*pushes garage door button*
Nothing.
*pushes garage door button again*
Nothing.
*pushes garage door button 30 more times thinking THIS will be the time it works*
Big. Fat. Nothing
That moment when you find yourself in need of a new garage door can be pretty deflating (and, let's face it, pretty annoying.)
That can turn to overwhelming in a hurry once you start calling garage door companies to get quotes over the phone. Even in the midst of that first phone call, you can realize you have no idea how to answer the barrage of questions you’ll get about what type of garage door you need.
Windows or no windows? Insulated? 2-layer or 3-layer? Color? Style? Budget?
Those are all super important, but above all, the most important information in purchasing a new garage door is ordering the correct size.
More often than not, when we ask homeowners about the size of their garage door opening, we get, “It’s a standard one/two/three-car”.
A Little Garage Door History
For many years, a standard two-car door would be 16 foot wide by 7 foot tall (or what we industry insiders would call a 16×7.) In the last several years the “standard” two car garage door has become more varied so there’s not one that holds true across categories.
Here’s why: with the era of the big and lifted vehicles (we do love our lifted trucks here in AZ), most newer houses are built with 8 foot tall garage doors. In other cases, width can vary anywhere between 14 and 17 feet. Condos are notorious for using slightly narrower doors to maximize density. And then there’s custom built homes that tend to have the most unconventional of sizes. This is due to being built to the owner’s requested size and not to any industry standard size.
Garage Door Size Options
Essentially, “standard” doesn’t mean much when there’s so much variation.
PRO TIP: Always use a tape measure and measure the garage door opening multiple times to be sure of accuracy.
(As the saying goes, measure twice, cut once.) Eyeballing it is not something you want to go with when it comes to your new garage door. Luckily, we never eyeball anything and our standard is more like “measure 4 times, measure again, then buy once.”
Standard widths come in 2 foot increments: 12, 14, 16, etc. One of the reasons for this is because the common stamped patterns in steel garage doors will fit inside the view of the opening properly. It would look kind of odd to see 7 and ½ square patterns across a garage door. In situations where a pattern will not fit properly, a flush door pattern will always work. Garage doors can be custom made for almost any size, but the more custom a garage door is, the more it adds to the cost.
The Gecko Garage Difference
At Gecko Garage Door, we offer free estimates and every new door is measured by a technician prior to ordering and a site check is done to ensure accuracy. Getting the wrong size door ordered is completely avoidable if the proper steps are taken beforehand. We give our customers all of the information available so they can make the best choice for their garage door needs.
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