Carriage Doors

[Dick Sylvan]

I am planning to replace my current garage doors with a set of carriage doors. Has anyone built a set? Have plans or sources? Thanks.

[Warren Clemans]

I'm doing the same thing. There are lots of companies that make them. See, for example, http://evergreencarriagedoors.com/designs.htm. You can find lots of good design ideas on the web. My biggest challenge was finding lumber of sufficient dimension and quality. I'm making the doors 1-3/4" thick. I found a good source of 8/4 x 8" vg fir last weekend (at Crosscut Hardwoods in Seattle). It's expensive, but I only want to build these things once. My original plan was to use good quality fir framing lumber, but I would have had to laminate the stock to get the thickness that I needed. It may have been slightly more stable to do it that way, but a lot more work.

How big of an opening are you filling? Mine is a little under 12', so I'm using 4 doors, bi-fold style. I'm still trying to figure out an overhead track system to prevent sagging. Do a search on SMC--there are some good ideas floating around.

I got a quote of around $5,000 to have these built--and that was for the doors only, no hardware. Spent $650 on lumber (ouch), so I figure I can buy a new bandsaw and still come out ahead.

I'm sure looking forward to having my doors done so I can get down to building furniture, rather than building my shop...

[Larry Rasmussen]

We need a new door to replace our sagging 16 footer. I've entertained the idea of posting the middle and splitting it up somehow, me on one side and my wife's Accura on the other. Didn't realize I could find a remote for a carriage door. I'm in Seattle as well and noticed an ad on Craig's list for a place up across the border that sells reclaimed fir for flooring in I think 6 and 8 inch widths also have some 2X. Who am I kidding? By the time you go to Canada..... I'll be out standing in front of the garage if anybody needs me.

Larry