2 to 1 garage door conversion: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > 2 to 1 garage door conversion	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: legacylad	Replies: 12

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Tue 9 Jul 13 11:56

2 to 1 garage door conversion - legacylad

My double garage currently has two 7' doors, separated by 33" of stone column and wooden frames. All my neighbours with 'larger' cars, Mondeo, CRV, Rav 4 leave them outside. My '04 330 fits in easily, and is garaged every night, but its potential replacement is a real tight squeeze with only inches to spare. Plus the fact my neighbours stone wall is directly adjacent the garage, and there is a steepish incline into the garage...fun in winter where you need a run at it and a leap of faith!!
Converting to a single, centrally placed, garage door makes so much sense, allowing my Rapid Racking to be located down each side of the 20' x 20' garage leaving plenty of room to garage a much larger vehicle with ease.
Obviously cost is a concern, but I wondered if there were any recommendations? An electric roller shutter type seems favourite at the moment. My two Slave-Dor 900 models have worked perfectly for the past 12 years.
Thanks in advance.

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Tue 9 Jul 13 13:19

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Old Navy

I have a Hormann sectional door, comes in a multitude of sizes or made to measure. It is also has insulation (two thicknesses available) between the sections metal skins or it can be single skinned. Good quality kit that will outlast me. :-)

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Tue 9 Jul 13 13:47

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Tigger

My neighbour just had the same conversion. He's gone for a roller door.

He had a to put in a huge RSJ to take the weight of the walls and roof

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Tue 9 Jul 13 14:45

2 to 1 garage door conversion - RichardW

^^ what he said.... talk to the planners first, as it may require permission. Depending on the configuration of the garage, it may require building regs approval and a new RSJ to support the front end. One of the garage door companies will probably be able to advise the necessary. I doubt it will be cheap!

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Tue 9 Jul 13 16:23

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Slidingpillar

If it needs a RSJ it's almost certainly going to need both building regs and a certificate the RSJ can support the load.

I needed building regs for re-roofing my garage from asbestos to a more normal felted roof and at the door end, it made sense to use a RSJ as a roof support since I didn't want to trust the concrete beam above the door with holding much more than it's own weight as it was patently made on the cheap.

Never did all my costings, but I think I spent more on legal fees than the materials to do the job (labour was all me). And I never got or paid for the completion certificate as it was nearly £100 and the bloke who inspected admitted the only person who might ask for it would be the buyers solicitor if I was selling. Records show it was done properly and that's good enough for me.

Not that I'm advocating being naughty, but the cost of being a good boy seemed rather disproportionate.

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Tue 9 Jul 13 20:02

2 to 1 garage door conversion - MD

>> I needed building regs for re-roofing my garage from asbestos to a more normal felted
>> roof.

Felted Roof eh! what. Use Fibreglass Sir. All advice free.

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Tue 9 Jul 13 22:16

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Slidingpillar

Felted Roof eh! what. Use Fibreglass Sir. All advice free.

Felt lasted 15 years and now has a one piece rubber membrane - supposed to last far longer than felt. I put fibreglass felt on a shed as the felt on that got leaks after three years! Doing a shed roof was a bit exciting - the timbers are so flimsy I had to have a light breakfast for fear of falling through!

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Tue 9 Jul 13 16:31

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Robbie34

>> I have a Hormann sectional door, comes in a multitude of sizes or made to
>> measure. It is also has insulation (two thicknesses available) between the sections metal skins or
>> it can be single skinned. Good quality kit that will outlast me. :-)

Ditto

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Tue 9 Jul 13 19:51

2 to 1 garage door conversion - PeteW

Had a job like this back in the day when I was in this line of business. Apart from a v expensive RSJ and building regs certification, we also had to have a wind load analysis done on the roof. It was a real pain and ultimately the job fell through because the garage door was actually cheaper than the admin/planning costs etc required to fit it.

Of course many companies would ignore this and just knock down the central wall and fit the door.....

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Tue 9 Jul 13 20:01

2 to 1 garage door conversion - MD

Send me the details of the span and the roof above, decent pics will do and I'll tell you what should pass. Nearly 40 years in the Building Industry have taught me what's what. Tis alright paying for a Structural Surveyor at say £300.00 a pop to 'pull' a calc of the computer, but it's taking to 'P' if you ask me. Nothing I have done has ever fallen down. All Calc's are way OTT to be honest. In the throws of doing one now, taking down most of the internal walls of a terraced house.

Cheers.....M

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Wed 10 Jul 13 19:29

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Alastairw

As it happens a friend of mine is a building inspector. He is Manchester based, but also does drawing for this sort of thing on the side - he has an ex wife with expensive tastes to fund. If you want me to ask him just give me a shout.

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Wed 10 Jul 13 19:55

2 to 1 garage door conversion - Fenlander

Next door but one has a 2 in 1 garage door which looks to have been there from when the house was new 30yrs ago. If we ran out of things to spend our money on I'd think of doing the same as it does make things so much easier.

I would have to do something to screen the non-car half though when the big door was open. Don't want folks seeing the Dyson collection uninvited.

Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 10 Jul 13 at 19:56

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Thu 11 Jul 13 23:14

2 to 1 garage door conversion - legacylad

Many thanks Alistairw & MD for your kind offers of help.

The whole point, or at least the major point, of converting to a large single door was to accommodate a specific rag top. It went in with inches to spare and would be the catalyst for the alteration. Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that my pal had sold it to an employee. Fair enough, and for £2k over my offer.

Back to square one, but thanks again. Maybe the right one will turn up at the right price toward the end of this year.

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