Much more often homeowners seek to increase the garage door size to match vehicles that don t easily fit through the existing opening.
Size garage door opening.
Garage door openers typically range from 1 3 to over 1 horsepower.
1 2 or 1 in one direction of the other will won t typically.
However a single garage door at eight to nine feet wide and seven to eight feet high is a common measurement for many homes.
The horsepower needed for your garage door opener is dependent on whether or not you want a long lasting opener verses replacing it every few cycles or the size of the door.
For example if you would like to lift a double garage door one might suggest using a 1 2 horsepower because the door is heavier and larger.
If you are installing a 9 wide door the opening will be 9 3 wide.
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.
Choosing a garage door size.
If you have an older garage door opener manufactured before jan.
If you are installing a 9 wide door the opening will be 9 3 wide.
Frame the rough opening to 3 inches wider than the garage door size you have selected.
Standard garage doors in our area are 8 9 16 and 18 wide.
Modern openers generate electronic beams that extend across the garage door opening to provide entrapment prevention and protection.
Begin by using a tape measure to determine the width and height of the door opening in inches.
An opener with at least 1 2 horsepower is common for residential use.
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.
99 of the residential garage doors that we run across are different than these widths.
From a structural standpoint it is fairly easy to reduce the size of the opening in a garage thus creating the need for a smaller garage door.
This post is intended for purposes of clarifying how garage door sizes work and opening preparation.
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.
Look for an opener that has the horsepower necessary for your garage door size based on size and weight.
However it is quite rare for anyone to want to do this.
There is no standard garage door size.
1 1993 consider upgrading the device to take advantage of safety features.
If you need a double garage door the typical measurement is 16 ft.