I’m keen on replacing my ancient up & over garage door with barn door style doors – I think they’ll be much easier to use (only have to open one half to come & go) and should be able to be made plenty secure.

Any words of wisdom?

Good plan. I much prefer them.

I had that exact plan 3 years ago, they’ve been in the conservatory waiting to be painted ever since!

Your motivation might last longer than mine!

They need very strong places to anchor the hinges – check carefully .

A gate castor/wheel can really help them last if they are heavy.

Got them from here, doorsdirect2u.co.uk , £250 delivered but budget for hinges, locks, paint etc. Seemed to be the same jeld-wen doors you can get anywhere else, just a fair bit cheaper.

I changed from up-and-over to barn door in my last house and didn’t regret it. I wish my new house had barn door.

Less internal space required and no need to open the full width just for getting bikes in and out. Potentially less chance of prying eyes seeing the contents of your garage too (if that’s a concern).

The only downside I can think of is not having the door to act as a canopy at times.

i did this and used a huge piano-hinge to take weight which has worked well, nice wooden doors look better to.

BUT..biggest advantage has been space, i have a single garage that i have 5 bikes, a weight bench and a full kitchen of old units set us as a workshop. You don’t realise how much of the top third of the wall space the up-and-over garage door takes, once i had fitted barn doors, i could hang all five bikes on the wall directly behind the door, so i come in and out through the left hand and the bikes are all behind the right in the space which was lost with the up and over there.

Did the same – had an old Marley pre-fab with asbestos roof. Replacing the whole thing was going to be a mare, so  took the old roof off, put a wooden ring beam around the top of the wall, bolted through the J-bolt holes and made a load of trusses, boarded the roof and covered with cedar shingles. Fitted an inner frame to the door opening and got some ledges and braced doors to fit. All the bikes are hanging just inside the door. I’ve now gained a small loft space that’s got about 20 bike wheels up there. I have a racing kayak, paddles and various long things hanging from the roof too – couldn’t do that with an up and over door. My neighbour’s dead jealous because he paid thousands to have his Marley re-roofed and it looks rubbish,

I replaced my up and over door with side hung Hormann doors, I mounted them on 2×2 treated SW on the outside (still covered by the roof overhang and guttering).

This meant I was able to remove the old timber garage frame as well and now the opening is as wide and tall as the masonry opening.

There are other threads on STW about the perils of removing up and over doors.

I replaced a set of old up and over doors with a pair of teckentrup insulated/powder coated side by side doors last year.

Not cheap but look really nice and very well made. Easy to fit yourself also.

Ah, a wheel – what a great idea! I have a double garage with monster barn doors which are holding up pretty well considering but are a little bit saggy on the hinges.

Only problem is the ground is not perfectly level, but maybe wheels that help to lift them over the highest bumps and/or take the load when they are closed is enough?

@dovebiker, any chance that you have some photos of your roof solution you wouldn’t mind sharing? It sounds very much like what I was hoping to do & it would be good to see one that’s up & running.

I did the same as sharkbait and the new door are great, the integral garage is now the dirty entrance to the house

I fitted some about 18 months ago. In the end I went for these:

https://www.diy.com/departments/side-hung-garage-door-pair-h-1981mm-w-2134mm/75324_BQ.prd

They seemed as good as any without a serious jump up in cost for nice handmade ones. I wanted to paint them so finish of the wood didn’t matter too much.

If you can afford it and they suit your house, nice wooden ones are good because if treated properly will need a lot less care than painted wood. I was getting quotes £800 upwards for nice handmade ones in softwood. Hardwood was double more or less.

Third vote for Teckentrup insulated doors (great apart from price). You can also easily and cheaply swap the euro cylinder lock barrel for higher security versions.

I have just installed one of these:

http://www.garagedoorsale.co.uk/garage-doors/side-hinged/regent-steel-side-hinged-garage-door.html

Very happy with the quality of the door, it is mounted in a sturdy frame (so no need for wheels).

Much easier for getting the bikes in and out than the up and over that it replaced.

I fitted ⅓ ⅔ steel hinged doors a few years ago. Made it so much easier to quickly pop in the garage (no other entrance). Fairly easy to fit with some help in the lifting.

Seams much more secure than up and over too.

My before and after pics (cladding was done earlier this year).

The smaller right hand door is brilliant as the ‘garage’ is more of a utility/store room and now we don’t have to open the whole thing up just to get in.

Although Teckentrup are a bit spendy they’re superbly finished and the insulation helps stiffen the doors (they’re probably about 3cm thick) and, as the dogs sleep in there, it’s a bit warmer.

The room is also quite high (about 10′) and the old doors were stopping access to everything above 7′ – I’ve now been able to utilise this space with a mezzanine floor which has proved really good.

Thanks all, looks more achievable as a DIY solution than I initially thought. I’d prefer a 50/50 steel door you’ve given me a good start, cheers.