Carriage house style wooden garage doors - pls comment on these c

15 years ago

Hello all -

Just wondering if I've covered all the bases in looking for a carriage house style paint-grade wooden garage door (size is 16 wide by 6'9" tall) for our Craftsman-style house.

So far, I've got prices from the following:

Wayne Dalton (don't care for the steel "wood look", even though they claim it looks like wood, but the price is great - $2500)

Access (price is $4000 but wood door is not very well-insulated, although we live in San Diego so it probably doesn't matter much. Door is taller than we need, but they claim they can somehow smush a 7' door up into the header and make it look okay in our 6'9" height opening as long as we're okay with losing 2-3" of the top reveal)

Ranch House (decent price of $35000 for the semi-custom model but the design is not perfect and has an extra rail across the bottom; they also have a custom door which would get us the exact look we want, but it's way too expensive at about $6000)

Carriage House door (where we can get a custom door close to our design and in our size for about $4200)

Clopay, which has nice design, but is not exactly what we're hoping for; it's a steel door with some kind of a wood overlay for $3500.

Which would you pick and why? Or, are there better options that I haven't found? Our builder has given us an allowance of $3500, and we'd love to stay within that, if possible. This is so difficult!

THANKS IN ADVANCE -

Susan

Featured Answer

yadax3

15 years ago

Assuming you are referring to the Ranch House collection by Overhead Door, we have had the series #147 for a couple of years now. The door is very nice and, as long as you apply stain once a year, not too difficult to maintain. However, in our area snow has built up outside of our door causing water to seep into the garage when it melted. As a result we recently purchased and installed plastic strips (will paint to match the trim color on the building) to seal around the top and sides of the door and prevent water seepage. Since they will blend in with the trim around the door, the strips won't noticably detract from the appearance of the door. We also had to relocate the hardware on the door because the sealing strips covered the ends of the metal faux hinges.

We also replaced the thin rubber gasket on the bottom of the door with a p-trap type rubber seal and attached a rubber threshhold to the garage floor for good measure.

We have the same type of sealing system around the steel doors on another garage, so I'm not suggesting the water problem is specific to wood doors. I just want you to know there may be gaps around your door once it is installed and, depending on your climate, you may have to install some type of seals to keep the weather out.

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Comments (8)

susan3733
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi yadax3 -

Thanks for the info.

I was actually referring to a company called Ranch House Doors (here on the west coast) that makes carriage house style doors, but now that I know Overhead Door makes this style, I will look into it.

Also, I realized that I added an extra zero when I wrote that the Ranch House quote was $35000 !! That would have definitely taken them off the list.

Thanks again,
Susan
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yadax3
15 years ago
I suspected the 35K was a typo as my door only cost me 20K (just kidding - smile).
delaniemarie
14 years ago
Check out Raynor.com. They have several grades of wood carraige house doors. They are an excellent door company that stands behind there products.
jeremy_rcd
14 years ago
To respond to yadax3's comments about snowmelt: The fact that a roll-up door sits behind the wall and jamb is what makes it hard to weatherseal. Swing-out carriage doors are basically an oversized outswing entry door. And just like an entry door, get a great weatherseal as they close tightly against a doorstop. If the space is still for cars, that rubber threshold works great for this type of door as well. I agree with you, susan3733, about metal doors made to 'look' like wood. Like the great architects say, let the material be what it wants to be. Solid wood is beautiful, I encourage you to take a close look in that which you are investing.

Cheers!
Jeremy

Here is a link that might be useful: Real Carriage Doors
betsy_anne
14 years ago
Just to throw one more possiblity - we have wooden carriage style doors from Designer Doors for 2+ years and have been very pleased with the fit, insulation and durability.

Here is a link that might be useful: Designer Doors
mattjohn
14 years ago
I recently helped a friend replace their garage door. They used to have a double door made of solid wood. They replaced it with a new insulated one. We changed the tracks got the right extension springs, and the door opens fine when we manually open it. Once we hook up the old motor it pulls it up until the first panel, but then the top panel starts to separate on the sides between the next panel. It stops opening and closes. I was wondering if this was because the motor is too strong or if it should be replaced? What could possibly cause the door to do that?

Here is a link that might be useful: cisco certification
doorsrus
14 years ago
If anyone else is looking for a good wood door and price, check out CHI overhead doors, Model 5400 series. This doors gets a 30% tax credit through 2010.