New Shop- have a door question.

[backhertz]

After over a year, my new wood workshop is almost completed. It will be 12 by 20 feet built onto the rear of my single car garage. So I have either a 20 foot shop or if I include the entire garage, it is 41 feet long. I'll be separating the shop from the garage with some kind of roll up door. We had a new master bedroom built atop the garage. I figured if we did that for the wife, I should get something out of it. We are also having a shed-type roof built with trusses for a solar panel system. The roof is almost 20 by 43 feet. A 10 KW solar panel system will be put on top of it. The shed roof is at a 30 degree angle and faces South. But anyhow, I need some kind of door. I lost any extra headroom we had with a bedroom built above the garage. The ceiling in the garage is 7 foot 7 inches. Fortunately, we put the collar ties as high as possible so I have much more headroom in the workshop itself. Thanks in advance.

[charlese]

Tough question - to advise on! The only rule I know about shop doors is two fold.
a) Big enough to bring wood in and projects out
b) The bigger the door = less wall space

[a1gutterman]

After over a year, my new wood workshop is almost completed. It will be 12 by 20 feet built onto the rear of my single car garage. So I have either a 20 foot shop or if I include the entire garage, it is 41 feet long. I'll be separating the shop from the garage with some kind of roll up door. We had a new master bedroom built atop the garage. I figured if we did that for the wife, I should get something out of it. We are also having a shed-type roof built with trusses for a solar panel system. The roof is almost 20 by 43 feet. A 10 KW solar panel system will be put on top of it. The shed roof is at a 30 degree angle and faces South. But anyhow, I need some kind of door. I lost any extra headroom we had with a bedroom built above the garage. The ceiling in the garage is 7 foot 7 inches. Fortunately, we put the collar ties as high as possible so I have much more headroom in the workshop itself. Thanks in advance.

Howdy, backhertz,

You only have so many choices. Since you state that you want "some kind of roll up door", you will not consider A) pocket doors in the wall; B) normal hinged door (double door); C) a bi-fold style door; D) a sliding door on a rail, or; E) a sliding glass door.

You could choose from A) a single piece swing up garage door; B) a sectional roll-up garage door; or...C) a roll up garage door that actually does "roll up" into a roll. They are available with an electric motor or a continuos chain to manually roll it up.

You could even use an accordion style fabric door, like they use in schools or hotel meeting rooms, for room dividers.

I hope these ideas were helpful.

[Ed in Tampa]

I think Chucks point B "door= less wall space" needs to be really thought on. I rarely have problems getting things in or out of my shop but I do run out of wall space almost daily.

Make sure you door is postioned so you can bring in or out the longest piece of wood your shop will accomodate. Second make sure you door is sized and positioned so you can bring in full sheet of ply. If you have a truck or carry you ply flat then consider having at least a 4 ft wide door so you can slide the sheets right in.

In my old house up north I have a basement shop. I slide long pieces in the shop window and I had an walk down outside stair into the shop for sheet goods.

I once build my fishing boat in the basement shop and turning it on it's side I was able to take it out the door. So big things can be moved if you can meet those two criteria.

Will there ever be something too big to get in or out? But there are ways around that and building now to cover all those once in a lifetime type things eats up wall space.

Hey if worst comes to worst you can always cut a larger doorway or even tear out the wall later.
Ed

[dusty]

I think I am probably safe.

When it gets too big to get in and out of the door (double garage) I will have taken on more than I can handle. I'm not likely to get there anymore. I am just not that ambitious.

[8iowa]

If you take a look at my avatar, you will see that my shop has two double doors on both first and second stories. My shop was originally a garage package purchased from Menards. I quickly ruled out the standard type garage door. I didn't want to have to contend with all that mechanism overhead inside, and besides, I would have had to have a separate entry door taking up even more wall space.

I also put a double door on the second story where I store and dry wood. This makes it easy to move wood in or out standing in the bed of my pick-up truck. (I also have a stairway to the loft inside the shop)

[backhertz]

Thanks guys. I should probably explain a little more. I'll have a set of double doors on the rear right side of the shop. I am trying to separate the rear of of what was only a single car garage from the work shop which could be considered a second car garage on the first one. I would like to keep the dust & chips in one area for the cheapest cost. I want to be able to use an insulated type of door being I will have an air conditioner to keep the shop cool.
Below is an depiction of the garage (g) & shop (s). d= front door location. ?= rear door location. D=rear double door.

ggdddddgg
g.............g
g.............g
g.............g
g.............g
g.............g
g.............g
g ????????g
s.............s
s.............s
D............s
D............s
s.............s
s.............s
s.............s
sssssssssss

[Ed in Tampa]

Backhertz
Why not just use a garage door? I would install it so it opens into the garage instead of the shop. That way all the overhead hardware would be in the garage and not the shop. The side that would normally face outside on a garage door would face into your shop. You could insulate the door and weather strip it and it would serve your purpose, enable you to open the space up if you ever needed and insulated would allow to heat and cool your shop.

The other choice you have would be swing open doors. I would make them swing into the garage again so you would have more shop space.

Let us know what you decide
Ed

[billmayo]

Where I had a real need for floor and wall space on each side of a partition wall, I have used a pair of pocket doors (18" to 36" available for each door). I used 2X4 stubs flat on each side to hold cabinets with the pocket door between the flat 2X4s. You can use a various coverings for the walls. This also allowed room for electrical boxes on each wall side of where the pocket door is when opened.

[regnar]

you could use a accordion type of door http://www.accordion-door.com/folding-d ... -door.html