Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Mega Build Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjTMbsoHW2eiwnMEDfDmfQ7jhMwua0zX0
This will be updated as segments are added.
The Project House has garage space for five cars—one three-car garage and a two-car garage, both attached to the house and sharing a courtyard. We needed to install six garage doors, because one car slot is a pass-through, with a door in front and another in back.
Garage doors are one of the most visible components of a home’s exterior. When it was time to select the six doors for the Project House garages, we wanted doors that would pull the architectural details and elements from the home into the garage, thus supporting and adding to the architectural integrity of the entire home.
Garage doors are sometimes treated as an afterthought when homeowners are planning a new home. The thinking of many homeowners and builders has been that as long as the garage doors operate dependably and are a color that is complementary to the home’s exterior paint and trim, any good door will do. However, over the last decade or so, there’s been a new trend toward custom wooden doors that perfectly complement new construction, historic preservation and era-inspired architecture.
DESIGNER DOORS FOR THE PROJECT HOUSE
In the late 1980’s garage door maker Kent Forsland began to treat garage doors as an essential component of a home’s overall exterior décor. His company, Designer Doors began selling a line of high-quality wood garage doors to architects, homebuilders and homeowners.
The Designer Doors we chose for the Project House are framed with a clear grade Douglas Fir substructure overlaid with clear Western Red Cedar.
Douglas Fir is known for its natural rigidity and stability and its superior strength-to-weight ratio. Douglas Fir is tightly-knotted and close-grained. The doors we installed in the Project House can withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour--a significant consideration in Dallas, Texas, in the heart of the most thunderstorm and tornado-prone area of the United States. The Douglas Fir frame is enclosed with Superply plywood on both sides, creating an extremely strong “box” construction that offsets tension and compression and provides a natural rigidity. (source: Designer Doors)
The Western Red Cedar that gives our doors their distinctive look is a beautiful wood with a rich grain and warm palette. The Red Cedar has a natural luster that cannot be duplicated by any man-made material. For durability, cedar wood contains natural tannins that provide built-in resistance to decay and insects.
To prevent moisture infiltration, the doors are constructed so that no end grain is exposed at the base of the door, and a woodworking technique called a “drip cap” is built into the surface materials. The drip cap is a strip of wood with a 45-degree bevel recessed into the door face and applied on top of the horizontal bottom trim board to deflect water.
Vent holes are drilled into each section of the door to allow air movement into the interior of the door, which will further increase the longevity of our Designer Doors on the Project House.
Mega Build Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjTMbsoHW2eiwnMEDfDmfQ7jhMwua0zX0
This will be updated as segments are added.
The Project House has garage space for five cars—one three-car garage and a two-car garage, both attached to the house and sharing a courtyard. We needed to install six garage doors, because one car slot is a pass-through, with a door in front and another in back.
Garage doors are one of the most visible components of a home’s exterior. When it was time to select the six doors for the Project House garages, we wanted doors that would pull the architectural details and elements from the home into the garage, thus supporting and adding to the architectural integrity of the entire home.
Garage doors are sometimes treated as an afterthought when homeowners are planning a new home. The thinking of many homeowners and builders has been that as long as the garage doors operate dependably and are a color that is complementary to the home’s exterior paint and trim, any good door will do. However, over the last decade or so, there’s been a new trend toward custom wooden doors that perfectly complement new construction, historic preservation and era-inspired architecture.
DESIGNER DOORS FOR THE PROJECT HOUSE
In the late 1980’s garage door maker Kent Forsland began to treat garage doors as an essential component of a home’s overall exterior décor. His company, Designer Doors began selling a line of high-quality wood garage doors to architects, homebuilders and homeowners.
The Designer Doors we chose for the Project House are framed with a clear grade Douglas Fir substructure overlaid with clear Western Red Cedar.
Douglas Fir is known for its natural rigidity and stability and its superior strength-to-weight ratio. Douglas Fir is tightly-knotted and close-grained. The doors we installed in the Project House can withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour--a significant consideration in Dallas, Texas, in the heart of the most thunderstorm and tornado-prone area of the United States. The Douglas Fir frame is enclosed with Superply plywood on both sides, creating an extremely strong “box” construction that offsets tension and compression and provides a natural rigidity. (source: Designer Doors)
The Western Red Cedar that gives our doors their distinctive look is a beautiful wood with a rich grain and warm palette. The Red Cedar has a natural luster that cannot be duplicated by any man-made material. For durability, cedar wood contains natural tannins that provide built-in resistance to decay and insects.
To prevent moisture infiltration, the doors are constructed so that no end grain is exposed at the base of the door, and a woodworking technique called a “drip cap” is built into the surface materials. The drip cap is a strip of wood with a 45-degree bevel recessed into the door face and applied on top of the horizontal bottom trim board to deflect water.
Vent holes are drilled into each section of the door to allow air movement into the interior of the door, which will further increase the longevity of our Designer Doors on the Project House.
