Thread: Barn Style Garage Doors

I'm going to make doors like that for my next shed which will be happening soon.

Sorry dunno anyone in Sydney, you could try Joinery shops or gate manufacturers

You will have problems opening them automatically I think.

Opener mechanisms are about $800 a set, and consist of the control box (with optional battery backup), two motor units, and associated bracketry.

On all the units I have seen (operating gates), the brackets extend about 250mm back beyond the face, and the gates normally open inward. In this configuration, the system is not particularly obvious from the street whether the gates are open or closed.

Unless you have a very long garage, I suspect that you won't want the mechanisms swing the doors inwards to open, and if the the mechanisms are located on the outer face of the doors/garage, they are fairly ugly, exposed to tampering, and the bracketry is a hazard for pedestrian traffic if the garage is close to the property boundary.

As for the doors themselves, they are normally each two stiles, three rails and a pair of braces running uphill from the lower outer corner to upper inner corner of the bay. Can be made out of timber or welded from steel, and then clad with your choice of timber or metal.

Have a set on the garage at my inherited rental that are framed in 120 x 25 hardwood and clad with hardwood flooring. Haven't dropped since they were made in the fifties, but a tennant did split a couple T&G segments when here car rolled 7m down the drive into the edge of one open door.

I have outward swinging gates and the drive mounts on the back of my pillar.
The arms are a little longer than the inward swinging, but for such a door, this is no real problem.

the only suggestion from the gate manufacturer was to mount the swing arm in the middle of the gate. I didn't, i mounted it at the bottom and they have worked fine for years.

I was looking at doing the exact same think that Calbung wants to do. Use larger motors to swing such a large door. It's the inertia that you want to stop, not the fact that you want to get the thing going. i also mounted my gates on a thrust washer arrangement, this works so well, that i can open the gate with one finger. A good greasing now and then is all thats needed to keep it working in good shape.

As malb says, should be quite easy to make yourself.( the doors that is)

Originally Posted by seafurymike

I have outward swinging gates and the drive mounts on the back of my pillar.
The arms are a little longer than the inward swinging, but for such a door, this is no real problem.

SFM, If the gates swing out, and the drive is from behind, don't the brackets or drive lingages end up in the opening when the gates are open? Or does your system have something else to avoid this?

Mal