to do carriage doors between their bedroom suite and the great room in their house, with almost no pre-planning and all parts off the shelf at lowes. I realize interior =/= exterior, but if they can do it, anyone can.
Russ G
Active member
I don't get on here as much as I would like to. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope Santa brings everyone the tools and toys they want. 
3/4tonYJ
Well-known member
I built "lower cost" carriage doors on an addition to my pole building garage, there are a couple in progress pictures in this link http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240672 but unfortunately the plans were in my head, and have since been misplaced.
View media item 39640
View media item 39640
Last edited:
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I had two sets of selfmade single panel, insulated, warp and sag adjustable, windowless, carriage house doors on my house/shop. After 20 years the most active door set that accessed the auto bay finally tore the adjusters apart and I dismounted them for repairs and stuck a QnD Clopay insulated in its place. Life interrupted and 3 years those 300 lb doors sat on my work bench waiting to be rebuilt. Then I was attending a regional home show and a local garage door dealer had brought an example of the Clopay Coachman series. Steel meant no warping. The Azek trim meant no rotting. The fit and finish was tight and didn't show huge cracks between panels like the cheaper stamped lines. It had the same R value as my old ones. And I could have openers! Something to think about as I was not getting younger. A few thousand later I was the proud owner of pair of these doors. Pretty fake hardware and all. There just was something not quite right about them. They looked wrong. Then it struck me. I ran inside grabbed a Sharpie and filled in the center groove that pretends to be the crack btween the doors. Oh what a difference a silly black line makes.
Mind you, this not to belittle carriage house doors. The ones I made were mine. Unique from my own head. There is a satisfaction in putting your weight behind a 300lb door that you made yourself and heaving it open and having the light and air pour in.
So, I guess the moral of the story is, if you can't have the real thing, get out your Sharpie and fake it! ;-)
Mind you, this not to belittle carriage house doors. The ones I made were mine. Unique from my own head. There is a satisfaction in putting your weight behind a 300lb door that you made yourself and heaving it open and having the light and air pour in.
So, I guess the moral of the story is, if you can't have the real thing, get out your Sharpie and fake it! ;-)
tombell572
Well-known member
Many of these beautiful style doors get ripped out as owners convert to overhead doors or old garage get demo'd. Rebuildable originals may be around if you search especially in older neighborhoods.
383 240z
Well-known member
Here is the best write up I've seen on carriage doors I've seen on here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306967
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306967
OP
Good link right there.
VOH
Well-known member
I am about a week or two from starting mine. I will of course post pics when doing so. That said, the plan is as follows:
Start with a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" birch plywood. Plan on 1"x4" trim boards on the interior and 2"x4" trim on the exterior. Going to use 1/4" plexiglass for the windows. We are kicking around two different options for the hinges. I will keep it yous posted.
Start with a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" birch plywood. Plan on 1"x4" trim boards on the interior and 2"x4" trim on the exterior. Going to use 1/4" plexiglass for the windows. We are kicking around two different options for the hinges. I will keep it yous posted.
cmoist
Well-known member
Thanks for posting!
Ryan, that was largely the reason I posted the build on here; there are very few threads regarding carriage door builds on GJ.
Here were the few I cited in my thread from here, from Thruxton
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92642
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=202586
and
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/gdoors/
http://www.ibuildit.ca/Woodworking Projects/door-1.html
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/21217/sneak-peek-building-the-carriage-doors-in-the-shop
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/12151/building-an-interior-door-part-one-the-frame
http://www.idostuff.co.uk/sections/DIY/Door design and construction/Door Design.html
383 240z
Well-known member
More photos of the track and rollers?
Looks great. Could you post more pictures? I currently have an overhead and cannot stand all the tracks/hardware on the ceiling. Trying to talk my better half into letting me change the third stall to this style.
Jay
Stefsgarage
Member
Here is the best write up I've seen on carriage doors I've seen on here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=306967
Good link right there.
Agreed! Simple and elegant!
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=306967
Good link right there.
