workshop doors

[aurelio alarcon]

I am building a very small workshop. It will be about 12 by 14 feet. I want to install a garage style door that is available on most houses today. I wanted to make it about 6 feet wide bu am not sure if this size is offered or has to be specially ordered. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[Dan Stuewe]

Don't know much about garage door sizes, but if I were to be building a workshop I would do what I could to have barn type doors so that nothing inside (celing storage or wall storage) is blocked when the door is open.

[Gary Whitt]

Awwwww man........

Another one with a bigger shop than mine! :mad:

I have double doors that swing out. They're only about 4 feet wide.
Makes me l'il shack look bigger!

Like Dan said, you don't want any part of a door inside a small shop.

[John Miliunas]

Agreed with Dan and Gary! Particularly in a smaller shop, you want to maximize any and ALL interior space. You could probably utilize some overhead space (boards, cutoffs, air filter, etc...), as well as hang lighting up there and not have it obscured if you open the doors in fair weather. :cool:

[Rob Littleton]

with that big of a space, I would put a single door and use the wall space to its fullest.

Thats me though :-)

[Jim Becker]

You can get "garage doors" of the size you want or even smaller...they are sold for golf carts and other utility uses...but I'll echo eveyone else....not a good idea. When up, they block the lights and anything else overhead. Go with a double outswinging door set or even a very wide single door that swings out. Why out? So the doors don't take up shop space when open. See my comments about security hinges in Jim K's shop thread.

[John Weber]

You might check into a roll up door like some of the more expensive sheds have. Another option is to find a nice name brand french door set on clearance at one of the box stores. I see them regularly, special order items that are never picked up, wrong color, or slightly damaged. Can sometimes be had for as little as $75 for a good quality decent door.

John

[aurelio alarcon]

you all give such excellent ideas. The use of the space over head is going to be very important to me once I start accumalating wood as John points out. I like the idea of double swing out doors that Gary mentions. I also like Dan's idea of setting up barn doors to maximize space. And then again, Rob's idea of a large door to maximze wall space also sounds nice. But the French doors might be the nicest. One problem is that I have to worry about security. The shop is located at the rear of the lot, and I don't believe that I will sleep soundly without something that is more secure than french doors. Well Jim, you had me excited at first. I thought hmmmm a golf cart sized door, that would be sweet. But then you echoed what everyone else had to say-- space and it's maximization is a priority. I don't think that I could afford those compact roll up industrial types, but that would be ideal John. I am leaning towards a very large door that swings out or double hung barn like set up like Dan suggests. I am going to try to incorporate all this excellent advise. Thank you all for your input (I would hate to build the darn thing and find out about a better set-up once I had finished.