Carriage-House Style garage door construction technique.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

This is a Carriage-House Style garage door construction technique that blends the functionallity of an overhead garage door with the curb appeal of a Carriage-House Style door. This technique applies "veneer" wood boards onto a standard metal overhead garage door using hidden fastners in a way that allows for natural seasonal wood movement. It also creates a 1/16" airspace between the boards and overhead garage door panels so the wood can breathe.

Supported by a 2X4 easel, the garage door panels are stacked and temporarily fastened to the easel in the order they will be installed. Aluminum J channel is applied horizontally on the bottom and top of all the panels using pop rivets to attach - see picture 3.

The top and bottom ends of each stile and panel board are milled as shown in picture 4 .

J channel is used to hold all the stiles and panel boards vertically and L clips that fit into 1/16" routed slots on the back of each board holds the boards horizontally (side-to-side) - see picture 4, 5.

Picture 6 shows a panel board being installed in place by pop riveting the L clip to the garage door panel. The panel board is spaced away from the previous panel board by the removeable 1/16" aluminum spacer shown between them. This removeable spacer also properly aligns the panel boards vertically.

The top, bottom and intermediate rails are attached to the garage door panels by sliding the router slotted rail in between two previously properly attached J channels running the length of the rail - see picture 7, 8.

The L clips are made from the J channel and the J channel is an item commonly available in 10' lengths at semi tractor trailer repair supply houses like Stoops Freightliner in Indianapolis.

The stiles and rails are 1 ¼" X 5 ½" and the panel boards are ¾"X 3". Lap joinery is used throughout. All edges are routed with 1/8" round-over, sanded and stained before installed. After installation, the stile and rail edges are distressed by an orbital sander, then restained with a contrasting stain.

The overhead door was ordered from Coplay with springs sized for the extra 135 pounds added to the garage door. They also provided extended brackets to allow for an extra 1-1/2" door thickness.

My wife's garage is shown in the picture - I installed another on our house. They have withstood two years of Indiana weather and look like they were installed yesterday. This same technique was used on a 3' exterior entry door on our shed. I am fabricating another one for my 1835 hand-hewn log building located next to my home - it was my cabinet shop from 1975 to1984. I outgrew that wonderful shop and built a new one on a nearby four-lane highway.

I had a 30 year career practicing my passion - woodworking. I no longer hire out, but I do have the pleasure of doing projects like this.

[Andrew Hughes]

Thanks for sharing your carriage door they look excellent.And you have given me the idea I needed to build pass thru doors on my shop.Happy fathers day

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Thanks Andrew for your nice comment.


Additional pictures for Carriage-House style garage door;

Pic 1: Layout of cedar stock with edge forming done. Each piece of cedar stock has three sets of letters/numbers marked on it before cut. These letters/numbers will identify their exact location on the previously marked garage door panels.
Pic 2: Cut pieces stacked in order.
Pic 3: 4: More installation pictures.
Pic 5: Router setup for cutting ends of stile and panel boards.
Pic 6: Router setup for L clip slot on backs of stiles and panel boards.
Pic 7: Our house carriage garage door.
Pic 8: My current woodworking project - our new farm style dining table. Normally, it will be 34" X 5', but it will extend to 14' to seat 16 people. I have finished the top part of the table which is eight 15 ½" wide (solid, not glued up) cherry boards 34" long with walnut inlay on the four corners of table. The legs and apron will be walnut with cherry inlay. The wood was cut from the woods on my farm. (I know this picture is off topic but I could not resist).

[Ryan Wood]

The doors look great.

[Thomas Bank]

Well executed! I suppose that for an existing door you'd have to get a new spring and could shim the brackets off of the jamb the required distance for the new facade.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Thomas, thank you for your nice comment. In paragraph 9, I did mention the heaver springs and extended brackets. The people at Clopay were very eager to accommodate my needs. They even suggested I get their commercial hardware and there was no additional cost for the heavier springs and extended brackets.


Thank you Ryan. I remember when I was near your age I built my first major woodworking project - a red canvas covered canoe with bent ash framework. Wow, that canoe sure got me excited about woodworking! That was 45 years ago. It now hangs from the rafters of my old wood shop. I have not used it for 30 years. Maybe I will get it down this summer and paddle down White River. Nice to still have a woodworking project I made in my teenage years.

