Asked on Mar 19, 2015

Anyone cut a metal garage door?

Rjack
by Rjack
My husband & I totally disagree on this one.
We're converting a rental property from a two door garage door to a single.
He has a friend who is changing out his single metal garage door to wood.
Husband says its free so he thinks he can cut the garage door to a small size to fit our rental. REALLY! I'm thinking this is going to take a lot longer, end up not being 'free', not to mention how tacky it will look. He claims all his handy man jobs have been good.
My response - most of the time. But many ended up costing more money because of all the 'extra' materials, tools, & certainly more time.
I would love to hear from others. How do I convince this man to spend the $800-900 it cost for a new insulated garage door vs taking & improvising with a free one?
  14 answers
  • ...I havent ever seen that done.....and searching CL for a door is a good option for not spending $ on a brand new one. I agree with you, not sure about all that ! lol.
  • Jaxon Jaxon on Mar 20, 2015
    A garage door actually closes behind your opening. Not in it. So that said, if you have the space on the inside to move the tracks for the new door in all reality you wouldn't need to cut the door at all. If you really want to cut it and it has panels it doesn't seemnlike a good idea as it'll look off. Good luck!
  • Ann Ann on Mar 20, 2015
    I would think the edges where the wheels run would be gone if you cut it. Just doesn't sound like a savings.
  • Rjack Rjack on Mar 20, 2015
    I totally agree. Good points I'll be up to the husband.
  • Melinda Lockwood Melinda Lockwood on Mar 20, 2015
    Why not let him try? Could be a good life lesson!
  • Tammie ellerbee Tammie ellerbee on Mar 21, 2015
    Only if you can space the tracks out to keep from cutting the door will it work!
  • Rjack Rjack on Mar 22, 2015
    I've got a contractor coming over to check out. Likely a larger header will need to be added anyway. This is a contractor we have used for various projects. Thanks everyone.
  • Beth Gee Beth Gee on Mar 28, 2015
    Let him try. Unless your rich and you don't need to save money...Save Money every chance you can!
  • Rjack Rjack on May 27, 2015
    Thanks for the comments. We hired someone to remove center post & another guy for garage door.
  • Joan Stanley Joan Stanley on Nov 20, 2017

    Just take the whole door off, build an exterior wall, install a new support post, move the garage door rails over to the proper location and hang the 'new' door. Theres no reason to cut the original door at all. Do-able.

  • Renee Renee on Dec 06, 2017

    I can tell your husband that wood garage doors will be drafty, bow and sag, splinter and crack....talk about tachy!!

  • Sol33414969 Sol33414969 on May 13, 2018

    Actually you were going from 2 single doors to 1 double door. If your husband was thinking to replace the single doors with (free) better ones by cutting them to size...he was correct. He would have saved you a lot of money. It is very easy and doable to cut the ends to size, after removing the brackets (duh). But what do men know? They're just trouble.

  • Laura Cooper Laura Cooper on May 13, 2018

    Search Craigslist for an almost free option of the exact size.

  • William William on May 13, 2018

    Won't work. The panels are made to fit. The ends are reinforced to accept the roller brackets. Cutting anything will compromise the door structure and make it almost impossible fit.