Garage Door Opening Header Size

Measure the head room the distance between the top.

Garage door opening header size.

Tables providing size selections for various beam spans and loading combinations for southern pine dimension lumber and southern pine glued laminated timber are available for the following applications. Measure the width of your door frame. The size of the door will. Window door garage door headers supporting roof wall floor loads.

Although single plies are permitted they are not recommended. Both headers and girders are beams that are oriented horizontally and transfer load down to walls piers or posts. Their is no notching permitted in the center third of any beam. For instance if you have a 16 door and are using river stones that are approximately 2 to 2 1 2 you will want the rough opening to be roughly pun intended 16 6.

Timberstrand header comes only in 3 widths in depths that range from 4 3 8 to 18. Frame the rough opening to 3 inches wider than the garage door size you have selected. Frame the rough opening to a height that is 1 5 taller than the door that you have selected. If you are installing a 9 wide door the opening will be 9 3 wide.

Notches on the outer thirds must not exceed 1 6 of the width of the board. If you are putting in an opening between 4 and 5 feet wide then you ll need two 2 by 8 headers. Window door garage door headers supporting roof loads only. Next measure the sideroom or space available on the left and right sides of the opening.

If the opening will be 5 to 6 feet wide such as for double doors then you will need two 2 by 10 headers. When in doubt use 2 by 12 inch headers. For an opening 6 to 7 feet wide you will need two 2 by 12 headers. Most door frames that are 4 feet wide or less require a 2 by 6 header.

It is worth noting that the 18 foot garage door header application pushed timberstrand beyond its structural limit.