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Reversing the door to the garage?


puntloos

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The door to my garage currently goes into the kitchen, and given the garage is outside the thermal envelope, I assume the door has to be built 'very well', sealing properly, insulated etc.

 

But.. 

 

We don't tend to put a car in the garage anyway, so the garage door "banging into the car" is not a thing yet. It might make more sense to have the door open 'outward'. 

 

Q: When the mood strikes and I buy me a car I care about getting stolen (or more likely: a future buyer of the house has one), would it be 'doable' to reverse that garage door? Obv not expecting it to be super straightforward but can a professional do it properly without having to knock out the entire wall or cause other wanton destruction?

 

 

 

 

 

garage.png.06e01115293f280e14422c376373118b.png

 

 

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Just now, markc said:

No reason why not, changing it around is pretty straightforward

 

Cool, I'm not a builder so I have no idea if there are any "hidden snags" that I'm not aware of. Does drilling into an 'unprepped' doorframe hurt the insulation, does the door fit so tightly you can never make it work if you try to mirror it.. etc it indeed sounds straightforward but things can turn nasty ;)

 

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You could remove the whole frame, turn it around and refit. or depending on the frame detail, leave the frame alone (fill the rebates and holes left by the lock/closer etc. and fit the door to the other side. ... this is so much easier to do than describe.

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If you're going for a (vaguely) airtight door, then the answer is 

- inward opening performs better

- no. you can't easily reverse it.

 

The issue is mostly the threshold. Making an airtight seal at the threshold is hard, making it on the outside of the threshold is harder, and reversing the threshold (non-destructively) even harder

 

Full disclosure: we have a Moralt Ferro Passive garage door, made a last minute change to make it outward opening, and somewhat regret it.

 

Edited by joth
Typo: NON destructively
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15 minutes ago, joth said:

If you're going for a (vaguely) airtight door,

Yep.

15 minutes ago, joth said:

then the answer is 

 

- inward opening performs better

Interesting factoid. OK, I guess I'll stick with inward then.

15 minutes ago, joth said:

- no. you can't easily reverse it.

 

The issue is mostly the threshold. Making an airtight seal at the threshold is hard, making it on the outside of the threshold is harder, and reversing the threshold (destructively) even harder

 

Yeah that was what I was 'suspecting' but having zero actual experience... 

 

15 minutes ago, joth said:

Full disclosure: we have a Moralt Ferro Passive garage door, made a last minute change to make it outward opening, and somewhat regret it.

 

Sorry you have nonzero actual experience :/ 

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  • 2 weeks later...

what type of door do you plan on using? UPVC,composite etc.. or just a regular wooden fire door?

 

taking a upvc/composite framed door out whole and spinning it round is pretty straightforward for your application as you don't have to worry about how the drainage is setup as its inside. a basic composite would be around £500 without all the frills if you know where to shop, just make sure its double rebated. although I think it would need to be fire rated. 

Edited by gaz_moose
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