Question:
Does anyone know a source of a good swing-out "door style" garage door?
We though we might like this b/c it still looks like a garage door, but we
could probably seal it better, and only have to open 1/2 of the door to
get lawnmower, etc out. I asked at home depot and they said only the
lift up kind of doors are made -- we'd have to have someone make this door
for us.
Is there a company that makes utility doors of this size? 47" is a wide
door (each door), but I cant imagine no one makes it considering regular
doors are only about a foor narrower.
Answer:
We had a virtually inaccessible garage underneath our Colonial Revival house in an
Historic District, and had to find a virtually invisible way to make it more useful
& warmer to keep the Historic District folks happy.
Our "Model A" garage had barn-type garage doors on it (slide across for access). We
first took the doors off the badly deteriorated hardware. Made one a permanent
"wall" & added insulation to the bottom (under the "windows") & put a sealing
threshold under it. The other one we chopped in 2 & made into 2 swinging doors, one
of which is usually not used (anchored like French doors into concrete floor & up
top), he other of which is our swinging door outside basement access. I'm really
happy with the result.
Also, our neighbor has garage doors that are on an over-the-door track that works
like a side-to-side tambour door. The doors themselves are hinged into thirds --
each about a yard wide, and to open for cars you slide it across into the garage
(i.e. parallel to garage wall) (as opposed to overhead). You can also open only the
left-most "door" like a regular door to walk in. Kind of neat. His house is probably
50 years old so manufacturer
