There are several cut styles for different garage/roll-down doors. The “box cut” is one of my go-to’s because it works in many different circumstances and quickly provides a huge opening.
Here are a couple of quick tips on this cut:
⭐️ Plan your cut. The door will open out to the opposite side of where you make the down cut. This could be important if you’re up against an obstacle or as to not block other operations. The cut in this photo will open to the left.
⭐️ Don’t intersect the top and down cuts until you’re ready to open the door. Prematurely connecting these can also cause the door to begin to fall and bind your saw. In this photo, all the other cuts are made, and the FF is connecting the top and down cuts while I standby to pull the door.
⭐️ It is sometimes necessary to do the little “dog door” at the bottom to be able to fully/quickly cut through the bottom rail. You can see this at the bottom right. This opening allows you to come straight on the bottom rail of the door with the saw to cut through it.
Remember - the goal is a LARGE opening. For egress, ventilation, and advancement of lines.
👏🏼 A huge pro is that this opens the entire door, from left to right, from as high as you make the top cut, all the way to the ground.
Unlike the “teepee cut,” the box cut leaves no jagged metal or debris at the bottom.
I have found this cut method to be a go-to on many doors, from slatted roll-downs to panel garage doors.
Nothing is one size fits all. Other cuts work well depending on the door’s construction, but this is a solid option if you’re looking for a baseline method.
Be wary of any kind of small cut where a bunch of guys scurry in a small hole a then get jammed up because they can’t get out when conditions change, or hoselines are getting cut on jagged metal, or there’s not enough room to open the man door behind the roll down. △❌
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