Widening a garage door opening

There will often be occasions, particularly in the UK, where an existing garage has a door or pair of doors that are no longer adequate for the size of modern cars.

This is frequently the case with houses and garages built in the nineteen sixties or earlier when a typical family saloon was both shorter and much narrower than an equivalent vehicle is today. When this is the case the internal measurements of the garage are often more than suitable for a modern car, however the opening places a restriction that makes entry difficult or impossible. (Another reason for this is the inclusion of large projecting wing mirrors that now make all vehicles considerably wider than their equivalent predecessors.

What can be done

If the only restriction to storing a car within a garage is the access via the width of the opening and the garage door, then normally this problem can be solved.

In some countries this kind modification or remodelling may require a permit (e.g. many States in the USA), however in places like Britain and Ireland this may not be necessary. In all cases a phone call or visit to a planning office or Building regulations office (UK), or the local government or Mayors office, will enable you to determine if you need any consents or permissions.

As an example, in the UK (Britain), if you do not make any significant change to the property you should be able to undertake the work without obtaining any permissions. However, you will need to undertake the work in accordance with the Building Regulations.

What is required – a general guide

If you need to widen your garage door opening for a larger modern door like a roller garage door, or an up and over door, you will probably have an old set of hinged wooden doors. These doors could be made to any size and the result is that a standard door may be too big for the opening.

This means that you need to widen the opening, but you need to do it safely.

In order to retain any wall and section of roof above the door entrance there will be a lintel. This is a horizontally spanning member (a beam which could be timber , concrete or steel) and it takes the load of any construction above it and passes it to the solid walls either side of the door’s opening.

If the planned (larger opening) is going to be wider than this lintel, or if it will not allow the lintel a minimum of 150mm of bearing on either side, then you will need a new larger lintel. This will require you to get a structural engineer, or possibly the fabricator, to calculate the loading that will be place on the lintel and in order to determine its size and bearing capacity.

Once the lintel has been delivered the next job is to fix it in place. However this will first require the increasing of the garage door’s opening and the removal of the existing lintel. Both of these tasks require care and temporary support (propping) to prevent the construction that is supported on the original lintel from collapsing as the opening is widened and the new lintel installed.

Most people will appoint a contractor to perform this work for competency and safety reasons. A contractor will have insurance in the event of a problem occurring and a good contractor will also have appropriate equipment to cut cleanly through the masonry without causing damaging effects to the surrounding construction.

Once the opening has been increased in size a new wider garage door can be fitted.