Today, I’m going to show you how to measure a garage door. At first glance, we have what appears to be a two-car wide single door so most likely it’s a 16 x7, but we’ll put the tape measure on it and we’ll find out for sure.
Measure the Finished Opening.
The first step to measure a garage door. We’re going to measure pad to pad. The pad is usually a 2×6 or 2×4 that the track is attached to. We’re going to measure from the inside of this pad all the way to the other pad and see what measurement we get. From pad to pad we are getting 16 feet. So that’s good. Now let’s measure the height. I’ll usually measure a few spots because headers can sag as well as floors can be uneven. I’m getting 7 feet the middle sags a little over half an inch lower, but that’s ok.
Next Measure How Much Room You Have Above the Door.
Now that we know the door is a 16 x7 let’s take a look at the headroom and see what that is. The headroom is the amount of space you have from the top of the opening to the ceiling.
I’ll usually take two measurements. I’ll take one just straight up from the header. We’ve got 17 inches from the top of the opening to the ceiling. Plenty of room for the standard track. I also like to take a measurement from the inside just in case the header is a little bit off or anything like that so I know exactly floor to ceiling what I have. So floor to ceiling, I have 101 inches if seven feet is 84 inches I’m still going to have 17 inches of headroom.
Those three measurements are the main ones we need to put together an estimate and really figure out what we need to get the right size door. We need the width which we have at 16 feet. We need the height which we have at seven feet, and now we have the headroom, which is 17 inches. We know exactly what we need as far as the size door and what type of track we can use and make it work.
Check for obstructions and issues with the framing.
We want to check the pads, where the track attaches, to make sure they’re not damaged. Look for any sign of rot or bug damage or anything like that.
Also, look at the ceiling for any obstructions. This particular garage has a beam that prevents the opener from being mounted up where it should be. They ended up switching the top fixtures to sleds, a special type of top fixture to get the door a little lower and allow the regular track to work, but still drop the opener below the beam. If I measured this garage I would have used a special low headroom track to avoid using the sleds. That way I can use a better top fixture and still mount the opener properly.
That’s it you are ready to order your door!
The 3 numbers to measure a garage door you need are:
- The Width
- The Height
- Head Room
Once you have those three measurements all you need to do is look for anything obstacles or anything that would prevent the technician from installing the door. Most garages have some issues to solve to make the door operate properly that is why we always insist on a site visit prior to installing a door, but these measurements will get you most of the way there.
Call us today to schedule a FREE estimate for your garage door project.