Overhead Doors

Getting ready to start building my new shop (technically I am reworking and adding on to a existing pole barn I have) Looking to put in a couple or three overhead doors.....two will be 20' x 14'6". Have a couple quotes from local installers...and I understand that these are expensive doors, but they are not fitting into the budget so well at the moment...

Has anyone here ever ordered doors online and installed them? Im pretty handy, doing all the barn building work ourselves...

Thoughts are to possibly buy a door, install it myself and have a door co. come out and wind the spring and check it out.

Thoughts? Ideas?
 
I have put three overhead doors in outbuildings here, they were smaller but the work wasn't too hard. One is about 10x10 and the others are about 7x11. I got free old garage doors on Craigslist, gave away the panels that were still good, took the junk panels to the dump and then made my own panels to fit the openings I had out of sheet metal on a wood frame. They're not pretty but they work, and I don't have a lot of money in them. I had to buy the metal, that was about $60 per door, and I needed a couple of new sets of rollers and a set of springs. If you're buying manufactured new doors I would think it would be easier, they seem to come with instructions and it's all pretty basic step by step stuff.
Zach
 
I'm sure you could purchase a door and follow instructions and get it installed correctly. Then call for a door service to come wind the spring and set the tension. Be up front let them know you've installed the door, that way they don't make a trip and refuse the project and charge you for a service call. I removed a 10x10 and reinstalled it myself. You must engage the extra extra careful part of your brain when winding the spring. Do not-do not use two screw drivers as tool. Get the right sized rods, ones that are hard enough not to bend when the going gets a little tough. Don't be balancing precariously on a 10 foot step ladder. Get a scaffold or build a work platform so you have solid footing. Either way you may get it within your budget. gobble
 

I've put up 8, the tallest 12', and the longest 18'.
I changed one that was 10' tall to 12' tall.
I had one that didn't work right. The sales man from the local lumber yard where I got that door, sat me down while he called the manufacture. They discovered that they had shipped the wrong springs and cable spools. They then sent me the right ones.

We moved a couple of years ago. A large over head door in a barn at our new place was not balanced right, it's rather old.
I found a place on the inter-net that helped me to figure what size springs and cable drums it needed, which I then bought from them. That door now works very well.

I'm a construction electrician and a sheet metal fabricator home furnace installer.
 
There were 2 12' roll up doors at the auction at the Tulare show. The first one sold for $5. I bid $5 on the second one, they had a $50 phantom bid on it so I had to pay $55.
 
If someone took their time and had the equipment, they should be able to do it.

I installed a 10x10 in my shop some years ago. I tried to work off of a step ladder to mount the upper shaft with the springs on it. Fell off the ladder and liked to have killed myself. I then did the smart thing. I backed my loader tractor into the shop and worked out of the bucket on the loader. It went well after that.

When I put up my new Cleary building, Cleary had someone local install the overhead doors as part of the package.
 
I've bought a half dozen Amaar doors online.You do need to be ready for them,the driver will get them to the back of the trailer and the rest is up to you.If you let them know clearly they will have any delivery instructions on their delivery invoice.My only request is to call me on the day of delivery and to call when 5 minutes out.That way I have the forks on and am sitting on the tractor waiting for them.20 foot doors are not fun to horse around by hand.To give you an idea I just got two 12X12 doors,each box was 420 pounds.
 
(quoted from post at 07:19:58 06/14/18) Getting ready to start building my new shop (technically I am reworking and adding on to a existing pole barn I have) Looking to put in a couple or three overhead doors.....two will be 20' x 14'6". Have a couple quotes from local installers...and I understand that these are expensive doors, but they are not fitting into the budget so well at the moment...

Has anyone here ever ordered doors online and installed them? Im pretty handy, doing all the barn building work ourselves...

Thoughts are to possibly buy a door, install it myself and have a door co. come out and wind the spring and check it out.



Thoughts? Ideas?

With a little caution and common sense they are not difficult to install and set up.
I have put up over a dozen of them by myself including a 20x14, plan it out right, measure twice and the rest is just grunt work.

No idea how the Pro's do it but I set up the tracks first then start with the top panel.
Move it to the tracks, install the rollers then raise it up higher than it needs to be with a couple of come a longs then put a couple of spikes in under the panel to support it or a couple of c-clamps in the track on lighter door panels.
Repeat until all panels are in place then starting at second from the bottom raise with come a longs, remove spikes, lower into place, install hinges and repeat.

As far as the springs go I leave them loose on the shaft, raise the door all the way plus a bit with the come a longs then tighten the spring set screws and lower the door.
On a light door the job is done, on a heavy door you might need to evenly add a little more tension to the springs.
 