[Scott T Smith]

Fascinating project and a great design! Thanks for sharing.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Thanks Scott! Wow that is a big log in your profile picture!

[Aaron Berk]

Thanks for sharing.
I was trying to grasp the concept in the magazine article, but they didn't do you justice.

Thanks for sharing all the details and better pictures.

You did a fantastic job

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Thanks for the complement Aaron. Fine Homebuilding did not devote enough space in their magazine to describe the technique.

Check out a post with a picture of the corner inlay on my newest project; http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?187667-Waterlox-original-sealer-finish-Question&p=1943799#post1943799

[Francis Ethun]

Great design, and thank you for posting it. Could you tell me what size, and type of rivet you used, as well as the brand of gun that you get a glimpse of in the photos? Thanks Francis Ethun

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Great design, and thank you for posting it. Could you tell me what size, and type of rivet you used, as well as the brand of gun that you get a glimpse of in the photos? Thanks Francis Ethun

Francis, thank you for your comment. I used Marson Klik-Fast stock #40212 AB4-2A 1/8" Dia. button head pop rivets with a grip range of 1/16" - 1/8" with aluminum mandrel.

I used two different compressed air driven pop rivet guns. The one in the picture was the first one and it broke down early in the project. I payed $95 a few years ago for it and it is JUNK. The second one was purchased from Harbor Freight (stock #93458) for $39. http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=pop+rivet. It comes with spare parts to replace the parts that normally wear and the oil for the canister. Sometimes you wonder about buying a tool like this at Harbor Freight but I was very pleasantly surprised. Harbor freight has another one for $70 but it cannot work any better than the $40 one.

[Larry Frank]

That is an exceptional piece of work. Thanks for all the pictures showing how you made it.

I have nothing but good things to say about Clopay Garage Doors. I have several of their doors and they are great. In addition, when I have needed a part they were extremely helpful.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Wow!!! What a great way to add warmth and character to a steel garage door. I'm not sure where my wife would put this on the priority list, but I know if she saw it, she'd be happy to think I might get around to doing something similar for our garage. Excellent piece of ingenuity.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Wow!!! What a great way to add warmth and character to a steel garage door. I'm not sure where my wife would put this on the priority list, but I know if she saw it, she'd be happy to think I might get around to doing something similar for our garage. Excellent piece of ingenuity.


Joe, thanks! The doors have certainly added character to our home.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

That is an exceptional piece of work. Thanks for all the pictures showing how you made it.

I have nothing but good things to say about Clopay Garage Doors. I have several of their doors and they are great. In addition, when I have needed a part they were extremely helpful.


Larry thanks for the comment. The customer service is key to success in any business - I admire Coplay for their customer service.

[Jerry Olexa]

VERY nice work...A labor of love..very well done!!! You should be proud.

[Jerry Hillenburg]

VERY nice work...A labor of love..very well done!!! You should be proud.

Jerry, thanks for the complement. Jerry

[Jeff Monson]

Jerry, that is very nice!! I love the warmth that it adds to the look of a regular old garage door. What did you use on the top panel, for the appearance of glass? Also what do you finish your cedar with??

[Jerry Hillenburg]

Jerry, that is very nice!! I love the warmth that it adds to the look of a regular old garage door. What did you use on the top panel, for the appearance of glass? Also what do you finish your cedar with??

Jeff, thank you for the complement.

I used individual pieces of tinted acrylic separated by mullions for the window panels. I did not want actual windows in the door so I did not cut out window openings in the top Cloplay overhead steel door panel. I felt insulation value would be lost, the door would be less secure, and bugs would be attracted. I was told by the plastic supplier that acrylic is less susceptible to scratching than other plastics that that could have been used.

I finished the all the stiles, rails and panel boards with a brownish black custom mixed Cabot exterior transparent stain. After staining, I distressed edges of the stiles and rails with an orbital sander, then restained the stiles and rails with Cabot Mahogany Flame Australian Timber Oil . That made the stiles and rails stand out. I did not used a surface finish like polyurethane.