Moving Wall/Doors

[robotmickey]

Hello all,
What are you thoughts on something like this instead of a garage door? The current wheel-up door is 8ft tall and about 15ft wide. I don't open and close it very often, but still enjoy it's utility. I felt like it was sort of wasted wall space and it's not very well insulated in the hot Arizona summers.

The idea is a swinging wall that I could have a work surface on, and storage for lighter weight items. My thought would be to reinforce the door jam with box section, then build the doors like a big heavy steel gate, and just sheath/insulate/drywall conventionally. I might have some pin mechanism that I could use to lock them open, closed, or perpendicular?

Am I totally crazy?

 

[James-W]

Welcome to the forum.

I think a lot depends on where you are located. Around here, doors that swing outward would not be a good idea. In the Winter months we get a lot of snow and when we do, we would not be able to open the doors until we cleared away the snow. So if the snowblower is in the garage, how would you get it out to remove the snow from the front of the doors?

Not to rain on your parade, but I really don't see an advantage to having wide garage doors that swing outward, or inward for that matter. If you have things like parts bins or tools mounted on the doors and have the doors open, everything is outside. Is that really what you want?

If swinging doors work OK for you, then I would say you should do it. But I have some serious doubts that it would work out for me. I have a regular 7ft high and 16ft wide insulated overhead door and while I can't mount stuff on the door, I have not found that to be an issue.

 

[Radix2]

I think it is a cool idea.

Worst thing happens, tear it out and do something else.

Might be great, try it!

 

[ard]

Seems like the worst of both worlds....

The doors will be 'poor walls' in that they will be limited in what they can carry, weight, etc. So you cant load them up like you would a regular wall

The doors will be 'poor doors' in that they will need to be massively heavy, and will be difficult to move, perhaps difficult to seal.

Basically the tradeoffs in design and execution seem to be opposed.

Make cool doors- roller, swing, pivot, accordion, whatever. Nice, insulted, crisply sealing.... Then spend $$$$ on high quality roller chests, cabinets, shelves, etc to set in front of the doors..... But there is utterly no reason to hang these on the door.

My 2 cents

 

[robotmickey]

All fair thoughts

Not much snow here in Phoenix haha, but a good point about having things outside when the doors are open.

 

[PNWguy]

It'll take a serious hinge, and I'd consider putting a caster at the bottom of the door to carry some of the weight.

I had a really wide (48"?) solid core door on my garage/shop many years ago, and never worked well. I don't know if it was the hinges, the framing or what, but it always sagged a bit.

 

[johnnyradiant]

I would not swing the doors personally, but I won't say you shouldn't. If you do, I will suggest not using drywall it's strength to weight ratio *****, and will likely crack or pop. A skin of plywood is stronger and more likely to play nice with staying put.

The man door to my woodshop is a homemade 4' door. It's 30 yrs old and only needs to be replaced now because there was nothing to protect it from the rain splash. To give you an idea of rain here Nov. was 29 out of 30 rain days, and January was 26 out of 31. I never had an issue with the hinges or the jamb. Of course the jamb was some reclaimed lumber - Douglas Fir 4x8, so it has plenty of beef for holding a screw, and the door. Standard ext. door thickness - 2-3/4", used 1/4" door skins glued to milled 2X cedar frame filled with styrofoam insulation.

 

[kbs2244]

Hinge strength and weather sealing ( if you are going to AC) are the problems I see.
A caster for when opening and a support for when closed would be needed.
Wall construction would be a balance between strength to hold the bench and weight tto be movable.

 

[gahrajmahal]

I personally think it is a great idea. As someone working out of a 2 car garage that always has two cars in it, wall space is always at a premium. I have most of my ceiling in use too. This is a very common door in Europe as the garages are usually one car with a low ceiling. Strong hinges are not difficult to come by. Many have a regular man door built into them. The occasional wide open door, as you said will not be a problem having your stuff outside. If it was my setup I would take advantage of the work bench mounted to the door and make it for dirty work on one door, then I would swing open that door for grinding, welding or sawing. Blow off all the dust then close the door and shop back up. Keep searching for photos and ideas. I am sure you will find some solid examples.

 

[robotmickey]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I will continue to brainstorm as well. Perhaps a wall construction similar to a camping trailer? Like a welded aluminum 1x1 or 1x2 tube frame with solid foam insulation and an outdoor/coated aluminum sheathing? Maybe you could even double up with 1x1 and make sort a of cage frame that is 5-6inches thick for more conventional/better insulation.

 

[dd-ardvark]

Yes to answer your question..., I built such a door.

I'll try to find time tomorrow and post a drawing for you.

David

 

[ard]

That will look great in 29 years....

 

[driftpin]

Seen a Delorean anywhere around there, with an electrical pigtail to catch the wire from the village clock tower?

That will look great in 29 years....

 

[rsparks64]

I knew there was time travel.

 

[dd-ardvark]

You know I love smart asses.

I started not to post these and I thought screw it.

 

[ard]

As a photographer...

there's a menu to turn off the date (even the correct date) messing up your pictures.

 

[dd-ardvark]

As promised that sketch and a descript:

Having a small garage (13' x 28' x 9') one quickly becomes space conscientious and I kept thinking if that roll back door wasn't there, I could put in a car lift.
So when I built these triple articulated garage doors 2011, I never posted the details.
- Thought I'd add to the collective mind and share this with you..., nothing else but for the space saving idea.

I built these with shelves on the two outboard sections and a man door in the middle.
And as you can see, these hinge at the outer board, 10" past the 9' wide openning.
The doors are 0.75”x3'x7' plywood backed with 2x12's as shelving.
The facade is 2x4 and 6's with mirrored plexiglass to appear as windows from the street.
The center man door uses a stainless piano hinge.
The side door hinges are 6" wide - 3 each side.
The wall half is 9" long and is bolted through the concrete.
The two upper door half's are 24" long and the bottom is 18", these extend out between the plywood and facade.

This door with 2x12's as shelving and being hinged on the outside of the house still doesn't encroach in as much as the placement of the original fiberglass door it replaced.

Anyway, enjoy David / dd-ardvark

 

[oldcpecdr]

Mr AArdvark

How about pictures of the CARS

Mike B

 

[dd-ardvark]

PhotoBucket link to your request.

http://s1356.photobucket.com/user/d...MAGANATIVE OPEN MINDED THINKING?sort=3&page=1