Garage Door Opening Size

This post is intended for purposes of clarifying how garage door sizes work and opening preparation.

Garage door opening size.

Frame the rough opening to 3 inches wider than the garage door size you have selected. If you are installing a 9 wide door the opening will be 9 3 wide. A 8 x 7 feet door will be the perfect option for any mid size sedans and most of suvs. Measure the distance from the bottom plate of the wall to a point that is 1 1 2 inches higher that the garage door height.

However if you are putting bricks thick river rock stones marble or anything else on both sides that is more than 1 thick you will want the rough opening the same. If you have an older garage door opener manufactured before jan. Modern openers generate electronic beams that extend across the garage door opening to provide entrapment prevention and protection. 99 of the residential garage doors that we run across are different than these widths.

A heavier single door or a double steel door may need a 1 2 horsepower opener and a wooden double door may need the full 1 horsepower to open. How to frame a garage door 1. Therefore making the width of the garage door rough opening the same size as the door would be fine if you are going to use a thin layer of stucco vinyl siding or 1 by lumber. Much more often homeowners seek to increase the garage door size to match vehicles that don t easily fit through the existing opening.

1 1993 consider upgrading the device to take advantage of safety features. Begin by using a tape measure to determine the width and height of the door opening in inches. If you re unsure of which opener to get it s a good idea to talk to the staff in the hardware store you re buying from or to a garage door repair service. However it is quite rare for anyone to want to do this.

Frame the rough opening for the garage door to 3 inches wider than the garage door you have selected. 1 2 or 1 in one direction of the other will won t typically. Bigger trucks will fit in 9 x 8 doors with very few exceptions. Measuring a residential garage door is more than determining the dimensions of the door but making sure the garage can accommodate a garage door opener and the door in both open and closed positions.

Cut four 2 x 4 trimmers to this length and nail two each to either side of the rough. Standard garage doors in our area are 8 9 16 and 18 wide.