Bi-fold garage doors

[RTBS]

Last fall my dad recently had a pre-fab garage so to speak installed by (coast to coast) at his lake cabin to use for boat storage and other items. It's closed on three sides with an open front. Over the winter it filled with lots of debris. He wants to put a garage door on the front to keep debis out and to make it more secure. For the size of opening it's not tall enough for an overhead door so I told him I would help him build bi-fold doors. I'm planning to use light gage metal studs for the door frames and metal wall panels for the skin. Opening will be 16 ft. x 10 ft. Does anyone have any experience with doing large bi-fold or stacking doors? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[Mesozoic]

Subscribing... I've seen bi-fold doors in use at hangar locations.

 

[dmdc411]

We built a bi-fold door for hanger 20 years ago. The frame is 2"x2" -1/8" square tubing. The bottom has its own gusseted frame for support when open. Use two lifting cables that run to motor gearbox for lifting. It is heavy, and has withstood a ef2 tornado so far! Metal studs are on the light in my opinion. I would discuss it with someone who deals with overhead bifold doors. Last thing you want is any type of overhead failure.

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[Mack425]

We built a bi-fold door for hanger 20 years ago. The frame is 2"x2" -1/8" square tubing. The bottom has its own gusseted frame for support when open. Use two lifting cables that run to motor gearbox for lifting. It is heavy, and has withstood a ef2 tornado so far! Metal studs are on the light in my opinion. I would discuss it with someone who deals with overhead bifold doors. Last thing you want is any type of overhead failure.

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I think he’s talking about doors that open to the side like bi-fold closet doors.

 

[cvairwerks]

16'x10' and not big enough for a conventional door????

Mine at home is 16'x7' with an 8' ceiling and has a conventional garage door.

 

[RTBS]

As I mentioned the garage is for boat storage. The boat is 9'-8" high with the ski tower so a 10ft high door is needed. The garage is 20 ft. wide and with the frame shape I figured I could get a 16x10 door opening. The way the building frames are built there isn't any additional height to put in a conventional door if it is 16 ft. wide. So I need a door that doesn't open overhead to maximize the headroom.

I would install a header and track above to support the door. Same concept as a bi-fold closet door just on a bigger scale. I want the door to be light thus metal stud frames and metal building panel for the skin. Each door panel would be 4ft.x10ft., 2 per side.

Has anyone made any doors similar to this?

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[txvwnut]

Have you thought about a slider? I’ve seen some buildings done with an external frame and sliding door, while not very attractive in my opinion but effective. With the slider you could have a full wall to wall opening when the door is open.

 

[RTBS]

We did consider a sliding door but due to the unappealing look and having to have the track extend beyond the edge of the building we decided against it. On one side of the garage a common walk path exists so the door wouldn't be able to block that path so the door would have to slide to one side only. With being a bi-fold door when open it would take up about 5" per side of the opening. So the actual opening would be 10" less than the door size. If I use metal studs flat for the frame it would be 1-1/4" thick with a 3/4" metal panel would be the panel thickness.

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