Overhead Garage Doors

Overhead Garage Door Clearance Requirements

Overhead garage doors are often used by commercial business owners, especially in the case of businesses that utilize commercial garages. But before installing a commercial garage door, certain requirements must be adhered to. These requirements relate to the area footprint of your space and of your door’s clearance. If you’re planning an overhead garage door installation, here’s what you need to know.

Standard Headroom Clearance

Headroom refers to the distance between the ceiling and the top of the door opening. Overhead garage doors usually roll back horizontally when they open. At a minimum, the top of the door needs some extra room to make the roll possible. As a standard, garage doors should have a minimum of 10 inches of headroom if they possess extension springs. Or, at least 12 inches for those with torsion springs. Garage doors with torsion springs have brackets to hold the torsion bar, which is why they need more space.

Low Headroom Clearance

Not all garages can pass as the standard. Some have low headroom. If this is the case, you may need double low-headroom tracks, so the roller goes down to the upper and lower horizontal tracks. The upper horizontal track makes it possible for the opening to turn quickly. The minimum clearance for low-headroom garage doors is 9 1/2 inches of headroom for doors with torsion springs, and 4 1/2 inches of headroom for doors with extension springs. If you think you can’t meet the 9 1/2 inches requirement, you can resort to 5 inches, but remember that the torsion spring would be mounted on the rear of the tracks.

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Sideroom Clearance

Along with headroom clearance, garage doors need sideroom clearance as well. Sideroom is the space between the adjacent wall and the side of the opening of the garage door. Sideroom serves as space where the brackets of horizontal tracks are linked to the door opening. The minimum clearance for doors with standard extension springs is 3 3/4 inches of sideroom. If you’re looking to install garage doors with low headroom, note that you may need more sideroom. You will need a larger space for torsion spring doors as well.

Depth Clearance

The last consideration is the depth of the garage. Depth is the distance between the rear of the garage and the top of the door. Again, what you’re really considering here is how the rolling of the door can be handled as efficiently as possible because your garage door needs space to function properly. The standard rule, in terms of depth, is the height of the door plus 18 inches. This is required so that the door and other hardware can secure the rear of the tracks.

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For more information about installing an overhead garage door, contact us. At Frontier Pacific, we have the technical knowledge and experience to offer you the highest quality service. Give us a call or contact us online.