What is the best door material for a boat house?

Aluminum for doors directly exposed to the water, since it does not rust. Galvanized steel or composite overlay doors suit landward and dry boat house openings.

Will ordinary garage door hardware last at the lake?

Not for long. Galvanized or stainless track, stainless cables and fasteners, and sealed bearings should be specified.

Can a boat house door be automated?

Yes, with an operator suited to damp conditions and electrical work carried out by a licensed electrician to the code for wet locations.

My boat house has very little headroom. Can it take an overhead door?

Usually. Low-headroom track and rear-mounted springs need only a few inches above the opening. A rolling door is an alternative.

Do I need a permit to replace a boat house door?

Replacing a door is generally maintenance, but shoreland rules vary. Please confirm with the local zoning office, particularly if the opening is to be altered.

How should the door be cared for over the winter?

Lubricate it in autumn, close it, and leave it closed. Do not operate it against ice. Inspect it in spring.

Commercial and specialty

Boat House Garage Doors in Hartland and Lake Country

A boat house is the hardest place on a property to keep a door working. It stands in constant damp, faces the full weather off the lake, and is often an old building with little room to spare. The door must be chosen for exactly those conditions.

(000) 000-0000

Chief enemy: Moisture
Hardware: Galvanized or stainless
Check first: Local shoreland rules

Lake Country and its boat houses

Hartland lies at the center of a district of lakes. Nagawicka, Pine, Beaver, North, Okauchee, and Pewaukee Lakes are all within a few miles, and their shores have been lined with summer houses since the late nineteenth century. Many of those properties have a boat house: sometimes a modest shed at the water’s edge, sometimes a substantial building with living quarters above.

They are of two kinds. A wet boat house stands over the water, and the boat floats within it or hangs on a lift. A dry boat house stands on the shore, and the boat is drawn into it on a rail or trailer. Each may have a door to the lake and another to the land.

Many are old, and a good number are valued precisely because they could not be built today. That makes their upkeep, and the careful renewal of their doors, a matter of some importance to their owners.

A note on regulation

Structures at the shoreline are closely regulated in Wisconsin, by the state, by Waukesha County, and by the individual towns and villages. The rules bear on what may be built, altered, or repaired near the water, and they differ from one municipality to the next. Replacing a door on an existing boat house is generally a matter of ordinary maintenance. Altering the size of an opening or the structure of the building may not be.

We are door specialists and do not give advice on zoning. We would ask any owner contemplating changes to the building itself to consult the local zoning office before work is planned.

What makes the boat house difficult

Moisture

A building over or beside the water is never dry. The air within is humid through the season, fog and spray reach the door, and condensation forms on every cold surface in spring and autumn. Ordinary steel hardware rusts quickly in such conditions, and untreated steel sections corrode from their edges inward.

Exposure

A door facing the lake takes the wind without shelter. On a large lake with a long fetch, that wind carries rain and spray horizontally against the door, and in a storm the pressure on it is considerable.

Ice

In winter, the lake freezes. Ice forms at the base of a lake-side door, and the movement of the ice sheet against the shore can displace the structure itself.

Clearance

Old boat houses were built with low eaves and without any thought of an overhead door. Headroom above the opening and depth behind it are often minimal, and on a wet boat house the track must be arranged so that the open door does not obstruct the boat lift.

Seasonal use

The door may stand closed from October to May and then be used daily. Mechanisms that sit idle through a damp winter are apt to seize.

A building over or beside the water is never dry.

Choosing the door

Material	Behavior at the water	Remarks
Aluminum	Does not rust. Light.	Well suited. Available as solid panel or glazed full-view doors. Anodized or powder-coated finishes hold up well.
Steel, galvanized and insulated	Durable if the coating is intact	Cut edges and scratches should be touched in. A good choice for the landward door.
Fiberglass	Unaffected by moisture. Translucent types admit light.	Light and corrosion-proof. Can become brittle with age and sun.
Vinyl	Will not rust, rot, or dent easily	A limited range of styles and colors
Wood	Traditional and handsome	Demands rigorous sealing and regular refinishing. See custom wood garage doors.
Composite overlay on steel	The look of timber without its vulnerability	A sound compromise for a boat house of traditional character

For the lake-side door of a wet boat house, we most often recommend aluminum. For a dry boat house or a landward door, a galvanized insulated steel door, or a composite overlay door where appearance is important, serves well.

Where an old building has doors of real character, such as ledged and braced timber leaves, we are cautious about replacing them. They can frequently be repaired, or reproduced as a sectional door of the same outward appearance.

Hardware

The sections are only part of the question. A door at the water fails most often at its hardware, and it is here that a boat house specification differs most from an ordinary one.

