Garage Door Whiteboard

Always working on projects in the garage and wish you could have a large uninterrupted whiteboard to play with? We did, so we made one - and mounted it right on the garage door!

But how is the garage door able to open with a large flat board mounted to it? We figured it out so we are sharing it with you.

We didn't have a garage door opener, so we didn't have to factor it into the design. If you do have a garage door opener, check its rating to make sure it can pick up the door and all the hardware you'll be adding to it. Also, you may have to modify the design slightly to allow for the opener mechanics.

Step 1 Get Materials and Tools

The materials you'll need for this project are:

- a garage door, any size will do - we used one a little wider than 8' and more than greater than 4' tall. You just will have to cut your whiteboard down to size if the door is smaller than 4'x8'.

- a 4'x8' sheet of tile board. We got ours for about 13 bucks at Home Depot.

- a 4'x8' sheet of Eucaboard or some other cheap paneling. This acts as a backer for the tile board and makes the entire thing stiffer.

- four 2"x2"8' pine boards. This acts as the frame.

- two 4' lengths of 1/2" threaded rod

- two eye bolts with 1/2" threaded portion

- four nuts for the threaded rod

- two connectors for threaded rod

- two ~3' lengths of PVC pipe large enough for the threaded rod to slide into easily. The closer the fit, the better.

- four metal pipe mounting brackets

- two large lag bolts

- two nuts that will easily fit over the lag bolts

- two large washers that will fit the lag bolts

- a box of wood screws

- a box of self-tapping screws

- four metal hinges

- 2'x4' scraps. We used two blocks about 4 inches long.

- wood glue

- drill, drill bits, drivers

Comments

[justin.jackson]

 as someone who works in the garage door business and, more specifically builds the torsion springs for the counterbalance, i can tell you that those springs are calibrated for each individual size/weight of door. The springs are calibrated to the pound in most cases. adding this extra weight to the door will cause problems down the road. I'm sure that right now the door is harder to open which will put more stress on the spring and cause it to break long before it should. And, if you are using an automatic opener (which I can see from the pics, you're not) you should absolutely stop using it immediately or risk serious damage to the (rather expensive) piece of equipment by putting the excess load on it.

I hope you dont take my comment the wrong way, I absolutely love the idea and the 'ible on it. I just have the burden of knowledge in this particular area. Just know its gonna cost you a couple hundred bucks (or more) to have someone come out and replace that bad boy.

[kuhsay]

You could probably add a tray for markers & an eraser that spans the bottom by attaching it an eye-bolt. The bolt part would go straight into the whiteboard and the tray would hang from it against the board when the garage door was closed. When the garage door is opened, it would hang perpendicular to the whiteboard. You could also just screw a coffee can to the wall and keep your markers/eraser in there. :) Cool project and a good use of space. I didn't realize whiteboards were so cheap!

[srhadaham]

So when the door is open does it just hang in the middle or is it attached at the base?

[srhadaham]

Never mind i was able to figure it out with pictures. I believe but could be wrong that it hangs against the door when the door is open

[ryanfaerman]

You've got it! It hangs fairly close to the door when the door is open.

[jongscx]

Put pics of the door at half-open... it's really confusing how you were describing the stuff in step 5...

[ryanfaerman]

I've added a few pictures and a video of the lower extension hinges.