Entry doors on Length or Width side?
- Thread starter jeostang
- Start date
What do you plan on using the building for?
I park vehicles in mine. Some get driven often, and others are long term projects. I put my doors on the long side of my 32X48 so that I could easily get any of them out at any time without having to move others out of the way.
I park vehicles in mine. Some get driven often, and others are long term projects. I put my doors on the long side of my 32X48 so that I could easily get any of them out at any time without having to move others out of the way.
619DioFan
Well-known member
If it were me I would put the doors on the width side ( 2 16 foot wide doors ) this would give you the entire back wall for benches , cabinets , tool boxes and eguipment. you would also have wall space at each end for items ( and between the 2 doors would be a good spot for a stand up compressor. I think it would also be easier to work on multiple projects this way as well.
Voi
Well-known member
Based on your other thread I think you really need to focus on the positioning of your two-post and four-post lifts and where they need to be to work within your building height restrictions.
You also need to consider if you'll need room to get one vehicle off a lift to get another one on it without taking the first outdoors. Like if you had a nice car you didn't want to have to drive outside to get another on it during the winter. You might want sufficient space to lower the car and park it behind the lift while the next vehicle came in.
I suppose it's best to start that process with considering what is the tallest vehicle you could see yourself storing on the four post. If that combination is tall enough you might need the four post centered under and parallel with the gable. That would likely work best with doors on the gable end.
You also need to consider if you'll need room to get one vehicle off a lift to get another one on it without taking the first outdoors. Like if you had a nice car you didn't want to have to drive outside to get another on it during the winter. You might want sufficient space to lower the car and park it behind the lift while the next vehicle came in.
I suppose it's best to start that process with considering what is the tallest vehicle you could see yourself storing on the four post. If that combination is tall enough you might need the four post centered under and parallel with the gable. That would likely work best with doors on the gable end.
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finn
Well-known member
If you are in snow country, put the doors on the gable end, especially if you are going with a steel roof.
Snow sliding off the roof blocks door access and hardens like concrete, making removal difficult.
No such problem with doors on the gable end.
Snow sliding off the roof blocks door access and hardens like concrete, making removal difficult.
No such problem with doors on the gable end.
on my 28x44 I put the garage door on the 28 and entry door on the 44. (about 3' from the outside corner question of having a space behind the door to have space for jacket, shovel in winter and other hand stuff when entering/going out of the garage.)
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Pros or cons on the length or width side? It's all up to you and the location of your garage as to whether you want to see the door, and where you want to walk in at. Will the wind and snow blow against it in the winter? If so, and you don't want it to...move the door to where it won't? If you use the great outdoors as a pisser and you don't have a pisser in the garage, what will be convenient? Just never put a door or window where you can't see it from the house.
Kevin just hit on everything I was going to bring up. Well except for the pisser deal. I'd never put a man door somewhere that is out of sight.
I prefer to have to garage door on the gable end.
Less structure to deal with since the gamble end wall is not load bearing as much as the side wall(when using engineered trusses)....and no snow dropping from the roof in front of the garage door either.
But I'm in a snow country...not eveyone is
Less structure to deal with since the gamble end wall is not load bearing as much as the side wall(when using engineered trusses)....and no snow dropping from the roof in front of the garage door either.
But I'm in a snow country...not eveyone is
sz0k30
Well-known member
I have a 32' x 48' pole barn. Because of my property, that was as big as I could go and I was only able to put the barn in one spot and only in one orientation. So I put 2 10' x 10' doors on the gable end and I don't like it. I always have to move a car to get another one out. I would have much preferred to be able to put 2 10' x 18' or 4 10' x 10' doors on the long side.
rburke65
Well-known member
Seems to me like it would depend on you and size of the property, position of the building.Its all up to you really.
firebirdparts
Well-known member
The pros of doors on the end are basically two:
The building will be much stronger
Since cars are 20 feet long not 30 or 15, you can park more cars turned that way.
The building will be much stronger
Since cars are 20 feet long not 30 or 15, you can park more cars turned that way.
2level
Well-known member
OP - Which entry door are you talking about; the 'man door' or overhead 'vehicle doors'? Have you decided on a roof style - Gable, Hip, Gambrel?
atthebeach
Well-known member
I have a man door and 2 car roll up on my north wall. I have a man door on the east wall. A single car roll up door is on the south wall. Another single car roll up door and another man door are on the west wall. If it is hot, I open most of the doors. When the trade winds are too strong or change direction, some of the doors get closed or opened.
That is what works in my shop. You need to figure out what would work best in your situation.
That is what works in my shop. You need to figure out what would work best in your situation.
PNWguy
Well-known member
The biggest difference, other than unique factors that we don't know about your building is cost.
The gable end really doesn't do much in a modern building, so you don't need a beefy header across your doorway.
On the (I'm assuming here) long dimension, you have trusses sitting on the walls. Those trusses need support, so you'll need to add vertical supports and headers to carry the load. If your "entry doors" are 3' wide, you'll need to span 2 studs with a moderate sized header. If it's a 20' roll up, you'll need a header that can span 20' and hold all the trusses. This gets more expensive than on the gable end.
For my shop, I'm putting one roll up on the side, and two on the gable end.
The gable end really doesn't do much in a modern building, so you don't need a beefy header across your doorway.
On the (I'm assuming here) long dimension, you have trusses sitting on the walls. Those trusses need support, so you'll need to add vertical supports and headers to carry the load. If your "entry doors" are 3' wide, you'll need to span 2 studs with a moderate sized header. If it's a 20' roll up, you'll need a header that can span 20' and hold all the trusses. This gets more expensive than on the gable end.
For my shop, I'm putting one roll up on the side, and two on the gable end.
tez929rr
Well-known member
All based on where the building is sited. One of mine (40 by 60) has a roll up door offset on each 40 foot end, with an entry door next to it. No practical reason for entry doors on the 60 foot sides, and it allso gives 60 uninterrupted feet for stuff on each side.
My newer 30 by 80 has one entry door on the 30 foot side and two on one of the 80 foot sides. The other two sides of the building are outside of the fence.
My newer 30 by 80 has one entry door on the 30 foot side and two on one of the 80 foot sides. The other two sides of the building are outside of the fence.