How can I install a garage door on a carport that was not originally designed to have a door?

Question

I bought a house a year ago that sits on a hill. The uphill side is on the ground. The downhill side sits on a carport that sits at the top of our driveway. The carport has a large opening (18'2" wide and 6"10 tall), and the carport interior itself is wide (about 21'). It is enclosed on 3 sides. I would like to add a garage door so I can store tools and bikes and similar in the main garage area.

Here is the problem: there is less than 1" of additional ceiling clearance above the opening of the garage. So, if I were to put in an overhead door, I would need to frame it down by at least 4" (depending on who you ask, it could be as high as 8-10"). That would limit the vehicles I could part in there (and, in some cases, mean that I can't stand up straight in my garage).

1. I started to look into horizontal open garage doors, specifically around-the-corner side-sliding garage doors, but the only ones I have been able to find are either: Available only in Europe/are incredibly expensive to import to the US

2. Commercial doors that may or may not be able to go around-the-corner and, for the ones that do, the hanging hardware hangs the door 7-8" from the ceiling, which would maybe be slightly better than reducing the height of the entire garage by that amount, but would will require that I frame the opening down further.

Have you run into good side-sliding door hardware options? I have enough depth to pull it around to the sidewall with room to spare. And I would be very happy to buy a standard door and turn it on its side, but I have had an impossible time finding the right hardware for a side-sliding system.

Any advice on how to overcome this issue without spending a ton or tearing down the carport and starting over, is more than welcome.

Answer 1

Thinking out of the box, literally.

Instead of a traditional door that flips or rolls into the garage, or a sideways door like you are thinking of (which is a bit unusual, at least for the US), go for the industrial look. Specifically, a roll up door with exterior mounting. Something like this:

Just Googling for examples - I have no connection with any companies I mention here. The above picture is the Model 2500 from Roll Up Doors Direct. Cost is ~ $2,000 for the door itself, but varies depending on size, motor vs. manual chain opening, mounting options, insulation, etc. But my guess is that even with shipping costs and some installation work this is more like $5k than $20k.

The key is to mount the top mechanism (where the door rolls up into) outside instead of inside. That does give it the industrial look, but it lets you use the full available height of the opening and doesn't affect your interior space at all. But unless you are in some wacky homeowner's association there really shouldn't be any problem with a door like this.

Answer 2

You don't tell us what's to the side or in front of the carport opening, but I have two possible suggestions that are, again, "outside the box":

1. Use sliding barn doors.

   • These will mount to the outside of the carport, and when they slide open, they will use no room inside it at all.
   • They will take room to the sides of the carport to open, though, so you would have roughly 9' of clearance on either side to open the doors.
   • If you need them to open automatically, there are chain-operated gate openers that can easily cause the barn doors to slide. You could even open/close each door individually (requiring two separate openers) if you only wanted to open one side at a time.

2. Use outward swinging doors

   • These would be similar to the gates you see across the driveway of a fancy house (making your house fancy! :) ) or at a self-storage type facility. Instead of being an iron bar gate, though, you could get a solid door if desired.
   • You could use one door over the entire opening, though that would probably be rather cumbersome - your better bet would probably be two doors, hinged at the outside edges.
   • You would need roughly 9' of clearance in front of the garage for these to open outward (or 18' if you want a single door!), so you would need to be careful about where you park a car in the driveway (or have to move one before opening the doors). This may also not work if you have a very short driveway where you don't have 9' before hitting the sidewalk and/or road.
   • Again, these could be automated with door openers and could be operated individually if desired.
   • Any sort of door that's 9' wide by ~7' tall is going to be fairly heavy, so it would need to be properly built and braced and is almost guaranteed to need a wheel to support the moving end to keep it from racking over time.

Also, I'm not really sure I'd call this a "design flaw". It was perfectly suited for the builder/original owner, it just doesn't meet your needs... Potato/Potahtoe...

Answer 3

Garage doors that swing outward are a good option.

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They're sometimes called "carriage house" doors. They're not uncommon in certain parts of the country, particularly on craftsman-style homes. You can get them with powered openers (mounted on the ceiling or wall), but most are opened manually. This type of door has several advantages for your situation:

• Hangs on hinges like a regular door, so it's easier to install if you're wanting to DIY it. Some even come pre-hung.
• Safer to operate since there's no risk of it coming down on top of someone.
• The manual opening version requires zero space or clearance inside your garage.
• The automatic opening version requires little vertical clearance compared to the opener for an overhead door.

Your opening is rather wide so you may end up installing two sets of doors with a post in the middle. If you really don't want a post, you might consider a bifold door, which can cover a wide span without requiring a massive clearance for the door to swing into.

I would recommend against any option that involves an opening mechanism that's located outside the garage. Garage doors already have a lot of security vulnerabilities, but would-be thieves have an even easier time breaking into your garage when the mechanism is accessible for tampering with or bypassing. A good set of manually-opening carriage house doors with a lock can be just as secure as the entry doors to your house.

Also, don't forget that most garage door companies will give free estimates. Have them come out and walk them through what you want to do. They've likely done something like this before, so they can guide you through what has worked in the past and what hasn't.

Answer 4

It seems that low head space is your problem. Other than the "open outward" doors, there are "slide to the side" doors such as these: https://www.ryterna.com/side-sliding-garage-doors/

With these, they can be powered, but the mechanism isn't in your ceiling, where it may be a hazard with low clearance. I'm not aware of outward opening doors that can be powered without a ceiling mechanism, but they may be out there.

The slide to the side doors probably do require that you give up any wall shelves on one side of the "garage" though. But you could put up enclosed cabinets if you leave enough space behind for the door.