Schweiss Doors has a reputation for engineering doors that have more to them than you see. One prime example of this was the Herb Korthius RV garage door in Washington that scooted around zoning ordinance restrictions that would only allow for an 8-foot tall door; or at least a door that looked like an 8-foot door, but that actually was a 16-foot tall door.

Dennis Scearce of Mooresville, North Carolina, applied this same principle to his design of his 25.4' x 9' hydraulic door on his 30' x 30' two story garage and shop addition. When it's open, it looks every bit like a garage door, but when it's closed it looks just like an extension of his home. With two large double windows, it blends in very nicely and matches the rest of his home exterior. The door has remote opener, photo eye sensors and an interior truss.

"Everybody that comes by gets faked out. All the neighbors think it's just unbelievable. I've had a lot of people ask me about where I got it and how much it cost. There's a ton of interest where neighborhood associations won't let people build a garage. When the door is closed nobody knows it's a garage; it looks like part of the house. That's because you guys (Schweiss) designed the door so the Pella house windows would fit in the door to match how they are installed on the rest of the house," explained Scearce.

Scearce also goes by "Odd Job Johnny," - John was a name his father used to call him. You might think he's your average small town all-around handyman or possibly a stand-in for the James Bond Goldfinger movie "Odd Job" who flings the deadly bowler hat slicing off a statues head. Actually, Scearce is also known for his work listed under the name of Dennis Consulting Services.

Now retired, he spends a lot of his time doing odd jobs, minor home repairs and small engine repairs for other people at his home just outside of Charlotte. One of his latest endeavors was building an addition to his home and installing his Schweiss residential hydraulic garage door.

Prior to this, he spent 30 years at Duke Energy in their Construction, IT, Commodities, Fleet and Distribution departments; retired and then four years later went back to work as a contract Project Manager of Engineering Modifications at McGuire Nuclear Station, Huntersville, NC. While there he initiated a NEI08-05 Cyber Security program for the Duke Energy nuclear fleet; a far cry from your average do it all handyman. Now that he retired again he does small odd jobs to help people out, mostly at no charge. His business card says: "No Job Too Small ... Most Jobs Too Big."

"I'm a pilot, and have seen Schweiss ads in EAA and various other magazines. I talked to you down at Sun ‘n Fun air show several times and had all your literature. Originally I was looking for a door for a 42' x 42' hangar I built in Maiden, North Carolina, but that never worked out. When designing my garage I went to a couple of airports where Schweiss and your competition had hangars with doors I could look at. I also have a friend that just built a hangar with a Schweiss door. I have the 5 h.p. motor that opens the door about twice as fast (15 to 20 seconds) as the 2 h.p. motor," said Scearce.

Scearce looked at a lot of photos and information on the Schweiss Doors website before ordering his door. He also looked at the competition and possibly utilizing a bifold door, but thought the one-piece hydraulic door would work better with his window arrangement.

He also decided against going with two 12' conventional garage doors that could have been installed on his 26' opening. That would have called for a center post.

"When you open this door you have access to anywhere in the shop. You can go in and turn around if your car is small enough and come out. I love that part. We already had a garage door on the other side of the house and we didn't want this to look like a little house in-between two garages, even though that's what it is. I wanted it to look like an extension to the house - it just looks like a big room addition, not a door - it came out perfect."

"Another advantage of the hydraulic door is when it is up you have a 25' x 10' shelter to work under," noted Scearce. "When I ordered the hydraulic pump I told Schweiss I wanted it on the right hand corner side facing the door. When it came I decided I didn't want it in the way where I could back into it. While we had the front off the garage I told the guy with the forklift we used to put the door in, to put it upstairs. It worked great, it's quieter and I like it up there out of the way," said Scearce.

The only thing he wished that could have been different was to have the black rubber hinge cover at the top of the door match the beige siding on his house.

Scearce said he way overbuilt the garage for the door. On either side he has the door uprights bolted to four 2x12's. For extra strength he tripled the garage trusses by bolting three of them together. When the door opens, he said nothing shakes.

Part of his decision to go with Schweiss was based on customer service.

"Jeremy (at Schweiss) answered every question, sometimes he was in a hurry; you could tell he was busy, but never too busy to give me everything he had. Sometimes he also sent me installing links on the Schweiss website that I never had time to get to. We didn't have any trouble installing the door at all. The quality of the Schweiss doors was there, and I had confidence that Schweiss would help me get it in," commented Scearce.