Getting a wide car safely through a narrow garage door,

[Pan Pan Pan]

paulwirral said:

V8RX7 said:

Obvious solutions:

Get a roller shutter door - fix it behind the pillars gaining the 100mm - from £700ish on Ebay.

Or go the whole hog and increase the opening size before buying a new door.

Theses two suggestions are the only sensible options . Roller shutter more expensive to buy but cheaper to fix , increase the door size is more labour but cheaper materials .
Roller type should be done in half a day by someone competent .

Again thanks, but a roller shutter will just cause another problem, because as described in the post above, the front piers to the garage are steel reinforced brickwork, and because they represent a major structural element of the garage, they are also very deep. If I had a roller shutter running down the inside of the piers, it would give me an extra 100mm of opening width. which would be more than enough for my needs, but owing to the depth of the piers doing this would lop about 450mm off the available length in the garage, so then the car would not fit lengthwise. The real problem of course is that the garage is just too small to take anything larger than a small hatchback. but knocking it down, and building a suitably designed / sized one is I am afraid not really an option for me.

[mattdaniels]

eliot said:

+1 on changing the door for a sectional. I've got an insulated roller, but they are not as secure (or windproof) as an insuluated sectional.

+2

I had the same problem in my last house as you OP, and had a Seceuroglide roller shutter fitted, meaning I could lose the wooden frame around the brickwork. Made parking a bit less stressful.

[paulwirral]

450 at the top when rolled up , 50 mm tops off the length when down max ?
Need a pic of the car in the garage then you may get a few better solutions

[robinessex]

Pan Pan Pan said:

robinessex said:

Remove pillars at entrance. You can borrow my SDS drill if you want.

Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately the front piers are hefty and formed in steel reinforced brickwork, but since they are a major structural element of the garage holding the roof up, removing them or reducing their designed cross sectional area is probably not going to be a good idea.

Cut off excessive brickwork with diamond blade cutter. Raw bolt thick 90 degree steel reinforcement angle plate to removed section, ensure top supports any roof structure. Garage roofs aren't that heavy anyway.

[paulwirral]

Just re read that , I know what you mean now , is there not enough room at the front to mount a roller shutter on the front of the wall and get someone to build a couple of brick pillars up either side and box the top in ?

[Pan Pan Pan]

paulwirral said:

Just re read that , I know what you mean now , is there not enough room at the front to mount a roller shutter on the front of the wall and get someone to build a couple of brick pillars up either side and box the top in ?

Hi Paul. As noted above, the main problem could be trying to squeeze a big ish car into a garage which was clearly only meant for a very small hatch back. The front piers are a major structural element to provide stability to the walls and are 450mm x 450mm. Putting a roller shutter on the inside face of the piers would solve the width problem, but would give me problems with the length of the garage. With the front of the car virtually touching the back wall, the inside face of the garage door is only about 50mm from the rear of the car, so taking off 450mm (the depth of the pier) off the available length would have the roller shutter coming down onto the back of the car.
I wanted to keep the car in there, (as technically it `should' have fitted OK) as it seemed daft having to park on the street, whilst having an empty, dry garage sitting there doing nothing, but I may be up against a unworkable problem with this one.

[Pan Pan Pan]

robinessex said:

Pan Pan Pan said:

robinessex said:

Remove pillars at entrance. You can borrow my SDS drill if you want.

Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately the front piers are hefty and formed in steel reinforced brickwork, but since they are a major structural element of the garage holding the roof up, removing them or reducing their designed cross sectional area is probably not going to be a good idea.

Cut off excessive brickwork with diamond blade cutter. Raw bolt thick 90 degree steel reinforcement angle plate to removed section, ensure top supports any roof structure. Garage roofs aren't that heavy anyway.

Thanks Robinessex, but how can I know what is `excessive brickwork' and what has been designed and built the way it has for stability /load bearing reasons?
Don't really want to cut the piers away, only to find the side walls start wobbling, every time the wind blows too hard, or the garage door is shut hard. Scraping the car is one thing, having the garage collapse on it is something else.

[lostkiwi]

Pan Pan Pan said:

robinessex said:

Pan Pan Pan said:

robinessex said:

Remove pillars at entrance. You can borrow my SDS drill if you want.

Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately the front piers are hefty and formed in steel reinforced brickwork, but since they are a major structural element of the garage holding the roof up, removing them or reducing their designed cross sectional area is probably not going to be a good idea.

Cut off excessive brickwork with diamond blade cutter. Raw bolt thick 90 degree steel reinforcement angle plate to removed section, ensure top supports any roof structure. Garage roofs aren't that heavy anyway.

Thanks Robinessex, but how can I know what is `excessive brickwork' and what has been designed and built the way it has for stability /load bearing reasons?
Don't really want to cut the piers away, only to find the side walls start wobbling, every time the wind blows too hard, or the garage door is shut hard. Scraping the car is one thing, having the garage collapse on it is something else.

Engage a reputable builder to sort it out.

[Smitters]

Pan Pan Pan said:

paulwirral said:

Just re read that , I know what you mean now , is there not enough room at the front to mount a roller shutter on the front of the wall and get someone to build a couple of brick pillars up either side and box the top in ?