Agreed! Simple and elegant!
maplefrm
Member
I decided that I wanted carriage doors for the front of my remodeled garage because I did not want the tracks on the inside. I was searching Craigslist one day and found 4 brand new straight grain fir doors that were never used for a new Texas Roadhouse restaurant. Each door was 3 feet wide x 7 feet tall but I needed the doors to be at least 4 feet wide. So, I disassembled 2 of the doors and added the stiles from those doors to the remaining full doors, creating two 4 foot wide doors. After lots of hours of labor including gluing, adding dowels, sanding and painting we have what we wanted. The doors have been up for over a year and still work great. I must say they are not as convenient as an overhead door but they look better. It also allows us to just open one of them for us to access the building.
Here's my set - built ala Thruxton.
3/4 ply sheet, with 1x6 pine screwed and glued. Simple really.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302419
3/4 ply sheet, with 1x6 pine screwed and glued. Simple really.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302419
Attachments
BuickFarmer
Well-known member
Yep, Ryan I do believe I was one of the ones many moons ago who asked about your doors. I just finished telling about a set that I built on my welding shed as part of my bigger garage project. Starts on page 16 http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248534
Last edited:
rburke65
Well-known member
Man those are great looking doors. Very nice!
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
Forget the doors, great looking pooch!
What's his name/story?
(Yes, the doors look great too)
What's his name/story?
(Yes, the doors look great too)
BuickFarmer
Well-known member
Thanks for the compliment.
That would be Elvis. He ain't nothin but a hound dog. Got him from the pound about 1.5 years ago so he's probably about two now. Since my retirement has become my best friend, he hangs with me ALL the time, folks at Lowes love him.
Reason I stopped back in is hoping there would be more info and referrals to threads about carriage doors. I have three more to do. Two will be metal like the ones above but faced on the inside with salvaged bead board. The other will be all wood with windows. Have got to have them and all the windows installed in my garage build by March 1 or else the insurance is not going to renew. So need to start pulling together some plans and sketches. So back to the top we go...
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
I kind of cheated when I built these doors on the attic of my garage:
They're 3/4" plywood, with 5/4 redwood 'frames' simply nailed to the front of the plywood. The center panels of the doors are 1 x 4 beadboard. It was easier than trying to totally scratch build the doors with stiles and rails, and they've held up well - they're nearly 20 years old now and still look about the same as in this picture. Of course the inside is still just a flat piece of plywood which isn't all that attractive, but it's an attic for storage so I wasn't too worried about that.
They're 3/4" plywood, with 5/4 redwood 'frames' simply nailed to the front of the plywood. The center panels of the doors are 1 x 4 beadboard. It was easier than trying to totally scratch build the doors with stiles and rails, and they've held up well - they're nearly 20 years old now and still look about the same as in this picture. Of course the inside is still just a flat piece of plywood which isn't all that attractive, but it's an attic for storage so I wasn't too worried about that.
fergus
Well-known member
I built my own. See the first link in my sig.
There are some *very* nice DIY doors illustrated in this thread. I went back and forth between DIY and having a two sets of doors made (one paired, and one single), and in the end it was *for me* a better option to have them made. I took on the finish work, along with the mounting, but the doors themselves were crafted and then test-hung in the jambs.
I don't want to derail a great DIY thread but there are steps that a good custom millwork door-builder can take that will help prolong the life and beauty of your doors -- in terms of wood selection, pre-finishing, and so on. The "make-vs-buy" decision is always at hand for GJ projects and like I stated earlier, in my case the two door sets ended up as buy items.
wrooster
------------------
I don't want to derail a great DIY thread but there are steps that a good custom millwork door-builder can take that will help prolong the life and beauty of your doors -- in terms of wood selection, pre-finishing, and so on. The "make-vs-buy" decision is always at hand for GJ projects and like I stated earlier, in my case the two door sets ended up as buy items.
wrooster
------------------
http://www.hahnswoodworking.com/
Scott Hahn is the proprietor -- he definitely knows what he is doing and the quality of the doors his company makes reflects it.