Track, hinges, and brackets of heavily galvanized or stainless steel
Rollers with nylon wheels on stainless stems and sealed bearings
Cables of stainless steel, since galvanized cable corrodes at its lower end within a few seasons
Springs with a protective coating, or of a galvanized or powder-coated type, and lubricated each season
Fasteners of stainless steel throughout, into sound timber
Bearings sealed against moisture
Bottom seal and retainer of materials that will not corrode or harden

The additional cost of corrosion-resistant hardware is modest beside the cost of renewing ordinary hardware every few years.

Before and after

Weathered boathouses and a well-kept one

The first photograph shows a row of old boathouses at the edge of the water. Their timber has weathered to a dark, uneven brown, their doors sit unevenly, and nothing about them suggests recent attention. Constant damp does this to any building that is not kept up.

The second photograph shows a boathouse in good order: gray boarding in sound condition, a tidy deck, and openings that close properly over calm water. Keeping a boat house in this state, where its doors are concerned, means corrosion-resistant sections and hardware, track arranged for the clearances available, and service at the start and end of each season. The door then opens when the season begins, which is not something every boat house owner can count on.

Before: Row of weathered boathouses at the water's edge — Illustrative comparison using licensed stock photography. It shows the kind of change this service makes and is not a documented customer project.

After: Tidy gray boathouse with a deck over calm water — Illustrative comparison using licensed stock photography. It shows the kind of change this service makes and is not a documented customer project.

Track and clearance

Low headroom is the rule in a boat house. Low-headroom track, with a double horizontal run, allows a sectional door to be hung with only a few inches above the opening. Rear-mounted torsion springs remove the spring assembly from above the door altogether.

On a wet boat house, the horizontal track runs back over the slip. Its position must be coordinated with the boat lift, its beams and cables, and the height of the boat on the lift. Where the clearances cannot be made to work, a rolling door, which coils into a compact barrel above the opening and requires no track behind it, may be the answer.

Power and operators

Automating a boat house door is a convenience much appreciated by anyone who has had to open one from a boat. It must be done with proper regard for the location.

Electrical work in a boat house is governed by the electrical code for damp and wet locations and for structures over water, and it must be carried out by a licensed electrician. Ground-fault protection is essential. We coordinate with the owner’s electrician and do not undertake that work ourselves.

The operator should be suited to a damp environment and mounted as far from spray as the building allows. A wall-mounted unit is often preferable to a rail-mounted one, since it has no rail over the slip. Remote operation from the boat is provided by an ordinary transmitter or by a connected control, as described under garage door opener accessories. Where no power is available, a well-balanced door of light construction can be operated by hand without difficulty.

The year at the water’s edge

Spring. Before the season begins, the door should be inspected and serviced. Rollers, hinges, bearings, and springs are lubricated. Cables are examined for corrosion. The door is tested for balance, and the track is checked for any movement of the structure over the winter.

Summer. Rinse the door and its hardware with fresh water from time to time. Keep the bottom seal and sill clear of weed and debris.

Autumn. When the boat is out, lubricate the mechanism again before the building is closed up. A door left dry through a damp winter is the door that will not open in May.

Winter. The lake-side door should be closed and left so. Where ice forms against it, no attempt should be made to operate it. The movement of ice against the shore can rack an old boat house, and the door and its track should be examined in spring for the effects.

Ventilation and screens

A closed boat house is damp and still, which is hard on boats as well as on doors. In season, many owners prefer to leave the door open for the air. A screen fitted behind the door keeps out insects and swallows while allowing the building to breathe. See garage door screens.

Repairing existing doors

A good part of our work on boat houses is repair. Corroded cables, seized rollers, and rusted bottom brackets are replaced with stainless or galvanized equivalents. Track that has been pulled out of line by settlement is reset. Rotted jambs are renewed in treated or naturally durable timber. Where the door itself is sound, this is usually enough to give it many more years.

Where the sections have failed, we measure for a new door and specify it for the site. Related large-door work on shoreland storage buildings is described under pole barn and barndominium doors.

Questions and answers

Questions about boat house doors

What is the best door material for a boat house?: Aluminum for doors directly exposed to the water, since it does not rust. Galvanized steel or composite overlay doors suit landward and dry boat house openings.
Will ordinary garage door hardware last at the lake?: Not for long. Galvanized or stainless track, stainless cables and fasteners, and sealed bearings should be specified.
Can a boat house door be automated?: Yes, with an operator suited to damp conditions and electrical work carried out by a licensed electrician to the code for wet locations.
My boat house has very little headroom. Can it take an overhead door?: Usually. Low-headroom track and rear-mounted springs need only a few inches above the opening. A rolling door is an alternative.
Do I need a permit to replace a boat house door?: Replacing a door is generally maintenance, but shoreland rules vary. Please confirm with the local zoning office, particularly if the opening is to be altered.
How should the door be cared for over the winter?: Lubricate it in autumn, close it, and leave it closed. Do not operate it against ice. Inspect it in spring.

Estimates in Hartland and Lake Country

Have a boat house door in need of attention? Tell us about the building.

Describe the door, the building, and what you would like done. We will reply with any questions and arrange a time to measure or inspect.