Top-Swing Garage Door on a Budget?

[ArmchairArchitect]

Anyone have experienced building or installing one of these? Either hydraulic w/motor and remote control (preferred), hydraulic manually operated, or something with counter-weights.

I want one of the these as the depth of my garage + 4 post lift so I need a door that goes out rather than inside the garage. Not to mention the top swing door provides an awning and shade when open, and since the garage is south-facing, having another shaded area would be nice when working on the cars.

Debating whether to build one on my own or purchasing a kit. I emailed a couple manufacturers (Schweiss and Crown so far) and waiting to hear back on pricing, but I assume their kits are expensive. Curious what it would take/how difficult it would be to build one (would a door built from wood work, or would it have too much flex or weight given the top swing)?

My garage shown below. Once existing doors are removed and rough opening widened, it will be approx. 10 or 12 feet wide x 8.5 feet tall, but I can adjust the rough opening dimensions to accommodate standard sizes for doors.

Examples:

https://www.crowndoors.com/single-swing/

 

[nadogail]

One piece doors in this area are spring counterbalanced and use electric openers.

Do you get snow in Philadelphia? Snow against the base of the door may well impede opening.

 

[ArmchairArchitect]

One piece doors in this area are spring counterbalanced and use electric openers.

Do you get snow in Philadelphia? Snow against the base of the door may well impede opening.

Very rarely but it can be easily shoveled away prior to opening the door, so a non-issue. Good consideration though, thanks for that input.

I think I know what style door you are talking about, but believe the top part of those doors swing inside the garage rather than fully out like in the picture above? If so, it would swing right into my lift/car.

 

[txvwnut]

Look up hangar door and you’ll get more info. If you install in your current opening you will loose about six inches or so of opening height due to door framing. These have an independent frame setup as the building framing is not able to take the forces applied when the door is opening and in the open position. The other thing is they ain’t cheap.

 

[Lynden]

Would a bi-fold hangar door work in your situation? There are quite a few YouTube videos which show different types of hangar doors.

 

[ArmchairArchitect]

Quote from Scwhweiss was $17k not including installation- yikes!

Yeah Bifold is an option if significantly more cost effective; just prefer the one piece.

 

[cvairwerks]

Bifold will loose you about 2 feet in height when open...

 

[Lynden]

Not to mention the top swing door provides an awning and shade when open, and since the garage is south-facing, having another shaded area would be nice when working on the cars.

I assume that's a public sidewalk in front of your garage. Will the city allow an 8-foot high door to swing out, up and over the sidewalk? Most cities prefer (require?) sectional doors when there is no setback between the front of the garage and the back of the public sidewalk. Also, will the city allow you to work on your cars on the sidewalk? Mine doesn't.

 

[matt_i]

You could probably build your own if you are experienced with hydraulics.

There are some downsides but I think it would be cheaper than what I think are custom ballscrew actuators.

As mentioned lots of forces on the frame! Without a clean sheet it could get expensive to build the required structure....

I would also study the look of the closure above the door, how its weatherproofed, etc.

 

[txvwnut]

There are some downsides but I think it would be cheaper than what I think are custom ballscrew actuators.QUOTE]


All of the hangar door setups I've looked at all use hydraulics. I don't think there's an actuator strong enough to lift a 500lb plus door on and end hinge setup.

Thing you gotta remember with these is not only is the frame a super structure so is the door to support the forces applied and when open. I looked at several bi-fold door setups and those are actually the easiest to build as a DIY setup. But as stated before you loose two feet of overhead clearance.

 

[matt_i]

I feel like if a person robbed these off a Diacro press brake they would open the door just by torque alone...





The twist generated on these eccentrics give 70,000 lbs of downward push. There are Diacro press brakes made up to 100 ton/200,000 lbs = more actuators and larger/more powerful rotary acutators.

