Measuring Your Garage Door

Figuring out the type of door is the first step in measuring. There are three main types:

– Sectional garage doors have panels that hinge along the vertical tracks. The panels overlap as they go up, making them a good choice for garages with limited headroom.

– Roll-up garage doors are the most common type. They consist of long panels that roll up into the track system.

– Panel lift doors are similar to the sectional garage doors, but they do not overlap as they move vertically. They are also known as torsion spring doors because of the type of mechanism used to raise and lower them. If you can’t tell which type you have by looking at your door, you will need to take it down and investigate.

Once you know your door’s type, you can measure for height. The nominal size of a garage door is measured in inches between the tops of each panel (not including any decorative panels). This is an easy number to remember because it is also the height of garage door opener safety beams.

A common size is 8′ 10″, which would mean that your door is 80 inches high. This includes the vertical tracks, but not the reinforcement steel along the back, which runs horizontally inside the tracks.

Once you know how tall your garage door is, you can figure out how tall your garage door opening should be. A door that is too high will hit the top of the garage as it opens and closes, leaving an inch or two on each side. A door that is too low won’t close all the way, leaving a gap at the bottom.

There should be a minimum of 2″ of clearance between the top of the door and anything above it, like a roof or attic. There should also be at least 1/2″ of clearance at the bottom of the door to prevent rain and snow from getting in.

Width is easy to measure. Just measure from one side of the garage door opening to the other.

When you are measuring for a new garage door, you will need to add at least 1″ of clearance to each side of the opening. This is to account for the tracks, which will be on the inside of the opening.

Measurements are not always straightforward. There could be obstructions in front of the garage door that will affect how far you can open the door. These include trees, bushes, and cars in your driveway. Measure from any obstacles to make sure they won’t interfere with your measurements.

There may also be things behind your garage door that could interfere with the measurements. For example, you may not be able to measure how tall your garage door is if there are shelves or storage units behind it. These obstructions will have to be moved out from the wall so they don’t get in the way when measuring for a new garage door.