Garage door sizes and openings over the years
I am buying a new construction house and notice the garage openings are smaller. My current house has two bays: one has an 18 foot width, and the other has a 9 foot width. This width is measured from the trim on one side to the trim on the other (The rough opening would be slightly wider). What I am finding in the new construction and a quick search on-line is widths up to 16 feet for a double (and this migth be the rough opening). And 7 feet for a single.
Am I just blessed with really wide doors (assuming wider is better), or am I missing something. I want to retain space around my cars, and am basing my decisions on my current house.
Are 18 foot openings uncommon, unnecessary, or prohibitively expensive? Is there a standard? This is custom construction, so I can probably get what I ask for, and therefore would like to know of any drawbacks.
Thanks,
Ted
Replies
I think 16 feet is pretty much the norm for a regular "double" garage door.
garage doors sizes?
i6'-0"x7'-0" pretty much standard for double door. Your statement,"And 7 feet for a single," is not standard or recommended. (This may be typo)
For single doors, 8' would be dead minimun and 9' would be recommended and standard.
18' doors are not particularly uncommon. Especially if you have a tight or restricted approach/entry. Also on more upscale coustom homes.
The house layout is a 'courtyard' layout. We have a narrow lot, but the garage doors have to face 90 degrees from the street. So the cars will drive to the front of the house and then turn 90 degrees into the garage, across the front door. I don't think there will be a tight turn - probably there will be 30 to 40 feet of driveway directly in front of the garage, but we have not gotten that far, and I don't have experience here.
This house would be considered upscale custom. The builder and I have iterated through a couple of 1/8 scale layouts, and are looking at the first 1/4 scale. So I am thinking that the 7' door will probably be corrected to a standard size.
My existing house does have a tight turn. So that answers why the 18' and 9' doors. I want to ensure I have sufficient room when the cars are parked. I suppose that is not directly affected by the door size.
You do see larger doors -- both wider and taller -- on garages that are desgned to accommodate SUVs, oversized pickups, and campers. I'm sure you can get doors out to about 24 feet, if you're willing to pay.
When I built my garage up north everyone told me 16' was the standard double door but I insisted I wanted 18'. The door was a little more expensive and I needed a bigger beam across the opening to carry the 2d floor but in the grand scheme of things it was chump change. The bigger door is nice and I never regretted the several hundred extra I spent.
I spoke to the builder and he confirmed what 'oops' stated - that the 7' was a typo. The builder did not have a problem putting in the 18' and 9' doors. He also confirmed that 16' and 8' or 9' are typical, but 18' is not uncommon. Of course he didn't give me a price, but I am thinking 'gfretwel' has the right idea.
Thanks for the comments.
Here's another vote for going bigger now instead of wishing you had later. My parents' garage is 24' wide with a single 16' x7' garage door. They've been in the house for 35 years, now; and of course stuff gradually accumulates along the sides until it's practically flush with the outside edges of the door. She drives a mid-sized sedan and he drives a full-sized extended cab pickup. They have a straight shot up to the garage; but at this point she has to back into the left side of the garage so that her door opens to the middle (because of all the junk along the sides) and he has to pull in at an angle until he almost clips her front bumper and then cut sharp the other direction to hug his truck to the other side at a bit of an angle. This allows just enough room between the two vehicles for them to each slither out. I would also suggest considering 8' tall doors over the more standard 7'. My dad's truck has the factory "off road" package, and his antenna drags on the door opening on his way in. He has been looking at a newer truck lately (current is a '98); and one of the newer trucks with a factory lift wouldn't clear the top of the cab. We're not talking some Skyjacker kit with big knobby tires: just a factory-optioned lift.
Because of their experience, I knew I would be going bigger when I was designing the garage I started building onto my house this year. I actually need to be able to get a John Deere 2440 in/out of one side without the 56" tall tires either scuffing the vehicle on the other side or ripping off the side of the door opening. This includes in the winter time when things can get a bit squirrely pulling the tractor back in (big ag tires suck on ice way worse than car tires). With that in mind, I was looking at either a single 18'x8' door, or even one 20' wide. The existing garage has two separate doors; so I ended up framing the new one in the same so the two garages are more symmetrical aesthetically... but I went 10'x8' instead of 9'x7' and I don't see myself ever wishing I hadn't. Good luck!
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I find ...
I find a 16 foot wide double door is fine. The fact that it is double wide means that two cars can benefit from the area in the middle, i fyou know what I mean. When parking you can hug the jamb side of the door and only need to watch the one side closely. When you do this there is plenty of room between the vehicles. nothing wrong with an 18 foot door, who would complain about more room. Single doors are a different matter. And eight foot door is a real tight park. You much really pay attention in many SUV or trucks. A 9 foot is, for me, pretty much a must.
Just my two cents.
The issue becomes getting things out with 2 cars parked in there.
With my 18' door I could still get my Harley out with 2 cars in the garage.