Afternoon all,
after a bit of advice and guidance really.
I am lucky enough to have a very sound prefab garage, when we bought the house it has a horrible leaky corrugated roof, but I have since replaced that (nearly 6 years ago actually) with a polycarbonate roof, which has transformed it.
At the same time, I took off the rotten wooden door, bought a second hand £100 door and frame off of ebay, and using the measurements had some wood cut to the right size to enable me to make the frame - it's pretty crude tbh, and as it was custom cut, it is NOT pressure treated timber - I did varnish it, and have topped this up, but year on year the frame clearly swells a bit more, and the door is virtually impossible to engage the locking hooks\claws into the frame - sorry if my terminology is out.
And I can just see a time when either I can't unlock it, or even worse, am unable to lock it.
Either way would be a massive headache, involving calling people out, and likely huge expense.
So I am keen to nip this one in the bud, and my plan is to buy a new upvc door (Any recommendations for suppliers?) and buy some pressure treated timber, and for those of you that know prefab garages, you might well realise that the 'frame' will be X width alongside the door, but will then have to be wider to go behing the metal plates that secure the frame into place - I hope that makes sense.
This time I will use dowels\glue and or bolts (Yet to decide) to make this freame out of more than 3 pieces of wood, but so that it is still strong.
I also planned to leave a 1" gap at the bottom, as at present a lot of the dampness is being wicked up due to the bottom of the frame sitting in water if it rains heavily.
I have also considered a door canopy to hopefully try and protect the door mechanism a bit, as that seems to have water ingres as well, not sure if that would make any difference or not.
I have considered paying someone to fit it, but I don't see it as possible, as firstly I will need the door and surround to hand so I can see what width they are, and then I can't take the old door and frame out until I have the frame built and ready to go - so that bit all needs to be done on the same day, so I still have a secure garage.
I also meant to cover the existing door frame with pvc cladding - I still have it, so could do it to the new one.
Another possibility that occured to me, is to fit the frame in such a way that I could lossedn the bolts off in the winter and allow the frame to expand a bit more, and then tighten it back up again, not sure if that is a good or bad idea?
It would mean in the summer having to alter it again.
The final thought that has just occured to me, is whether it is worth having a mess about with the hinges to see if I can alleviate the issue at least short term.
When the door is working fine it doesn't rub at all, but at present the ends of the door hits the frame, and I need to push the door in for it to clear the surround before it will shut - would the hinges possibly allow me to alter the alignment of the door that much?
I'm tempted to have a go now, but for the fact that daylight is limited, and I can't have a door I can't lock - so if the masses think I should try this first, will do so at the weekend.
Cheers
Dan
after a bit of advice and guidance really.
I am lucky enough to have a very sound prefab garage, when we bought the house it has a horrible leaky corrugated roof, but I have since replaced that (nearly 6 years ago actually) with a polycarbonate roof, which has transformed it.
At the same time, I took off the rotten wooden door, bought a second hand £100 door and frame off of ebay, and using the measurements had some wood cut to the right size to enable me to make the frame - it's pretty crude tbh, and as it was custom cut, it is NOT pressure treated timber - I did varnish it, and have topped this up, but year on year the frame clearly swells a bit more, and the door is virtually impossible to engage the locking hooks\claws into the frame - sorry if my terminology is out.
And I can just see a time when either I can't unlock it, or even worse, am unable to lock it.
Either way would be a massive headache, involving calling people out, and likely huge expense.
So I am keen to nip this one in the bud, and my plan is to buy a new upvc door (Any recommendations for suppliers?) and buy some pressure treated timber, and for those of you that know prefab garages, you might well realise that the 'frame' will be X width alongside the door, but will then have to be wider to go behing the metal plates that secure the frame into place - I hope that makes sense.
This time I will use dowels\glue and or bolts (Yet to decide) to make this freame out of more than 3 pieces of wood, but so that it is still strong.
I also planned to leave a 1" gap at the bottom, as at present a lot of the dampness is being wicked up due to the bottom of the frame sitting in water if it rains heavily.
I have also considered a door canopy to hopefully try and protect the door mechanism a bit, as that seems to have water ingres as well, not sure if that would make any difference or not.
I have considered paying someone to fit it, but I don't see it as possible, as firstly I will need the door and surround to hand so I can see what width they are, and then I can't take the old door and frame out until I have the frame built and ready to go - so that bit all needs to be done on the same day, so I still have a secure garage.
I also meant to cover the existing door frame with pvc cladding - I still have it, so could do it to the new one.
Another possibility that occured to me, is to fit the frame in such a way that I could lossedn the bolts off in the winter and allow the frame to expand a bit more, and then tighten it back up again, not sure if that is a good or bad idea?
It would mean in the summer having to alter it again.
The final thought that has just occured to me, is whether it is worth having a mess about with the hinges to see if I can alleviate the issue at least short term.
When the door is working fine it doesn't rub at all, but at present the ends of the door hits the frame, and I need to push the door in for it to clear the surround before it will shut - would the hinges possibly allow me to alter the alignment of the door that much?
I'm tempted to have a go now, but for the fact that daylight is limited, and I can't have a door I can't lock - so if the masses think I should try this first, will do so at the weekend.
Cheers
Dan
