Reworking two garage doors into one

Thinking aloud here and I have no building expertise whatsoever, but can you not do away with the doors, but leave the twin opening if the new full size door will sit outside of the opening?

Our garage is double width with a large single door and I really want two singles. Thing I find is that by opening the door up everything gets damp and wet if the rain is blowing that way. I don't know how the car fits regarding the door width though as it's probably a bit tight as well.

Could you build an extension on the front and incorporate a new single door so you get an extra foot or two outwards ? You could retain the pillar but loose the width of the frames then and have a comfortable length to park in.

Hmmm some interesting points - thank-you.

I hadn't considered the wind/rain aspect. That would be a pain for how I use the garage.

Reworking the lintel without calling on Frank Spencer sounds like it could be more hassle than it is worth.
There is also the security aspect - I've got nowhere else to store my tools whilst the front of the garage gets a major makeover.

So maybe I've overcomplicated it.

One of my earlier musings was these doors




I could get a couple of those, but slightly bigger than the brick aperture.
Then fit them to the front wall of the garage. 

If I made a U-shaped frame around the existing opening with some of this maybe

120mm deep timber framing

I should be able to gain about 180mm of usable length, which will mean I don't have to park by touch, and the garage would look largely similar to now, which is important to SWMBO

That approach also has the advantage that the original doors can stay in place until the construction is done, so the garage will stay dry and secure.

Would that work ?

Yeah that is what I was thinking, Flashing on the top sounds like a good idea 

Hi, Funnily enough I keep looking at that gable end and looks like it could be infill because the bond doesn't line up or integrate with the side piers. Is it brick at all or a lookalike façade?

Colin

To me, from your 3rd photo it looks like there is no internal wall above the inner lintels. The brick gable will not be supporting the man part of the roof as the trusses are doing that. The roof will be tied into the wall using ladders to help stop the roof blowing off and will only be taking the weight of the tiles above the ladders.

That pillar looks like it wouldn't take more than a bad bit of reversing to bring the whole brick gable and lintels down. If it were mine I'd pull the brick gable down and timber frame the top and clad in the covering of your choice. One long lintel across the top and one big garage door.

Before you do anything I would speak to a structural engineer and for £600 or so you will have a plan for you to work to that you know is right.

Sadly I speak from experience and it's cheaper to get the SE involved from he start rather than later on.

Good plan.

I think it was about £2-300 for the structural engineer for mine, cant remember exact figure as they came twice (found a dodgy internal wall!)



I was thinking that also.

another spin of the coin...and save a few in the process. depending if you want this to be a "forever" job or not , why not just knock up a timber frame along the lines of your drawing but make it the same width as the existing frame but come out a tad longer than you need and simply move the existing door out wards? trim the external faces in upvc board , a fleeted top board sealed to the brickwork. might look a bit like a boil on kylies bum but hey...I'd still kiss it! I reckon you could be done and finished for less than a ton all in , more money to throw at the big cat!

My first thoughts were "oil drum on the door".
Well maybe not an oil drum, but adding a "box" to the bottom of the door.
But with an up and over door, messing up the balance is bad - but then it wouldn't open up properly ;-)

Pulling down the gable end - wowzer. That is way too much for this little project. If I could then extend the roof and get an extra couple of feet on the garage - it would be worth it, but that isn't going to work for the neighbours, SWMBO or my wallet.

Carport....I looked at that, following your suggestion, but the left side of the driveway is the neighbours house, with no wiggle room. Width is already tight on the drive without adding in uprights.

Just moving the current doors forward in an extended frame is a great idea :-) I may do this, depending on the cost of new doors.
But a little extra width to the openings would be useful.
Also I can't open the right side door, because there are tall shelving units behind the door. Up'n'over doors need a lot of space to move inside the garage, especially when you are trying to cram every last corner full !!