Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 16, 2008 5:01 pm We have two single doors as standard on our plan. I can upgrade to a double door, but the builder needs to put a steel beam in for that, therefore it costs more. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of both ways? Thanks.
Judie Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 3Apr 16, 2008 5:08 pm I like the look of a double door better, however, I guess a benefit to 2 singles would mean you wouldn't have to judge as much the distance between the 2 cars as you go through an allocated space. Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 4Apr 16, 2008 5:12 pm Judie, it depends on your design and what suits your lifestyle i suppose.
Personally i'd go the double door in an instant. We have large family sized cars and i dont want to worry about how close i am to the brickwork when i drive through. Also it gives you more flexibility of use of the garage in my opinion. You can park the car smack in the middle and work on it, detail it, etc without worrying about hitting the garage walls....Also and more importantly these days is that crossovers/driveways and garage doors don't always line up these days with new estates and you don't want to have to come in at an awkward angle and risk scraping the car, just to get it into the garage? Is it much to upgrade??? Most houses it would be a standard thing wouldn't it? Once again, each to their own i supose? Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 5Apr 16, 2008 6:24 pm Go the double door arrangement. I wouldn't be suprised if you should get some form of cost back on the 2 singles, in replacment for the double. The double door,fully installed with a controller is around the $1500 mark...
It's so much easier to drive in and out of a double. Easier to work on cars, on cabinet making, on wet days open it up for the kids to play around... Electrical Engineer... Don't hold that against me... And keen owner builder... Mainly the building part!! Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 6Apr 16, 2008 6:52 pm Thank you everyone. You pointed out things I hadn't thought of. I've emailed my contracts administrator and gone for the double door. Plus I remembered we've added a metre to the garage width for storage, so it will look unbalanced with single doors.
Judie Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 7Apr 16, 2008 7:31 pm I find this very surprising as we had a double roller door as standard on plan but did the opposite - changed to 2 singles.
This was after a relative built a new home with a different builder and had one double door, had problems with it jamming and later found out this is common with double doors due to the mechanism being spread too wide for the size.(?) (I don't understand physics ) It cost us to change to 2 singles, 2 doors being dearer than one double door, and extra brickwork in building centre pillar. I can't see how you can be charged to 'upgrade' from 2 singles to a double. Appearance is subjective, don't have a preference myself, and the other issues don't affect us - driveway is flat and straight, we don't have big cars etc. Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 8Apr 16, 2008 7:36 pm I was originally going for two single doors. The reason is that I like the "privacy". When you drive up and only open half the garage, people on the street don't get a full view of the inside of the garage.
My architect likes the look of one double door. He also mentioned that it was easier to drive in without worrying about hitting the centre. In then end, I'm going for one double door. Don't think there would be much, if any, price difference. BTW, with the two single doors, I was going to use a single steel beam that spans both doors and is rated for the entire span. The idea being that if for some reason someone took out the brickwork betwen the doors, I wanted the entire stucture to be structually sound. So I guess I was going to pay a little more all the time. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 10Apr 16, 2008 11:51 pm Same I went to 2 x 2.4 doors for the privacy and the look.
Having come from a double door it took a bit of getting used to but even the territory the wife drives makes it in pretty easy (couple of inches each side of the mirrors) If I had the block width I would have gone for 2.7 wide doors instead of the 2.4's though. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 11Apr 17, 2008 9:00 am Funnily enough our builder charges more for 2 single doors!
We are going for the double as we're likely to park 1 car in the middle. After 4 years - we're in! Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 12Apr 17, 2008 9:07 am In an estate we would always (and did!) go for two single doors. DH has a number of items in his shed that he would prefer to keep fairly well hidden. So for us the privacy issue was well covered by having two single doors.
Now with our new home we are on a large 3200sqm and privacy isn't a issue as we are 100m back from the road and will have a huge high fence with electric gates, so will be having a double door plus a single door - having an oversized 6 car garage on this one. Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 14Apr 17, 2008 9:30 am I'll declare my hand.....we have a 5.0 m garage door in the current place.
Pro's for big double - one set of door opening mechanisms and motors - although I don't know if you can have a single motor with a drive mechanism to each door - our install costs were cheaper for one big single than two doubles but I can see from the posts that this varies - makes it easier to back a trailer in particularly if you move the other car as you have a greater margin for error, and particularly of the driveway is such that you can lose sight of the trailer, our driveway has a slope upwards - when you have two kids (and one in a bassinet) it's good to be able to park more central in the garage and be able to open the doors wide open....small kids don't seem to respect door ends Pro's for two x singles: - it's a matter of tastes but I like to look of two singles...to me it's a more classy look - forces the "other" driver to actually park on "their" side of the garage...I won't mention names Con's for big double: - may be dependent on which way the garage faces but our door faces west, when there's a strong westerly wind sometimes the extra wind loading on the door causes a lot of friction on the side guides, and the closer mechanism trips and reopens. Often have to give to push against the inside of the door to reduce the door - they can flex a lot in strong winds although I think you can get extra bracing for this in certain doors - certainly panel lifts should flex less - if you don't have a door motor some short people in the house can't close the door...I won't mention names - inevitably because you have a longer run of concrete "sill" there'll be a spot were the concrete dips and the bottom seal lets a little bit of water in, I haven't seen many single doors leak - happy to stand corrected on this - I agree with the privacy issue fortunately we have a 9.5 metre wide garage with only one door, most of the things we don't want people to see are hidden away behind a false wall in the garaga Con's for two x singles: - basically the reverse of the pro's for two x doubles mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 15Apr 17, 2008 1:09 pm to_do_list said:
Quote: - forces the "other" driver to actually park on "their" side of the garage...I won't mention names Re: Garage doors - two single or one double? 16Apr 17, 2008 1:16 pm enigma_brennan to_do_list said: Quote: - forces the "other" driver to actually park on "their" side of the garage...I won't mention names Me thinks we have partners with similar parking styles.... mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard "is it exempt or do I need to get permission from council" Call your Council and ask them 1 1537 I don't know them all, the first 2 top of your list are best known. Rylock is a good company, Stegbar is for sale. 4 16191 It's a classic case of aesthetics subjugating function where style takes precedence over practicality. 3 3926 |