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What are your thoughts on the merits of a garage
with two 8′ doors vs. one 16′ door? I’ve never had
a garage, so I have no personal experience to use
in the design of my new home.
Thanks,
M
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Replies
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Mike
I'd recommend a single door for a couple reasons. It is much cheaper to install one door, one opener, and one set of tracks. Also with two doors you need to have a center column in the middle of your opening and it will get in the way of everything, you have more room to manuver with a larger opening especially if you use it as a work shop too.
Jim
*Mike,An 8' garage door is really tight. Most single doors are 9' and 10' wide doors are not uncommon. Add in a 2' (minimum) wall between the doors and you are looking at a total door width of 20' to 22'(or more). At one time, a 16' double garage door was standard. Today, 18' is the most common. Another consideration is door heighth. 7' is still standard but with the advent of SUVs heighths of 7'6" and 8' are quite popular. Suggest you visit a garage door company. Every town of any size has a dealer. They will be happy to show you their product line and give you literature that will help you make your design decisions. Home centers sell garage doors but they will not have anyone with the kind of info you are seeking. Our last house had a garage with two doors. I liked the almost 3' of additional clearance between vehicles. The house we are building now has an 18' wide, 8' high door. A single wide door and opener costs significantly less than 2 single car doors and openers and also requires less garage floor space - between 50 and 75 sq feet. If you have the money and the floor space (really width) in your garage then I would go with two 9' doors and a 3' minimum divide. Otherwise, I would use an 18' minimum single door. Then again, a lot of high end houses here have both. One single goor and one double. Saw a golf course facing house recently with three auto stalls and one for a cart.Good luck,Steve
*upside of 2 doors: smaller header, little or no sag in door if left open alot, less leaves blow in, cheaper to repair should damage occur.downside of 2 doors: higher initial cost, 4 places a bad driver can bang up the trim.As was already mentioned, be sure of your sizing in width and height. Van with ladder rack or luxury van with the cheap chrome things need more height. Reg. full size van would like more width for its mirrors.Remember too, unless you have the $ and room for a pole barn, the interior size of your garage is something you shouldn't scrimp on. Crappola quickly takes up space that you wish you had for your vehicles. If you go for the higher doors make sure you have enough height for the tracks. Enjoy yourself in planning, once it's done it's a remodel.
*Two doors -- for the simple reason that your wife won't be able to park her car in the middle of the damned garage!
*If you own a pickup truck with older style side mirrors, forget the 8' doors. You will have to get out of the truck, push the mirrors all the way against the door of the truck, and then proceed in the door. When you back out, you gotta get out and readjust them again. I got tired of doing this, so I installed a 12' door, and have never looked back.Also, Overhead Door Company's (that's who's in my region) doors are exactly 8'. This means that your finished opening must be a wee bit smaller.Just a thought...James DuHamel
*I agree with Calvin on both the upside and down side point of veiws. My personal preference is for 2 doors as they aren't as ugly as a large 16ft. expanse of door. Would go with wider than 8 ft. Granted it's more money but the looks are far better. Lived in Houston for 14 yrs. and that was generally all I saw, now live in Pa. and single doors are more common.Bill Swales
*Two doors are the best , but if you don't have 24' wide, forget it. This helps to ensure that the occupant of one stall doesn't creep over into the other stall. It's required by marriage counselers, and oughta be the law.With one 16' door , the cars can't drive straight in, there's no room for them in the middle, Think about it, you can't get two cars in a 16' space and open the doors.With two 9' doors and a 2'space between them, you still have 3' between the cars.Another thing, get the automatic door openers, you won't believe how much better life can be, you drive up in a pouring rain, click your opener, drive in to your 24' deep garage, pop the trunk , and take the groceries out .......all without getting wet.Assuming you go with (2) 9w x 7'6" high, you need 2' + 9' +2' +9' +2' = 24'. The 7'6" is non-standard (read costs more money) but well worth the price. Also, the tracks for standard hdw. need 14" over the top of the opening, so 7'-6" +14" = 8'10" to the bottom of your ceiling.The opening is the finished opening, so your r.o. is the nominal width + 1 1/2" (3/4 + 3/4) and the stops close the gap. If you use a standard door, it mounts behind the jambs, so go look at a typical installation so it'll work out right. Obviously , your garage should be 24' wide to use two doors, and it should be 24' deep so you can put something besides cars in there. We usually start at 24' x 24' as our minimum size two -car. Most tract houses are getting 20' x 20' so the 16' single door is all they can use.b My advice, 36' wide x 24' deep with three doors and openers, and that's no joke.
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FYI, my garage size will be 24 x 24.
These comments are great!
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Mike:
I went through the same dilemma while designing the home I am currently building. I used to hang garage doors on my days off, so I thought I was making an informed decision. I chose a 16 ft. door for the cost, but wish I had gone with 2 doors. Garage is 24 x 30 so its plenty big, but that extra couple of inches of header have me worried. My current toyota 4x4 truck fits with the rack on, but I'm hoping to get a full size soon. If my new truck doesn't fit in my new garage I'm going to be pissed.
I also think it looks nicer. The upside is I had room for 4 ft. shear panels on the return walls. It seems that out here in CA. the new code requires manufactured panels on the normally short returns. That adds $$$
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Mike, Lots of good advice so far. One point that is very important.....If you go with a 16' or 18' door, be sure that you have a very hefty header over it, especially if the roof weight is on the headers. I wouldn't use anything but glulams in a situation like this. I can't tell you how many problems I've seen with weak headers, especially on 18' doors.
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Wedgehead: you'll never believe what I was reading last night. It was an article in the current FHb, about common engineering mistakes (it missed the one about T-A&M). Anyways, I THINK it said that you can get a shear panel with as little as 2', depending on nailing schedule, layout of plywood , etc.
I'm always concerned about that skinny 2' wall, and have cut my corner ply panels the way it shows in his diagram.
Does the new code require a mfr'd panel or an Engineers stamp on the solution ?
Did you ever hang with Low-mount hardware ? I (think) the clearance there is as low as 6" over the top of the opening.
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John,
After reading all the responses to the question....I believe you have come up with the most sound arguement in favor of two doors. When I built my house I even put a circular driveway in front of the garage so my significant other couldn't block the driveway either.
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Mike,
I am with you on the shear panels. I did one like the one in the picture, except I got the owner to plywood the back wall of the garage to create a shear wall there. Hope it helps.
My vote is for two doors. If you go into the cheapest track housing neighborhood what do they have- one door. It is the cheapest not the best way to go.
Rick Tuk
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I built a garage for myself 3 yrs ago,and I agree that the 2- 9ft doors with some space between is best--altho I only left about 10" between doors it gives the total space between wfes and my vehicles plenty and a bit extra along side walls for door opening and storage (24' wide total building)If I knew I would never need to have the taller doors I wouldnt waste my $ in that area-- but if had any doubts about my future vehicles I consider taller than 7'.And btw 8' doors should be outlawed for use for car/truck openings! Paul C.L.
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What are your thoughts on the merits of a garage
with two 8' doors vs. one 16' door? I've never had
a garage, so I have no personal experience to use
in the design of my new home.
Thanks,
M