Resizing Garage Door
 

After being in my house for 17 years, I finally went from a 7 foot tall door to an 8 foot tall door.

For my house, it was a relatively easy job as I did not have to change the header over the door. All I had to do was re-size/re-frame the door opening.
The header over my door is all the way to the rafters in the garage and there was close to 3 feet of clearance above the old door.

I always knew the door opening could be changed as I had the house built new in 2002. I likely would have had an 8 foot door installed when new, but I do not recall that being one of the options offered (it may have been, but I just don't recall it as an option). When we put the original door opener on in 2002, my brother commented on how easy it would be to change the door height. At the time, I did not have a truck/4Runner, and did not have extra funds, so there was no real need. When I bought my FJ Cruiser in 2013, I checked the clearance before driving it into the garage the first time. Luckily, my FJ did not have the roof rack, as that would not have made it in the garage.

I checked the clearance after buying the 4Runner, and that made it in as well. However, this summer I purchased an off-road camper and that did not make it in the garage. In measuring the camper height, with rack, I realized that an 8 foot high door would allow me to park the camper inside.

So, I ordered a new door and spoke with the installer. He agreed that he could come out and remove the old door in the morning and install a new door in the afternoon.

So here are some photos.

The first one likely dates to 2003, shortly after I purchased the house. It shows the original door.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307770/enhance

All I can say is note the height of the door in relation to the roof line above it and the window to the side of it.

On Wednesday of last week, the big day arrived and I was out working at 6:30 am to begin removing the siding. The door installer arrived around 8 am and removed the old door. I told him that I should be done resizing the opening around 1 to 2 pm. He and a helper came back around 2 pm and I was not quite done. They went to lunch and came back around 3 pm. By then I had the rough opening framed on the inside. Here are some pictures from the end of the day, on Wednesday, after the new door was installed.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307605/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307605/enhance

The new door was installed, but it was late in the day, so the installer had to come back on Thursday afternoon to install the new opener. I again worked most of the day on Thursday to finish resizing the exterior of the opening and put the new trim on. However, I did not have time to re-install the siding.

I was able to park the camper inside.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307607/enhance

Unfortunately on Friday I had to do real work and was not able to do anything.

Saturday, I worked to re-install the siding. I finished the siding work at 2:30 and 15 minutes later it was raining. Spent the next couple of hours working to put the insulation back on the inside of the opening and putting tools away. Parked the camper and the 4Runner inside Saturday night.

Sunday, I had a few minor things to do, such as re-install the house numbers above the door and buy a few drywall scraps to put up around the door to cover the insulation.

These pictures are from Sunday morning.

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307610/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...307608/enhance

I am glad that the job is done and the camper is inside for the winter. Now I can even put a lift on the 4Runner, as I have clearance to get it inside the garage with a lift.

The house and garage both look so much better with the taller door installed. I am very pleased with the results.

That’s one sweet little camper! I also suffer from a 7’ garage door, it sucks.

Looks like you could of squeezed a couple more feet out of it. I would of went straight to 10 if I could.

I originally planned for it in 97 when we built but the door guy said not enough room to pull it all the way up,I have a beam in the center runs left to right. He also said the door would be too heavy. You proved him wrong, Congrats!

Good move, and looks great!

I am also super glad that I have 8ft garage doors......as I am still able to fit being lifted 3+ inches, having 34 inch tires, and a Gobi Rack + RTT;

....Just barely, but it fits! Less than an inch to spare.

https://i.imgur.com/z74HOp1h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iwutlvUh.jpg

9 ft. here. Even fits the Jeep without the CB antenna hitting the door. I dunno, someone had to be the jerk and say "mine is bigger than yours". Lol.

Nice work though. That's an investment you'll reap the benefits of on a daily basis. You will seriously not regret the time or money spent doing that.

Nice work!

Nice work. Wifey and I are looking for a new house. Either it'll have 8ft + garage doors, or a garage that can be modified.

My parents built their house right. pretty sure they have 9 ft doors. Never realized how practical they really were.

I could not have done 10 feet due to the header, but 9 feet would have been possible. Oh Well.

That was a requirement when I bought my current house. Took the truck with me to go view them, and made sure the doors were tall enough.

I actually recently had one of the side mounted openers installed on one of the doors for more clearance

Good looking work. I used to be a residential framer so that's nice to see here.

I've been having the same concerns recently as well - we're closing on a house in WA right now, and I made absolutely sure that any home we'd settle on would have proper clearance for the truck plus a little in case I wanted to add anything. Realtor measured everything for me.

Damn that's soooooo close haha

This is great to see. Here in San Francisco most of the homes have garages that are 6ft 10in or less. A 7 ft garage would accomodate my rig with a 3" lift 33s and a roof top tent! Y'all are lucky with all of your modern homes :P

Nice work! We have been doing a little house shopping and were trying to figure out how hard this would be to do so we could keep our boat at home in the winter.

Looks like I need to pay attention to where the header is to determine if I would need to hire a professional or DIY the resize.

Nice! We just built a new house last year and our neighborhood requires 8' doors, I was happy to avoid paying the extra cost to do so.