Hi Paul. As noted above, the main problem could be trying to squeeze a big ish car into a garage which was clearly only meant for a very small hatch back. The front piers are a major structural element to provide stability to the walls and are 450mm x 450mm. Putting a roller shutter on the inside face of the piers would solve the width problem, but would give me problems with the length of the garage. With the front of the car virtually touching the back wall, the inside face of the garage door is only about 50mm from the rear of the car, so taking off 450mm (the depth of the pier) off the available length would have the roller shutter coming down onto the back of the car.
I wanted to keep the car in there, (as technically it `should' have fitted OK) as it seemed daft having to park on the street, whilst having an empty, dry garage sitting there doing nothing, but I may be up against a unworkable problem with this one.

If I read this suggestion right - he's saying build the garage outwards, and mount the roller further out, not inside the existing structure. More width and more length.

For what it's worth, I have similar issues and I roll mine in by hand, but then it's much lighter by the sounds of things. Sled sounds like another option... or what about a dolly that you drive onto, then winch back into the garage using guides, similar to your idea for just reversing in?

[Byker28i]

Reg Local said:

A banksman is always your best bet in situations like this, but make sure its someone you trust!

In the absence of an assistant, small video cameras are now available which link live pictures via bluetooth to mobile phones, tablets etc. GoPros for example, although much cheaper cameras are available with this facility. Stick one either side of your garage door, or one on the ceiling, or the back wall of your garage and you can get a live third-party perspective of your parking.

Oh I like that idea. Saw someone had a cheap large tv in the garage to feed the cars diagnostics onto. Add that with another channel for a tv camera(s) and thats a good idea.

[paulwirral]

Yes , that's what I meant , mount the roller to the outer wall and build up 2 brick piers either side and box the top in for weather proofing , opens the width and keeps the length .
Just make sure you get someone competent to do the work or it could look like a right bodge .

[Byker28i]

Smitters said:

If I read this suggestion right - he's saying build the garage outwards, and mount the roller further out, not inside the existing structure. More width and more length.

This was my thought. Could you build a meter or so extension onto the front of the garage, a garage porch sort of thing to add more length and give room to fit a roller door or other solution? Slightly wider than needed and you could fit old fashioned opening outward doors even.

[WinstonWolf]

Pan Pan Pan said:

forzaminardi said:

Without wanting to sound like I'm trying to be funny, I think the answer to your question is simply "be careful". Either you're confident enough at maneuvering your car to get it in or you're not. If you're not confident about it, don't do it.

With just 30mm of clearance on each side of the car, and not much maneuvering room in front of the garage to get it millimetre perfect `every' time, I think it will just be a matter of when, not if, I scrape the side of the car on one of the door frames.
I have been getting the car in and out of the garage for some time now, but I am guessing (so far) with more blind luck than judgement, but it is a bit tedious, and not really a viable option at night. I was looking for an automatic way of getting the car lined up perfectly and in exactly the same place to get it in and out safely every single time.

Get an A8, you'll be a parking god in no time

[akirk]

if cars can parallel park themselves - surely there is a company out there that can fit auto-parking for you?
pull up outside, hop out, press a button, car parks itself - in these days of autonomous cars it shouldn't be too much of a challenge...

[boyse7en]

Pan Pan Pan said:

When I can find one that can do 0-62 in 5.5 seconds and 175 mph, then perhaps I will

Reckon this might beat your 0-62, but 175mph might be a bit exciting

[AyBee]

Pan Pan Pan said:

I am thinking the best options would be to get some wooden guide rails not unlike the little kerbs used on the Eurotunnel trains, which keep cars aligned, and away from the carriage sides, they are only about 50mm high (and seem to work well without damaging tyres / rims)

I'd probably be doing this - drill some holes into the garage floor/outside, have some pins sticking out of the wood that slot into these holes, drive car into garage between guides, remove guides

Now, what's the car?

[tonygt3]

Remove the bottom one meter of the wooden sides of the door frame, this should give you and extra 6 inches

Pan Pan Pan said:

Anyone had the problem of regularly getting a car through an up and over garage door where (if positioned centrally / correctly) there is perhaps 30mm clearance on either side between the door frame even with the mirrors folded in?
The issue is that with regular use, it may only be a matter of time before the car is caught on one side of the door or the other as also there is limited maneuvering / lining up space in front of the garage.
I wondered if there was a way of putting down temporary guide rails outside the garage, which `channel' the car into the correct position to avoid scraping it on the door jambs?
The idea of cr*pping myself nearly `every' time I have to put in, or take it out of the garage is not exactly appealing, and leaving it outside the garage is not an option as the insurance is based on it being kept inside the garage at night.
Once the car is in the garage, space is still a bit tight, but not so much of a problem, but the spec/dimensions for the car appeared to indicate, that it would get through the opening with room to spare (and with the mirrors out) which now seems not to be the case.
Just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they might have got around it.
Getting a new door, possibly face fixed, (rather than between the reveals) to the front of the garage might be an option, as it would give another 100mm of clearance, but I am thinking would not look very tidy.
Any advice would be appreciated.