ISO Eichler style Garage Doors
Our Fairglen/San Jose Eichler came with ugly colonial style garage doors.
Not only do they intefere with the modern look, but also, rolling up to the ceiling, they take away ceiling space I could be hanging my kayaks from! :-(
If anyone has original garage doors for this neighbourhood, I'd appreciate it. Apparently I missed somebody throwing them out by a few days. :-(
Ditto pointers to new garage doors that are more "Eichler style".
In particular, where can I get the hardware to have the doors move
side to side, barn door style, rather than rolling up?
There is another alternative.
We have had success working in conjunction with a garage door company on the peninsula.
What we did was make a thinline siding 3/8" thick, and had them attach it to the face of a sectional garage door, using adhesive and staples. When the ddor is closed, it looks like a wall of siding, still functions as an overhead opening door (no post in the middle) and because we used 3/8" siding, it does not add very much weight to the door.
It may be possible to attach a similiar product to your door. You can contact me for specifics on that garage door company, or email me and I'll get you pointed in the right direction.
I have seen this done (not just on other eichlers) even on new homes (ususally very high priced ones) looks very good if done right.
Seems like it's a custom job, go to a garage door company to get that look, Home Depot and Lowe's probably won't bother.
We just got a decent quote for a replacement wooden roll-up door with Eichler Siding so that at least we can get the eichler look back. That won't help with the kayaks though.
jnstahl: one problem I have with vertical siding on a roll-up door is it ends up looking like a bunch of boxes as the horizontal lines intersecting with vertical lines of the siding. For me, it creates visual tension.
I grappled with this problem when I rebuilt the front facade of my home. Previous owners replaced the single garage door with a fireplace. Luckily my neighbors have original doors and my contractor was able to build a replica with 2x4s, plywood siding, and hardware I located at a local garage door company. Rather simple construction. Since the front of my home has a carport/garage combo, I needed tipping-door hardware, which is still manufactured.
There are products on the market to allow sliding doors. I have seen sliding doors in new construction. You just won't find them at home depot. Garage door retailers won't be too willing to help you. They just want to sell you what they have and can turn it around quickly. Do some research. Talk to creative contractors.
If you must have a roll-up door, go with a clean, slab-like door with no decoration or windows on it at all. Match the color with the house. That will work too.
