Replaced Garage Door

[deerfield]

Built this roll up door for the small garage at our house. Finished yesterday.

The original four-panel roll up was hollow core. It suffered from (my) neglect and needed replacement. New door from a home supply center is $500 - $1,000. So I decided to buy stock lumber and make my own roll up door.

Used the original panels as templates, transferred their measurements to 1/4 inch sheet plywood, and created the square pattern with pine trim. Braces and hinges still worked okay, but replaced the original carriage bolts.

The panels are heavy. Midway through the project I became concerned that what I had saved on the door I would end up spending on a stronger lift mechanism. In the end, my concern was misplaced as the lift works just fine with the new door.

I spent about $180 on lumber and $30 on hardware. None of the building supply centers (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards) carries weather seal for a wooden door. So I bought an eight-foot length of 1” soft PVC tubing and screwed it to the bottom edge. Cost about $7 and works just fine.

While I was in project mode, I scraped, primed, and repainted the garage shingles and put up a gutter and downspout. Got rid of the Hansel and Gretel style trim hanging along the front edge of the roof and upgraded to motion sensor alley lights. Last fall I pulled the old wiring, relocated switch boxes and lights, and ran conduit.

Had I to do over again, I would still go the do-it-yourself route on the roll up door. Saved money and gave me confidence to take on some other projects. The house was built in ’37 and always needs attention.

Cheers.