Hi all,

What are people’s thoughts on side-hinged garage doors? We need a new garage door and the side-hinged design really appeals. It would mean we could keep the main 2/3 section bolted shut and just use the regular sized door to wheel our bikes in and out. Hopefully would help keep the contents away from prying eyes as well as giving more useable space inside. We’d never want to put the car inside. This would be the only entrance to the garage – there’s no possibility of fitting an interior or exterior door to it sadly.

How secure are they in comparison to an up-n-over with multipoint locks?

thanks
Pete

They are v expensive, usually get all the running gear seperatly ie. top track, hinges and rollers and then you would need floor guides. PC Henderson do all the running gear in different weight capacities as you would then have to get a joiner to make the doors to fit the running gear. Not very common any more, used to be popular in the 70’s where the garage door would open sideways and then follow the garage wall on the inside.

http://export.pchenderson.com/sliding_door_gear_product.php?category=Industrial&config=Round+the+Corner&range=&id=619

Why not just barn doors ??

Nowt wrong with them, can be made as secure as you like with decent bolts inside and mortice locks on the small door. I would say it would possibly be more secure than an up and over. Would probably cost not too much more for softwood, mega money for hardwood though.

Howdens sell third glazed doors,also full timber pine doors, dont forget decent strap hinges, and hinge bolts, you can also fit 2 x mortice dead locks to them, alo ng with a hasp and staple.

Dependant on location i would use the glazed version with laminated glass, and a curtain behind, for when you have the lights on.

I like ’em – for all the reasons you state. I just got a 50/50 door and one side is basically permanently closed. You could bolt this down internally if you know you’re not going to open it.

Hinged doors like this also mean that you can use all of the wall/roof length of the garage as you don’t have to allow space for the door folding back. However, make sure your driveway is long enough to accommodate an open door AND your car/van.

There are alternatives to up and over. We got a sectional door for security reasons – doesn’t take up any room and can still be opened even with the car up close to it. And they are available with person sized doors built in too, which is ace.

Thanks all – sounds promising. We’d probably just get simple barn-style doors, so they’re pretty cheap. The only thing we need to check is that the slope of the drive (slopes down towards the house) doesn’t stop the doors opening.