 

[ArmchairArchitect]

I assume that's a public sidewalk in front of your garage. Will the city allow an 8-foot high door to swing out, up and over the sidewalk? Most cities prefer (require?) sectional doors when there is no setback between the front of the garage and the back of the public sidewalk. Also, will the city allow you to work on your cars on the sidewalk? Mine doesn't.

Yeah, I already studied the building code and there is nothing preventing it. I don't work on my cars on the sidewalk, I work on them in the garage, but the sun still gets into the garage because it's south facing. Hangar door would help with shade.

 

[ArmchairArchitect]

There are some downsides but I think it would be cheaper than what I think are custom ballscrew actuators.QUOTE]


All of the hangar door setups I've looked at all use hydraulics. I don't think there's an actuator strong enough to lift a 500lb plus door on and end hinge setup.

Thing you gotta remember with these is not only is the frame a super structure so is the door to support the forces applied and when open. I looked at several bi-fold door setups and those are actually the easiest to build as a DIY setup. But as stated before you loose two feet of overhead clearance.

Thanks all the for the responses.

Yeah, one of my concerns with a one-piece top swing door is that while the hydraulics can hold it open, there is stress on the rest of the garage structure because of forces pulling away from the garage. Could present an issue over time with the front wall of the garage wanting to pull away from the rest of the garage (unless I go for a pretty light aluminum-framed door).

Much prefer one piece top swing with hydraulics, but if bifold helps prevent this, as well as being easier and cheaper to build, that might be the option I'm forced into.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Picture of the OP's garage (you need to change "https" to "http" for imgur images to appear here.)

 

[firebirdparts]

I don't think a bifold would be easy to build at all. once it's mostly open the force on the tracks will be enormous. I'm not sure what all the mechanical features are to deal with that. A big counterweight would be nice, but you need somewhere for it to go.

 

[imjustdave]

So I have been reading and looking at these doors a long time, goal is to install on my soon to be built garage.

Schweiss aka bifold.com has been really helpful on the phone and honestly they have a lot of info on the website; way more than other brands, other brands almost hold back info. I admit they tend to flaunt some of the really big brand name catching work or crazy high end stuff "can't fault them" but they also show the simple farmer, airplane owner and have tons of photos. I suspect I have almost read every page.

Usually if people have issues it's not hard to find complaint online, but cost is about the only negative I have found so far.

For your situation I know they make a free standing header and I would give them a call and see what they can do for you. From what I can tell they have the engineering down and know what they are doing.

They also have a build your own door option... not sure the details but just throwing it out there.

If I can swing the $$ I think I'm going to get one....

 

[Don Nguyen]

Wanted to bump this, cause I am looking at possibly trying to build something similar to the full single door swing out as well. I contacted bifold/schweiss and their prices are pretty pricey right now, but I am sure for good reason. It's just more than what I would want for my relatively more basic garage/set up.

 

[kbs2244]

the search ytube for shop doors still holds true for DIY ideas

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

What about a tilt up/canopy style door. They used to be fairly popular. They do go inside the garage (not as far as a sectional door) and do extend out (not as far as what you are showing).

 

[Walkers]

I think that what you are looking at and the word budget do not belong in the same sentence, unless, of course, you change the word slightly to over budget.

 

[oilslick]

These doors are great, I put a light strip horizontally on our 40’ door at my work place. It’s nice to work under it as an awning , seals good in winter too.

 

[Don Nguyen]

These doors are great, I put a light strip horizontally on our 40’ door at my work place. It’s nice to work under it as an awning , seals good in winter too.

What manufacturer did you go with or did you make one yourselves?

 

[AndyL]

Depending how much headroom...

I've often theorized we could do an awesome residential multiblade.

Each blade is counterweighted, chain driven bottom blade, interlocking so the bottom blade pulls down / lifts up the blade above. occasionally they use a fancy chain drive to make them all arrive full open simultaneously.

But it's a fairly simple construction at the end of the day.