How Big Should A Garage Door Opening Be

Step 1 measure the old door if you are replacing an existing door with one of the same size or the new door of choice if you are building a new garage.

How big should a garage door opening be.

Pull a measurement from the floor of your space to the ceiling next to the door opening. If there isn t enough room above the opening this can t be done without raising the roof of the garage. 99 of the residential garage doors that we run across are different than these widths. It holds the garage door torsion springs which means any force exerted on the springs is directly transferred to this piece.

Cut two 2 x 6 pieces of lumber and attach to the face of the wall running from the edge of your garage door jambs to the ceiling of your garage. Just add 2 to the width of the actual door size. Width of garage door opening standard widths are 8 9 10 12 14 16 17 and 18 height of the garage door opening standard residential heights are 7 7 6 8 header the header is ideally a minimum 12 wide micro laminated beam that spans the width of the garage door opening. You should add 2 1 2 to the height of the actual door.

In most cases the answer would be that you want to make the opening the same size as the door and that is the stock answer you will usually get. The rough opening is equal to the size of the door but you need to figure back head and side room before choosing and installing the new garage door. This lumber will be used to attach your garage door track and a portion of your assembly. 1 2 or 1 in one direction of the other will won t typically cause you to have to shop for a non standard garage door size.

Standard garage doors in our area are 8 9 16 and 18 wide. Getting the rough opening size right the first time will save you from frustration when installing your doors. A very common question to garage door dealers is what size should i make the garage door rough opening. It is also a good idea to have a 3 foot wide door to the exterior on the side of the garage.

When you open the car doors inside the minimum sized 20x20 garage you might just end up scratching the car door when you re in a hurry to get in and out. As for the door going into the house from the garage you will want it to be at least 32 inches 81 centimeters wide. This will give you room to space the door frame off of the sub floor. In short the minimum dimensions for a 2 car garage should be 20 x20 and to make extra space to get in and out of the car it is recommended to go with 24 x24 or larger.

Sides of garage door opening. The span above the door opening is framed with a long header that supports the wall area above the door and this header will need to be raised or rebuilt in order to increase the overall door size. If you use a garage door opener for your opener it will be attached to this piece as well. Next you will need to know your door height.