Save Money by Avoiding these 3 Mistakes When Preparing Your Garage Door Opening
Attention Contractors!
Save money by avoiding the three most common mistakes when constructing your garage door opening:
1) It all starts with the concrete pour
If your concrete pour is too narrow, the need to special order an odd sized door along with a longer lead time may become an unexpected expense.
The concrete to concrete opening should measure 7-1/2" wider than your desired garage door width. Since garage door tracks should not be mounted directly onto concrete, be sure to add a double 2x4 jack stud and the finish trim to prepare the garage opening to the same width as the garage door, or slightly less. The garage door track will be securely anchored to the wood jambs.
2) Garage doors need headroom to operate smoothly
Imagine your child's toy train track going around in a circle. The turns have to be wide enough for the train to make it around without falling off the tracks, right? Your garage door track is much the same. The taller the door, and the taller each section of the door, a larger radius turn is required for the door to operate as smoothly as possible.
Most common size steel doors require 18" of headroom for a standard installation of a torsion spring system with a drawbar garage door opener. Anything less than that can increase your expense for a low headroom track system and the additional labor that is required to engineer that type of installation.
3) Install the garage door LAST!
New construction job sites can get very hectic with the comings and goings of all the subcontractors racing to get the job done. Often times the garage is the hub of the activity, being used as a work shop to keep the dust and debris to a minimum inside the house.
Accidents happen, and sometimes the garage door is the victim. Staging, ladders and other equipment may accidentally hit the garage door and cause dents or scratches. Garage door dents cannot be repaired like car dents. The damaged panel usually has to be replaced. So whenever possible, leave the garage door for last to avoid a costly section replacement.