A couple of comments:
1) No matter where you get millwork/joinery done, any topcoat finish work is expensive. For example, putting a coat of Cetol 1 and then two coats of Cetol 23 on a big set of doors takes time and must be done well isolated from machinery used for cutting/planing/sanding/etc. So, if you have the ability and space, finish the doors yourself and you can save a lot of money.
2) The selection of the wood species chosen for the door is not arbitrary and should not be totally based on cosmetics. Long term, certain woods and finishes will do better in damp environments, for example. Same with hot, sunny environments. So talk with the door maker about your environment, which way the doors are facing, and so on.
wrooster
steve in nj
Well-known member
I have two of Scott's doors on my house. His shop does a great job.
<a href="http://imgur.com/NPhhgmD"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/NPhhgmD.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Hey everyone. I myself built custom carriage doors based on several different guides across the internet. Have a serious question. I planned on writing up a tutorial and posting more pics when finished but I'm not out of the woods yet. It's time to hang the doors up, my most dreaded part.
My doors are 4 layers and insulated inside, and the overlay is redwood. They're quite heavy. I regretted the post sizes I chose after seeing how heavy the doors became. So the side posts are 4x4 redwood, and the middle post is 4x6 redwood which needs to support 2 doors.
I'm using 4 National 16" heavy duty strap hinges with 3/4" bolt hooks (same as user Thruxton used) for each door, so 16 hinges total.
Do you guys think my posts will support these doors with 4 hinges distributing the weight. I know the hinges are strong as hell, and nothing will break them, but I am worried the posts will break. The posts are already intalled and the doors ready to hang. Do I continue with what I have, or re-frame everything with thicker posts which will take forever to match the exact same opening sizes.
Hey everyone. I myself built custom carriage doors based on several different guides across the internet. Have a serious question. I planned on writing up a tutorial and posting more pics when finished but I'm not out of the woods yet. It's time to hang the doors up, my most dreaded part.
My doors are 4 layers and insulated inside, and the overlay is redwood. They're quite heavy. I regretted the post sizes I chose after seeing how heavy the doors became. So the side posts are 4x4 redwood, and the middle post is 4x6 redwood which needs to support 2 doors.
I'm using 4 National 16" heavy duty strap hinges with 3/4" bolt hooks (same as user Thruxton used) for each door, so 16 hinges total.
Do you guys think my posts will support these doors with 4 hinges distributing the weight. I know the hinges are strong as hell, and nothing will break them, but I am worried the posts will break. The posts are already intalled and the doors ready to hang. Do I continue with what I have, or re-frame everything with thicker posts which will take forever to match the exact same opening sizes.
Can u lag bolt the 4 x4s into the existing structure.? That would definitely carry the weight I would think
goingtoarizona
Well-known member
Love this tread! Going to do my garage door this way, far in the future though, my to do list is long. Keep posting the eye candy!
VOH
Well-known member
One opening is complete. Have already started building the next pair. I am VERY happy with the outcome.
UKAuto
Active member
I will be making some myself. I started by making gates to get the hang of mortise and tenon joinery (I have attached a couple of photos of these).
Ultimately I need to create a pair for my garage. For now I have done an absolute hack, I sawzalled the front of the building - put it on hinges - and now have a way to get a car inside. Considering I had already assembled a lift in there it was nice to be able to use it for more than just a shelf for Christmas decorations!
Will do a garage thread when I actually get on to doing the doors and driveway lead in.
Ultimately I need to create a pair for my garage. For now I have done an absolute hack, I sawzalled the front of the building - put it on hinges - and now have a way to get a car inside. Considering I had already assembled a lift in there it was nice to be able to use it for more than just a shelf for Christmas decorations!
Will do a garage thread when I actually get on to doing the doors and driveway lead in.
Attachments
Gidge
Well-known member
I refer you to the Audels Carpenters and Builders Guide #4 (c. 1927) --this is my go-to book for all old-school carpentry :
UKAuto
Active member
Excellent - love resources like that, if not to get the precise instructions, to get the inspiration and guidance.
My house is 1912, and deservers to have proper scratch built doors rather than box store doors.
Will need to have a look for that book.