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Custom Garage Doors
Also called a wicket door, man door, or pass door — a smaller walk-through door set right into one panel of your garage door, so you can step in and out without cycling the whole door.
A pedestrian garage door is a standard sectional garage door with a smaller, human-sized door framed into one of the lower panels. Open the small door to walk in or out; the full door still opens normally whenever you need vehicle or equipment access.
Depending on who you ask, the same thing gets called a wicket door, a man door, a man pass door, a pass door, a personnel door, a walk-through door, or simply “a garage door with a door in it.” Contractors, manufacturers, and homeowners all use different words for it — they all describe the same product, and we install all of them.
It solves a daily annoyance. Instead of running the opener every time you duck into the garage for a tool, to let the dog out to a side yard, or to grab something off a shelf, you use the built-in door like any exterior door — no motor, no full cycle, no standing in the driveway waiting for seven feet of steel to roll up.
This page covers what these doors are, the different names for them, why customers choose one, what drives the price, and honest answers to the questions we get asked most. If you already know you want one, send us photos of your garage and door opening and we’ll quote the exact price upfront before any work begins.
If you’ve been searching and getting different results, that’s because this product has half a dozen names. Here’s the vocabulary, so you know you’re in the right place no matter which term you started with.
The most common industry term in the US, and the one most manufacturers use on spec sheets. A pedestrian garage door is a sectional door with a person-sized door built into a panel.
The traditional term, still standard in the UK, Canada, and among European door manufacturers. A wicket door garage door and a pedestrian garage door are the same product — different regional vocabulary.
What most contractors and homeowners actually say out loud. “Garage door with a man door built in” and “man pass door” both mean a walk-through door inside the garage door panel — not a separate side door.
The commercial term. Warehouses, shops, and loading docks call it a pass door or personnel door, and it’s often wanted so staff can enter without cycling a large industrial door dozens of times a day.
Plain-English versions: a walk-through garage door or walk-in garage door. Same product — a door you walk through, inside the door your car drives through.
Some customers describe it as an entry door, service door, or access door built into the garage door. Careful: a “service door” can also mean a separate door in the garage wall — we’ll confirm which one you actually want.
The appeal is almost always about convenience and access, not looks — though a well-built pedestrian door looks clean once it’s in. The most common reasons customers ask for one:
The pedestrian door is framed into one of the garage door’s lower sections, complete with its own hinges, a weatherstripped jamb, a lockset, and a door closer or latch so it seats properly when the main door is in motion. The surrounding panel is reinforced around the cutout, since removing material from a structural section changes how that panel handles the door’s weight and wind load.
Most pedestrian doors also carry an interlock switch — a safety contact that prevents the opener from running the main door while the walk-through door is standing open. On commercial pass doors this is standard practice, and it’s the single most important detail to get right on any install.
Because the opening is cut into a section that still has to travel up and around the curved track with the rest of the door, this isn’t a modification you retrofit onto just any existing door. It’s typically built into a new custom door, sized and engineered for your specific opening from the start.
On a house, a pedestrian door is a convenience upgrade: side-yard access, a way in when the power is out, fewer opener cycles. It goes into a residential sectional door and gets a residential-grade lockset and closer.
On a commercial building, a pass door is usually an operations decision. If staff cross a warehouse or shop opening dozens of times a shift, cycling a large sectional or rolling door every time burns through spring and opener life fast, wastes conditioned air, and slows people down. A pass door built into the main door keeps foot traffic and vehicle traffic separate.
Commercial pass doors get heavier hardware — commercial-grade closers, lever or panic hardware where the building requires it, and an interlock so the main door can’t run while the pass door is open. If the opening is part of an egress path, the door type and hardware are dictated by code, not preference, and that gets confirmed before anything is ordered.
Every pedestrian door project starts with your actual opening — the width and height of the garage door, where the walk-through door needs to sit in the panel for headroom and hinge clearance, and which side makes sense for how you actually use the garage.
We work with our door manufacturers to spec a panel with the pedestrian door built in to size, then handle installation the same way we would any custom door: removing the old door and track if needed, setting new track and hardware to handle the reinforced panel’s weight, mounting and testing the pedestrian door’s hinges, weatherstripping, lockset, and interlock, and doing a full cycle test on both the walk-through door and the main opener before we call the job done.
One detail worth knowing before you fall in love with a design: the pedestrian door needs a raised threshold at the bottom of the panel, because the walk-through door sits inside the section rather than running to the floor. It’s a small step over, typically a few inches. If a flush, no-step entry is a hard requirement — for a wheelchair, a hand truck, or a rolling toolbox — tell us early and we’ll talk through the alternatives instead of selling you a door that won’t work for you.
Because this is a built-to-order component, lead times run longer than a stock replacement door — plan for a manufacturing window on top of the install date. We’ll give you a realistic timeline once we’ve seen your opening and picked a door.
A garage door with a built-in pedestrian door costs meaningfully more than the same door without one — we’d rather tell you that upfront than surprise you at the quote. It’s worth understanding what you’re actually paying for, because it isn’t markup on a hole in a panel.
Sometimes the real goal is “I want to walk into my garage without opening the big door,” and a pedestrian door is one of several ways to get there. We’d rather solve that than sell you the most expensive option by default.
If there’s usable wall next to the opening, a separate exterior man door in the garage wall does the same job. If the opener is the frustration, a modern opener with a wall control, keypad, and phone app changes the daily experience for a fraction of the cost. And if the garage is cold or the door is failing anyway, an insulated replacement door may be the upgrade that actually matters.
We’ll price the pedestrian door properly and put the alternatives next to it, so you can compare real numbers instead of guessing. No pressure either way — plenty of customers look at both and pick the pedestrian door because it’s the only thing that solves their layout.
Installation follows the same process as any full garage door replacement, with extra attention paid to the pedestrian door itself once the main door is hung and balanced.
A pedestrian garage door — wicket door, man door, pass door, whatever you call it — puts a proper walk-through entrance right into your garage door: side-yard access, a secure alternative to a pet door, and no more running the opener for a quick trip in or out. It costs more than a standard door because you’re buying a custom reinforced panel plus a complete second door, and it’s built to order, so plan on a manufacturing lead time. Send us photos of your garage and we’ll spec the right door, price the alternatives next to it, and give you an exact number upfront before any work begins.
Text us photos of your garage opening for a quote, or call to talk through sizing, door styles, and what the alternatives would cost. Upfront pricing and a 1-year parts and labor warranty.
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