I installed both the overhead doors I have in my shop and they did not even cost me any thing. But I also worked on the overhead door at Tracker Marine when I was working there as a maintenance man. Reason door did not cost me any thing is a local overhead door company had a big pile of door parts I called them about and I was told I could have every thing I wanted out of there pile of used door parts so I picked up a truck load of stuff and use that to make 2 good doors. Big thing it if the door has the wind up spring you need to be very careful with them because if you slip the rod you use can fly and kill some one. Had one go right threw a door when we where working on a door one time
 
They are not hard to install.

Buying new, you will get a complete kit with everything already sized and ready to go, just follow the instructions. It will be helpful to go look at a well working, properly installed door to see how it is done.

The secret is to have everything square and level.

The biggest problem to encounter is having the slab not level. If the slab is not level, install the tracks level, not square with the floor, even if you have to put a wedge on the bottom section to make it seal. If the tracks are not level, the door will try to inch over to the down hill side and cause tracking problems. Pay close attention to getting the upper tracks parallel and square to the wall tracks. You want a slight down hill toward the wall.

Don't expect much help from the local door companies. They don't cater to DIY. But there are online companies that sell the complete kits. You will be way ahead to size the opening to the standard door sizes available instead of trying to have custom doors made.

Winding the springs is not as bad as you think. Yes, they can get you, just have to be careful, plan your moves, have good footing. If you get fatigued, stop and take a break. Be careful not to over tighten the set screws and crush the tube. When you are ready to start tensioning the springs, hand wind one spring a few turns to hold some tension on the cables. Make sure both sides are pulling equally and are in the proper pulley grooves. Then wind the other spring, counting the turns as per the instructions. When you get the balance right, write the final count on the wall for future reference.

Youtube is your friend!
 
That is a big door, the installation is probably not much more than the door.

You looking at 8K?
 
I have a 14x22 which I installed myself. I don't recall any issues. I nailed heavy boards from the header to the first truss, so I could sit securely and wind the springs.
 
I know its heresy to everyone who just considers overhead doors a given anymore, but you might want to consider "barn doors", that swing out to each side and meet in the middle. They don't have to look crummy, you can build them out of anything you want. Besides saving a ton of money, I'm doing it because I can seal them up better to keep heat in. Use gate hinges, where you screw a big pin into the pole and heavy strap hinges on the doors, and they won't sag. Best in a situation like mine, where I'm mainly using it for heated storage for 2 collector cars, and won't be opening them all that much. And even when you do open them, is unlatching the latch and giving them both a push all that much harder than pushing a button?

"Coolness factor" notwithstanding, of course. LOL
 
By now you should be getting the idea that a good footing while winding the springs is probably one of the most important parts of the job.That spring tension will flip both you and a stepladder right over backwards.Staging,top of a truck,or a stepladder leaning against the door works fine.General rule of thumb is one full turn of the springs per foot heighth of door.So,a 12 foot door would need 12 full turns of each spring.In reality you will be counting quarter turns,so you would be counting to 48.I always alternate from side to side when winding.4 turns on one side,then 4 on the other.With all new parts that one turn per foot comes out surprisingly accurate.I don't know if I've ever had to adjust more than a half turn after the initial setting.
 
Hello sparktrician,

Winding the door spring after installation is not a death defying act! I am sure you can handle that.
A couple of rods for the winding, and enough turns to be able open the door by hand. The door may come with instructions as to how many turns to achieve that. I have the adjusting home made rods and I will post a picture for you if you go the self installation route,

Guido.
 
I was going to say 'Raise the door First", but you beat me to it. Real easy to wind the spring-one turn was enough. Raising the door was the hard part' a come-a-long would have made it easy.
 
Hi, I bought a couple of 10x10 o/h doors used from a gas station. They were converting to a carwash. The fellow installing the new doors delivered the old ones to me and installed them on my shop or $100 ea. I thought that was a h of a deal. Ed Will Oliver BC
 
+1 what Steve said. Follow the instructions carefully, and you should have no problem installing those doors with the assistance of a helper or two. And you don't need an installer to adjust the springs as long as you follow the instructions to the letter.

When winding the springs, be sure and block the track with a C-clamp so the door can't rise. If you don't, and you over-tighten the springs, the door can rise and knock you off your ladder.
 
If you are in snow country, one overhead door is awfully handy to get your snow mover out of the shed without shoveling any snow. Could you get by with just one overhead door and use sliding doors in the other two locations for a while?
 
Menards will sell you overhead doors with the consumer spring adjustment feature. Pretty ingenious. Only tool needed is an electric drill. 14'-6" might be a problem regardless of manufacture.
 
How about a sliding door. You could weld up a frame out of tubular steel and cover it with the same material the building is covered with.
 
What prices were you quoted?
20x14-6 doors are going to be expensive whether you buy locally or order online. How do they compare quality wise? It's not worth buying a cheaper door if it doesn't last as long or seal as well.

Most installers are busy enough that they won't come out to wind your springs, but the service guys might.

If you're capable of installing the doors, you should be able to do the springs. Just follow the directions that come with the door and use some common sense.
 

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