12ft or 16ft door?

[428PI]

I want to replace my sliding doors with either 12 or 16 ft wide garage door. I have aprox 16.5 ft in opening now. It's facing west in windy Kansas. If I go with 12ft I could have walk in door to left of it. I'm wanting to park 2 cars in shed. I can pull one car in all the way (32 ft depth) and other vehicle angled to right and possible car lift angled. What about height? 14 ft sidewalls. Thinking 12 ft high door.

 

[finn]

I think 12’, in your case, would work, primarily because it makes framing the man door easily. I don’t know how deep the building is, though, to accomodate an easy swing radius.

Get some soft cones, sawhorses, stools, etc to mark the proposed opening and then pull both cars in to see if you’re comfortable with the smaller opening.

 

[HoosierMark]

I have 16 wide and 12 high. They work great for me. I think doors are like overall garage size, get them as big as you can. 16 wide or 12 wide is really not that much difference for wind but if you want to put cars in or RV/Boat, mowers etc, that 4 foot could be really handy.

 

[mogandave]

Nice to have a man door.

Put a stop on the sliding/roller door so it only opens to 12', try it for a month and see how you like it.

You could also just put a man-door in the roller,,,

 

[jblnut]

Looks to be a pole building so it really wouldn't be that hard to frame in a man door around the corner from the sliding door opening or next to it or wherever really.

I'd go as big as possible. If those sliding doors haven't disappeared in the wind a 16' overhead should be fine.

 

[Spud McGee]

For the question about height, I would get a door tall enough to drive through whatever vehicle you want.
The biggest reason I can think of not to get the biggest door possible is insulation. You can insulate wall space a lot better than a roll up door.

Another con of having a big door is it dictates what you can have inside the building. If you have a massive door, that means you can't use that wall space for storage or shelves. If a 10ft door would be tall enough for your needs and you have 14ft walls, that is space above you could use for shelving and long term or seasonal storage.

 

[Snip]

I would be in the 12' wide with a man door camp myself, especially if you are parking and accessing your cars inside often. My gable end wall is 40' wide (14' walls) and I went with a 12x12 door and a man door. I have not had any issues driving or backing anything in.

 

[Monza Harry]

Spud: makes a good point, but you aren't lacking for size. I know, never big enough, but let's talk trucks, max width is 102" but there is a clause that anything mandated is excluded. So many are now squeezing by at 104" Body at 102" + (2@) 1" for your lights, roll tarp, possible others [ my previous landscape trailer tire bulge to tire bulge measured 104" factory built] now I haven't found a size for mirrors as they are way bigger than 102". I have backed a 102" truck through a 10" door and there is only a hair to clear the mirrors at that size. Clip one of those for a $2000 repair [~$1000 truck door repair and $1000 for overhead door repair+/-] and I would reconsider a narrow door. Most commercial doors are 14' [or more] for straight approach with minimal interior obstacles. Height of cement and dump trucks will be between 10' and 12' tall, roll deck [including flatbed wrecker [full size class 7 or 8 a class 5-6 will be closer to 8'] will be about 9-10 foot tall but the deck is 48-54" tall + your minivan (~76"), Bridgeport (about the same +/- depending on brand the Chinese ones are all taller with a smaller work envelope) 4X4 pickum up ?" see where I'm going with this. Max legal Height without permits is 13'6". So just some thought for possible life distractions/detours. Harry

 

[Innovate1]

If you can put the man door somewhere else I would go for the wider door. But the suggestion to put up cones and try the narrower door is a great one. For height it depends on what you want to get in (now and down the road). We wanted to get a small RV so went with 14' ceiling and 12' door. it isn't tall enough for large RVs but making the whole building 16' so we could have a 14' door was a lot of extra cost for little to no useful gain.

 

[Monza Harry]

If you can put the man door somewhere else I would go for the wider door. But the suggestion to put up cones and try the narrower door is a great one. For height it depends on what you want to get in (now and down the road). We wanted to get a small RV so went with 14' ceiling and 12' door. it isn't tall enough for large RVs but making the whole building 16' so we could have a 14' door was a lot of extra cost for little to no useful gain.

Yeah that was my bad I didn't even think to include RV's, not very knowledgeable on their heights though. Thanx! Harry