Garage Door Header Construction

This beam is suitable for garages with a second floor above.

Garage door header construction.

Layout the bottom plate and one of the top plates at 16 on center. Local and national building codes have specific structural requirements pertaining to beam sizes to span specific wall openings relative to the wall loads so consult your local building department before beginning this. Last pull a measurement from the top of the 2 x 6 piece of lumber that you just installed to the ceiling of the garage. Big headers for big openings garage doors and other large openings require headers too beefy to be made from standard lumber.

This is a typical spacing for most residential construction. On previous projects i have been supplied a glu lam boise makes specifically for garage door headers that was 3 1 2 x 11 1 4 x 18 9. You get the picture. Cut a 2 x 6 piece of lumber and nail to the face of wall exactly in the center of the garage header.

The procedure for constructing a header for 6 inch exterior wall framing can be modified for any wall thickness. For instance if the width of the garage door is 8ft the rough opening should be 8ft 3 inches wide. Building a structural header for a garage door opening can be handled on the jobsite and will offer the same structural support as more expensive solid wood beams. If it s 9ft the opening must be 9ft 3 inches and so on.

This piece of lumber will be used to attach the center bracket of your garage door spring assembly. Attach lumber to the face of the garage wall to the edge of the garage door header. These fabricated wood products can span longer distances and carry greater loads. The beam they have specified now is 3 1 2 x 12 x 18 9.

The width of the rough opening should be 3 inches greater than the width of the garage door you are purchasing. That means you will place wall studs every 16 inches.