Garage Door Header Construction

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

Garage door header construction.

This is a typical spacing for most residential construction. Cut a 2 x 6 piece of lumber and nail to the face of wall exactly in the center of the garage header. Header the header is ideally a minimum 12 wide micro laminated beam that spans the width of the garage door opening. Attach lumber to the face of the garage wall to the edge of the garage door header.

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. The beam they have specified now is 3 1 2 x 12 x 18 9. 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.

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. The procedure for constructing a header for 6 inch exterior wall framing can be modified for any wall thickness. Place your door openings where you want them and layout the correct rough opening size. 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.

Header requirement 2 at minimum the header should be 12 wide with doubled 2 4 at opening and ceiling running the width of the door with a 2 4 in the center of the opening for the center bracket to attach to. You get the picture. Big headers for big openings garage doors and other large openings require headers too beefy to be made from standard lumber. That means you will place wall studs every 16 inches.

This piece of lumber will be used to attach the center bracket of your garage door spring assembly. If it s 9ft the opening must be 9ft 3 inches and so on.