Carriage style doors are generally all built on a base panel made of a 1" to 1 3/8" x 2 1/2" to 3" wood frame. High quality doors (Hahn Woodworking) make the frame out of a decay resistant hardwood (Meranti mahogany, etc.), medium quality doors (Designer Doors) use Douglas Fir, and the lower quality doors (Overhead) use hemlock. Designer doors makes two models A & B in order to better compete with the brands above and below. The basic frame is faced with with 1/4" plywood usually on both sides (Designer only on inside). The plywwod is often luan mahogany but some is "super-ply"(Designer) The best doors prime all sides of all components before assembly (Hahn) some only after assembly (Designer) and some only partially (Overhead). Wood styles and rails and T&G paneling are added to the outer face of this basic door unit. Hahn uses clear Spanish cedar full 1" thick styles & rails butted against 3/4" T&G paneling with biscuit glued joinery and face-grain wood plugs over recessed screws into the framing. They claim 200 screws per door. Each panel is assembled separately. Designer uses clear western red cedar 5/8" thick styles and rails over-laid on top of 9/16" thick T&G paneling with putty over recessed screws . The entire door is built and then cut into separate panels. Overhead uses clear western red cedar 3/4" thick and T&G paneling glued and blind nailed. The total thickness varies from 2 1/2" to 2 7/8". Of course the front edge of this door assembly aligns (in both directions) with the inside corner of the trimmed door opening so the tracks must be set to accommodate this thickness. Polystyrene foam board insulation fills the door panel cavities. Some doors use the extruded kind (Styrofoam) and some use the expanded type (white beadboard). R values range from 5 to 7.7 The more expensive custom doors (Hahn & Designer) will consider a 9'x8' high door to be a standard size. The cheaper doors usually consider 9'x7' high door to be standard. Some provide chain drive openers, others provide belt drive openers. Some use Chamberlain Co. but Overhead has their own brand. Some provide a 3/4 hp motor, others 1/2 hp. Some use overhead torsion springs, others extension springs along the rails. There are too many glass options to describe. Some use a heavier galvanized steel track. Some offer powder coated tracks. Designer has weep holes, the others don't. All of the doors are installed by the manufacturers or their authorized agents. I would guess the approximate cost of a 9'x8' door, installed, would range from $5,000 to $2,000 assuming decorative paneling and glass. These manufacturers use different details at the horizontal panel joints with differing degrees of overlap. I'll post the details if I ever find them. Of course the manufacturers may have changed their designs in the past two years.

This guy makes beautiful doors. Even if you don't order from him you have to look at the gallery. We considered ordering from him but we have to heat our garage, so I wanted the highest R value possible (we ended up going with insulated steel that has an R value of about 18). Here is a link that might be useful: Maine Doors

The size you quoted is not a standard size door. You'll have to talk to a custom garage door company should be able to help you design your carriage house look door. A sampling of custom wood garage door companies: www.carriagedoor.com www.designerdoors.com www.realcarriagedoors.com www.ranchhousedoors.com

Hello! I am in the process of replacing standard garage doors with carriage style doors. I'm stumped, however, by the color of hardware I should choose. The manufacturer's (Amarr) options are all black/wrought iron. However, all of the light fixtures on my home are bronze (somewhat faded). The exterior of my home is brown stucco with accented by brownish stacked stone. The garage doors will be Sandtone color. Should I match the hardware on the garage doors with the other hardware on my home or should I go with what I've read is the traditional black/wrought iron look? Thanks so much in advance.