Most people use their garage doors every day to leave and enter their homes. With such frequent operation, that means you likely open and close your garage door at least 1,500 times per year. With so much use and dependence on your garage door, do you even know how it works? Most homeowners likely don’t understand how garage door openers work and only note their garage door system when something unexpectedly breaks.

When it comes to buying a garage door, the first thing to consider is the size of your door. For many homes, a single-car garage door is 8 to 9 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet high. Double-car garage doors are typically 16 feet wide, with a height of 7 to 8 feet. If your garage is built to accommodate a taller vehicle, such as a heavy-duty truck or recreational vehicle, your garage door could be 10 feet tall or more. If your garage door is a non-standard size, don’t worry! Bestar offers garage doors in a variety of sizes, and we also offer garage doors collections that accommodate custom sizing.

Follow these instructions to measure your existing garage doors.

1. Height And Width

The rough opening is the height and width of the framed opening not including stop molding.

Rough opening should equal the same size as the door.

2. Left & Right Side Room

Side room is the distance required on each side of the door to allow for attachment of the vertical track assembly.

Minimum 4-1/2″ is required for a standard torsion spring.

3. Headroom

Headroom is the space needed above the door for the door, overhead tracks, and springs. There should be no obstructions in the garage within this space.

Measurements from the top of the door opening to the ceiling (or floor joist) should be: Minimum 12″ for torsion springs.

Note: if there is restricted headroom, low headroom options are available.

4. Backroom

Backroom is the distance required from the garage door opening toward the back wall of the garage.

Minimum measurements should equal height of the door plus 18″.