Garage Door

[James Jayko]

Hey All, I've got a boathouse at the lake, which has a garage door to get the boat out. It was clearly made by a contractor due to the odd size etc. It appears to have been there for quite a while and its falling apart.

Its a traditional roll up garage door with a powered opener; 4-5 sections connected to one another with hinges. Does anyone know of any good resources / tutorials / YouTube videos talking about how to build a door like this? Seems fairly straight forward, but I'd take a good resource if it existed...

[Zachary Hoyt]

I built a couple of ugly but functional doors by taking the hardware from free old doors on Craigslist and making the panels from 2x2 rough pine and flat rolls of the galvalume material that they use to make metal roofing. I needed doors that were about 11 feet wide for a new building at the farm where I used to work. I'm sure for a boathouse you'd want a more elegant solution, but any panel that is flat and has enough thickness for the fasteners.

[Jim Becker]

Since you have the original panels (and hardware) to measure from, it shouldn't be a difficult operation to construct new panels to replace the old ones using wood frame, foam insulation and thinner material to skin them. They can essentially be torsion boxes which are strong but reasonably light in weight. Your bottom panel should use something like PT for the rail that is close to the floor and your exterior skin should be something appropriate for a weather environment.

[Jim Morgan]

Be very careful with the torsion springs! They are under a great deal of tension, and releasing them without taking appropriate precautions can result in serious injuries.

[Bill Dufour]

Consider using fabric over metal or wood frames. used in some aircraft hangers. They let in light.
Bill D.

https://www.shipyarddoor.com/hangar-door

[Lee Schierer]

Many years ago I made a garage door out of T-11 siding and 2 x 4's. It lasted o my garage for 20 years. If I had used treated lumber it would have lasted even longer. I ripped left the 2x4's whole, cut a dado the full length to fit the T-11. I cut mortise and tenons in the rails and stiles. I made a total of 4 panels 12 feet long by 24" tall. I used regular garage door hinges and rollers from an old garage door. I weighed the panels individually and used the total weight to purchase the correct extension springs. The door was strictly manually operated and work quite well until the rails started getting soft from rot. You could probably build the door using lap joints and rip the 2x4's in half with larger panels.
Here is an old picture of the 16 x 24 building and the door.
501805

[Rich Engelhardt]

In my younger dumber years, I'd be out there wasting good fishing time fixing a broke door.

Now - I call a guy.

While he installs a new metal light weight door and modifies the opening so it fits, I spend my time on the lake - not even bothering to watch what he's doing ;).

(sorry - it's a beautiful day outside & it's killing me I can't go fishing anymore)

[Tom Bender]

What Rich said, reinforced by what James said.

If you make a door the springs will probably be wrong for the weight.

If you make panels from boards and they warp it will bind.

Or you could patch up what you have.