Guide to Garage Door Sizes

As house sizes increased steadily through the latter decades of the twentieth century, so did the garages that accompanied them. Not only did traditional one- and two-car garages grow in size to accommodate the heftier vehicles they had to house, but the number of bays in garages increased from one to two to three, and even more. It soon reached a point where the typical garage in a new housing development had the same square footage as the average new house of a few years earlier.

Whether you applaud or deride this super-sizing of residential housing and consumer automobiles, making an older, smaller garage with smaller doors accommodate modern larger vehicles is a very real problem for many consumers.

Standard Garage Door Sizes

You might be surprised at the range of standard sizes that exist today for garage doors. Leading garage door manufacturers typically sell doors in widths ranging from 8 feet to 20 feet. Smaller sizes can be found; for example, in areas where golf cart transportation is popular, garage doors are usually available to suit these small vehicles. In large suburban or rural properties, such garage doors may serve large riding lawnmowers or small garden tractors.

The smaller standard 8-foot-wide doors are not being installed in many new houses these days, but there are still plenty of older homes with garages built to house smaller cars. Replacement garage doors are readily available for these homes.

Standard heights of garage doors are more limited. Usually, they are offered in heights of 7 or 8 feet.

Single Garage Doors

The standard size of a single garage door is between 8-9 feet wide by and 7-8 feet high.

Double Garage Doors

The standard size of a double garage door is 16 feet wide by 7-8 feet high.

Custom Garage Doors

If you are having a garage door built custom, you can really make it any size you want so long as it conforms to building/fire codes and works with your home's ceiling height and footprint. When choosing a custom garage door, many people like to go with an extra-wide design, for example.

Garage Door Thickness

A standard garage door should be about 1/2-1 inch thick. You can opt for a normal thickness door, an insulated door (foam padding adds anywhere from a quarter to half an inch of thickness), or go with a heavy-duty door that adds double panels for protection. Garage doors can be made of steel, wood, fiberglass, aluminum, and more.

Planning for a New Garage

If you are having a new garage built, there's a good chance that the builder will suggest a door 9 feet wide and 7 feet high—assuming you are planning one door for each vehicle in the garage. That's a good size for most of us, but what if you happen to have a large truck, with large mirrors projecting from the sides or a snowplow on the front? Many such trucks have lost those mirrors trying to squeeze into a 9-foot-wide opening. In this case, you might want to give serious thought to going with doors 10 feet wide, and perhaps increasing the height to 8 feet. The garage, of course, will need to be sized appropriately to handle these larger doors and larger vehicles.

Replacing Garage Doors

If you are removing and replacing an existing garage door, the easiest way to determine the size you need is to simply measure the existing door. This is assuming that you plan to buy and install the garage door yourself. If you are going to let a professional handle the job, it is best to let them determine the exact size of door you need. They can determine this at the same time they bid on the job.

How to Measure for a Garage Door

In the event you are adding a door to a garage without one, you will need to carefully measure the width and height of the opening. You will also need to check the clearance above the opening to ensure that there is sufficient room for the door tracks to be installed.

To do so, measure the width of your opening at the widest point as well as the height of your opening at the highest point. You'll also need to consider headroom and backroom. Measure headroom by taking the distance between the top of the door opening and the ceiling. Backroom is measured by taking the length from the garage door opening to the back wall of your garage. For side room, measure the distance between each side of the garage door opening.

Changing Size of Your Garage Opening

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. However, it is quite rare for anyone to want to do this. Much more often, homeowners seek to increase the garage door size to match vehicles that don't easily fit through the existing opening. Before beginning any process, you'll need to check to make sure your project lines up with both building and fire codes.

The biggest obstacle for enlarging a garage door opening is usually the headroom above the existing opening. Note that for a standard garage door opening, you'll need at least an eight-foot ceiling height, with 12 feet of headroom for a manual operation door and 15 feet for an automatic door. The span above the door opening is framed with a long header that supports the wall area above the door, and this header will need to be raised or rebuilt in order to increase the overall door size. If there isn't enough room above the opening, this can't be done without raising the roof of the garage. Although that is a complicated, big job, it is possible in the hands of a competent builder. You must consider allowing room for the garage door opener.

You also need to account for the depth and width of the garage after the opening has been enlarged. Just because you can get your bigger vehicle through the doors does not mean you've really improved the garage. In fact, you may now have reduced the usable space on the sides and front of the garage in order to make your car easier to park. You should have at least three feet of space between vehicles when parked in your garage.

Sometimes the only way to make room for big vehicles is to retire the old garage and build a new one. With good design and careful construction, this can be a great improvement to the value and functionality of your home, provided you have a lot that is large enough to accommodate a new, larger garage. With enough available space, you can even wall in the existing garage and convert it to living space, then add an all-new garage sized in the way that works best for your needs.

Garage Door Costs

The average cost of a garage door is around $1000, but depending on the size and material you choose, your garage door can vary in price from quite affordable (for a standard, single garage door of normal thickness) to very expensive (for heavy-duty/extra-insulated, or a custom garage door). A standard, manual garage door could run around $600, for example, whereas an automatic garage door could add on several hundred more.

Steel is typically the most affordable garage door material, while fiberglass and vinyl cost more. You'll also add on more cost for a single vs. double. vs. triple car garage.

The type of door also makes a difference. A typical standard panel door is the most budget-friendly option, while a carriage-style door will cost thousands more.

When considering labor, in addition to paying for installation (which can cost up to $500 per door), you'll also have to pay for any electrical work to the door as well as insulation.