So I have a walk out basement. Currently it's two in-swing 4'x8' doors. Standard door construction as in rails n stiles and what looks like cope and stick joinery. 16 panel each door. The top half panels are single pane windows.

They are not doing so hot. Woods chewed up in a lot of spots. Wear rare and rot. One of the panels was replaced with plywood. One panel is a shitty dog door. The lockset is broken and is a hasp and padlock on the inside and a barrel lock too. They won't hold a lick of paint anymore so they'd need stripped just to diagnose what needs fixed.

4'x8' doors are impossible to get it seems. The local custom door maker only goes to 42" wide and said no to my 48". The architect (real architect) wife wants to keep it original looking at the least. Overhead door said they could put a garage type in but it would have a 4" filler the whole perimeter of the door due to inside clearance issues. The lady nixed that cause it would "look like a garage door jammed into a too small opening". She's right.....

A local custom wood work/cabinet/furniture maker says he could produce unfinished and hardware less doors for guessing $1500 but he'd need to do a proper quote to figure it out. I just wanna make sure it's not something I can do my self to cut costs. I'd imagine his cost will be higher then $1500 anyways.

I was thinking of plywood doors, using planed down 1x4 pine to build up the stiles and rails to make it look right.  A 4x8 sheet fits perfectly. I'd have to dress the edges and all. Wouldn't be too bad. Have most the tools id need.

Then she tells me she wants to have windows in what ever it is. Shit....can't think of how to put windows in the thing if it's just a sheet of plywood.

What do I do?

Frame opening to a more standard size?

Ask your local woodworker for a proper quote.  Door that large wouldn't be hard to make if you have the right tools and experience.  Need to understand how the wood is going to move over time and proper joinery to accomodate the movement while keeping the door plumb and square.  

David Marks from the show "Wood Works" did a really good episode on building exterior doors.  Searched youtube but couldn't find it.  

I don't think your plywood door idea would last long.

Pics!  We must have pics!

Plywood would not be a good idea it will warp over time and if it gets wet even if sealed properly will flake away. I have seen the festool DF 700 used to make large gates and doors so if you want to try and make something yourself take a look at youtube and search gate construction or door building with the DF 700.

You could make the door smaller with windows on the sides kinda like on the front entrance to a house or even a rolling overhead shutter door but those are pretty expensive/ take up a good chunk of room above.

Where are you located? Mainly climate questions/ weather.
Is the basement finished?

If you take a picture it would be easer to visualize the problem.

any time you deal with custom/ big openings the price/ headaches go way up.

pics of big carriage doors, but i don't want to hijack this thread and want to see the OP's rough opening.

please note -- i spec'd and finished these, not built these.  they are not budget doors.

ar-jedi






















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Some years ago I build doors with a subcontractor for Yankee Barn Homes.  We built interior uninsulated and exterior insulated doors.  All were out of reclaimed Douglas Fir.  There is a bucket load of work that goes into making a simple 6 panel interior door. BUT it's not rocket science and doesn't take a ton of speciality tools. If you DIY, you'll save a bucket load of cash.