# Finally finished the interior garage doors...



## FOMOGO (Jun 18, 2022)

When I started this endeavor I guessed it would take maybe two weeks to complete. Well that was a little optimistic. More like two months of steady work. I have a total of around $250 in materials in them, and at the rate I would charge anyone else, probably around $8000 in labor. Fortunately I give myself a heavy discount. The doors originally came from the re-store at the local landfill, where I picked them up for $100 for both of them. Prior to starting on the doors, I had to do all the Jambs and interior and exterior trim. Most of the material for this portion was from material that I had on hand, or picked up for free from different sources, like Craigs list, of FBMP. Free has always been my favorite price point, and I truly enjoy taking things that someone else would throw in the trash, and making it useful again. In order to keep this from getting painfully long and boring I will just list the steps involved in transforming the doors from roll up overhead doors to sliding barn style, mostly to justify to myself how much time I spent on this, but also to give some idea of the steps involved. 

 Remove all of the overhead door hardware.
Pressure wash the 10 door panels.
Remove the remainder of the vanish used on the cedar with a wire cup wheel on a 4" grinder.
Get all of the areas not accessible with the wire wheel by hand. 
Remove all of the glass and fix the one broken section, and replace some of the trim that was poorly fitted.
Re-cut several of the panels to get them to fit correctly.
Apply satin finish polyurethane to all the wood surfaces.
Repair dents and dings on the metal backs of doors, and apply three coats of white paint.
Remove rust and mill scale from 160' of three different types of steel used.
Drill 100 3/8" holes in the 4 each, 3"x1/8x7' strap steel which is used to hold the five sections of each door together.
Drill, and counter sink another 60 holes in same metal pieces above.
Plug weld the 100, 3/8 holes to the metal end caps of the door sections, and install the 60 screws in the countersunk holes into the cedar fascia.
Cut, fit, and weld the triangulated top corner sections of the doors without burning up the wood underneath. 
Cut and weld on the four wheel support stanchions.
Machine, and modify the four trolley wheels, and axles, and weld to the support stanchions. The wheels are pulleys from my 1962 Case combine.
Drill mounting holes in  30' of 2" angle iron for the trolley track, and weld 30' of 1" angle iron to the length of the 2" angle to create the wheel guide, paint track.
Treat all of the steel I attached to the doors with a gun bluing solution, neutralize solution, and seal with satin urethane.
Mount track assembly, and doors , and adjust.

Would I do it again? Probably. I've never claimed to be very bright.


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## rabler (Jun 18, 2022)

Nice! Certainly adds character to the shop, and allows you to open up or close off sections.
Is that 14' to the ceiling?  Looks a bit more than 12 but not quite 16', but hard to tell from the pictures.


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## francist (Jun 18, 2022)

I never fail to be impressed by the excellent design skills that lurk just under the surface here! Great job, Mike 

-frank


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## woodchucker (Jun 18, 2022)

*Excellent job Mike. *

BTW, check out Freecycle.org  I'm sure they have a local ... you sign up and get info on people trying to have someone recycle goods they don't want to throw out, or sell. Some of the stuff is awesome.. Lots of material, and stuff good for projects.


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## Martin W (Jun 18, 2022)

Looks beautiful! Your hard work payed off for sure.
Martin


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## FOMOGO (Jun 18, 2022)

Thanks fellas. The ceilings are 15'. Pretty good guess, and yes the idea was to be able to keep the mess in the welding area, and all the dirt out of the machine shop. Still have to do some weather stripping to seal them up a little tighter. If you look on the far end of the right door, you can see where I had to bore a hole for the outside door limit eye, which was recessed into the wall. Mike



rabler said:


> Nice! Certainly adds character to the shop, and allows you to open up or close off sections.
> Is that 14' to the ceiling?  Looks a bit more than 12 but not quite 16', but hard to tell from the pictures.


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## Nutfarmer (Jun 18, 2022)

The doors look like they belong in a custom home. They look great.


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## Just for fun (Jun 19, 2022)

I second the Nutfarmer.

They look great!


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## mmcmdl (Jun 19, 2022)

W O W !


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## DavidR8 (Jun 19, 2022)

Wow, those look fantastic, super nice work Mike.


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## Todd3138 (Jun 19, 2022)

Absolutely amazing.  Beautiful work and a beautiful visual touch to your shop!


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## 7milesup (Jun 19, 2022)

francist said:


> I never fail to be impressed by the excellent design skills that lurk just under the surface here! Great job, Mike
> 
> -frank


For sure!
My skills are buried so deep that I have yet to find them.

Awesome work there Mike!  Looks absolutely fantastic.


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