Garage-Header Installation Made Easy
Leverage your truck's rack for support so you can handle heavy beams with ease.
The Parallam beams used as headers atop Simpson garage-door walls are heavy. They are typically 31/2 in. wide by 16 in. deep by 22 ft. long. I don’t want to move one of these beams around any more than I have to. On my last job, I didn’t even take it off my truck’s lumber rack. Instead, I pulled the truck into the future garage-door opening, as shown in the drawing.
Next, I cut the header to length and rotated it 90° and onto the upper rail of the rack. Then I slid a couple of 2x6s onto the lower rail, directly under the beam. The 2xs support the cribbing necessary to raise the header to the desired height.
This process worked surprisingly well. A standard truck with a rack is just slightly lower in height than a standard 7-ft.-tall garage-door opening, so the beam doesn’t have far to go. Everything was centered—truck, cribbing, and beam—and because of the beam’s long overhang on each side of the rack, it’s easy for one person to lever it into position for cribbing.
— Keith Wilson; Mountain View, CA
From Fine Homebuilding #201
RELATED STORIES
Got a Tip?
Do you have any great tips like this one on how to make garage door header installation simple? Share your methods, tricks, and jigs with other readers. Tag them @FineHomebuilding on social, email them to us at [email protected], or upload them to FineHomebuilding.com/reader-tips. We’ll pay for any we publish.
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
Fine Homebuilding receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Stabila Classic Level Set
Portable Wall Jack
Short Blade Chisel
View Comments
Cool. My F150 with rack doesn't fit. I wish it did.
kirbyackerman, just be sure that the beam 'sticks it's landing' onto the shear/side walls as you pull your truck out of the garage.