Sunday, July 10, 2011

New Garage Doors For Father's Day!

For a very long time Michael had been planning to do something a little extra special for his dad.  Mike is super good with dreaming up gift ideas.  He remembered that a long time ago his dad had removed their regular overhead garage door so that he could store a boat for his dad.  The boat was just a little bit too long for the garage so Estel had fashioned some really simple carriage type doors that offered just enough flexibility for the length of the boat.  Time passed, the boat was sold, & the doors stayed.  As they aged they got more & more weathered looking & they just didn't help with curb appeal, if you know what I mean.
So Mike decided that it would be a good Father's Day gift to make his dad some new garage doors.  Two years after the inspiration stuck, after lots of research, lots of hard work, & approximately 479 trips to Lowe's & Menard's, the doors are now completed!

This is one of the old doors after we took it down. 
It weighs approximately 1,283 pounds.

First Mike made the doors from some wood & stuff.  I meant to get actual details for this post but Mike isn't here & I can't remember what this stuff is called.  It might be MDF of some kind.  We loved the look of planks & the material it is made of it supposed to stand up to the weather better than wood.  I love the added details of the framing.  I think it makes the doors look sharp.


After the doors were all put together, the hard part started.  Neither of us is very talented when it comes to painting.  And we're not very patient either.  But we stuck with it through some of the hottest days of the summer putting the two tone paint job on the doors.  We were really happy to make such close paint color matches with the house. 


Once the painting was complete & dry Mike hung the doors & added some extra locking features to make them secure. 





This picture was an attempt to show you the hardware.  We put on pull handles & large black hinges.  Their is a latch as well as a latch with a padlock. 

This project was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun.  I love it when Mike can use his talents to be a blessing & I also love it when he has a project to work on where I can help him. 

Next up, window replacements for this little garage.  And then I think we may have it whipped into shape!

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