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How To Measure Garage Door Openings for DIY or Professional Installation

 

Garage Door Installation

Replacing or updating a garage doors, proper measurement is crucial. Furthermore, your measurements will help you calculate your garage's clearance level---in other words, you'll know the maximum-sized vehicle that you can pull into the space. Adequate measurement consists of recording more than simple side-to-side and top-to-bottom dimensions. Luckily, proper measurement is relatively simple and can be achieved by two people in just a few minutes, with just a simple tape measure and step ladder.

How-To-Measure For Your New Residential Garage Door

Use the drawing and instructions below to measure your garage door. Take these measurements and call us to purchase the garage door that is right for you.

 

Step #1

Use a tape measure to measure the door's opening from side to side near the floor. Measuring large dimensions of a garage door can be very tricky for one person. Ask a friend to help you hold one end of the measuring tape. Record this first measurement and all subsequent measurements on a piece of paper.

 

Step #2

Measure the door's opening from side to side again, this time near the topmost part of the opening. Measuring both top and bottom width-wise dimensions will let you know if the opening is warped---if you get two differing dimensions at each point, then your opening is slanted or bent, and you should hire a contractor to fix the problem.

 

Step #3

Stand on a stepladder and check the opening from top to bottom. For this measurement, you can take advantage of gravity, letting the tape measure fall to the ground. However, you'll still want a friend handy to hold the stepladder for safety purposes. With this lengthwise dminesion and your previous width-wise dimension, you'll know how large the opening is for vehicle and door replacement purposes. However, additional measurements are also useful.

 

Step #4

Measure the space between the top of the garage opening and the garage roof while still standing on the stepladder. This is an often overlooked measurement, but it is important so you know how much extra space you have in your garage's ceiling. The ceiling space is vital for choosing a door that does not have track components too large for your garage.

 

Step #5

Next is the spaces from the sides of the garage door opening to the garage's closest wall. This measurement is important so you know how much open side-space you have available for housing door tracks or an electric motor.

 

Garage Door Measurements

 

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