Whether you are building a new garage or looking for replacement garage doors, there are some questions you should have in mind before you do anything. One such is what sizes do garage doors come in, which we will answer for you today.
The most common size for a single-car garage door is 9 by 7 feet, and for two-car gare 16 by 7 feet. But, garage doors can be made in custom sizes, and oversized pre-built models for RV garages are available on the market.
But, just knowing how big are the most common garage doors available on the market is not the only thing you should be concerned with. So, let’s get on with other things that you should know before getting garage doors that don’t fit your garage.
What sizes do garage doors come in?
Most common sizes are 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall for single-car garages, also called single doors, and 16 by 7 feet for two-car garages, known as double doors. If you are looking at some older homes, built some 30 or more years ago, you will notice that the single garage doors are usually 8 feet wide.
But, over the years the cars have grown in size, so the garage doors have grown with them. And we are not talking about SUVs being more and more popular, average sedans produced today are several inches wider than those from 30-40 years ago. Because of this, there are more and more single garage doors on the market that are 10 feet wide.
With recreational vehicles becoming more and more popular over the past decades, garage door manufacturers have caught on with the trend. So, you can find standard sizes for pre-built RV garage doors. For these, the most common combinations of both width and height are 10, 12, and 14 feet.
Can I increase the garage door opening?
Yes, it can be possible to increase the size of a garage door opening to accommodate a larger door. But, you must be aware that often there can be a limit on how much you can increase the size. And depending on the construction of your garage, you maybe won’t be able to do it at all.
The problem can be with the construction of the top of the opening. Depending on many factors, this can span a limited width before the beams start sagging. But we will cover later a way how this can be prevented.
Can I decrease the garage door opening?
Yes, decreasing the size of garage door openings can always be done with no problems whatsoever. When increasing the size you may face the problem of horizontal beams starting to sag, because they are too long and all vertical support they have is set too much apart. But with decreasing the size that problem doesn’t exist.
On the contrary, when making it smaller, you will be adding vertical support, making the construction of the opening more robust.
What are RV garage door dimensions?
Standard RV garage door dimensions are a combination of width and height of 10, 12, or 14 feet. They need to be much bigger and taller than the car and SUV-compatible garage doors. So, depending on the manufacturer, you can find garage doors from 10 by 10 feet, and all the way to 14 by 14 feet.
But also all of the possible combinations, such as 10 by 12, 10 by 14, 12 by 10, 14 by 10, and so on.
What is the standard garage door thickness?
The thickness depends a lot on the material which is used for them, but most common steel garage doors are made of sheet metal ⅛ of an inch thick. Because of this, you must keep in mind that they are very poor insulators and that getting insulated garage doors is not a bad idea.
Properly insulated doors can make a difference of 12 to 25 degrees to the outside temperature. And if your garage is heated or cooled, even a higher difference.
Can garage doors be combined and mismatched in pairs or more?
Yes, and this is a solution to problems that can arise when increasing the size of a garage door opening. For example, if you have garage doors that are a non-standard size, for example, 12 feet, and you want to increase them to double doors 16 feet wide. The best way to go about it is to get two 8 feet wide single doors.
It will require a central vertical beam to be built, which would increase the strength of the opening. When it comes to the costs, one garage door of any width costs the same as two garage doors of half-width. The only possible increase in costs when opting for two garage doors instead of one twice wide comes from the additional second electric opener.
In this manner, you can have even three or four single garage doors, or a combination of one single and one double door, depending on what the construction of your garage allows.
What are the non-standard garage door sizes?
While the standard-sized garage doors are very convenient, for some people they could be a problem. This is the reason why many manufacturers also offer custom size garage doors. While they are not produced in sizes that are some fraction of an inch, there is a wide range of sizes that are available for order.
The most common practice is that the custom sizes start from the dimensions of the smallest pre-fabricated model, and have width increasing by 2-inch increments and height in 3-inch increments.
Conclusion
Whether remodeling or building a garage, or just replacing old aged garage doors, the answer to the question of what size do garage doors come in can be very important for your project. Standard pre-fabricated single doors available on the market are most commonly 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall, while double doors are 16 by 7 feet.