Garage Door Header Installation

You ll need to release the tension in the torsion spring before you begin working on the garage door.

Garage door header installation.

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. The longer the distance a header spans and the heavier the load it supports the more substantial it needs to be. You need at least 2 rows of wood to hold up the header on each side making up 4 studs on each half of the header. This header spans a 6 opening and supports 4 floor joists with 2 stories and a roof above it.

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. What you re seeing here is a header built with a 2 6 bottom plate 2 4 cripple studs and a 2 4 top plate resting on the adjacent block walls. Set it securely on top of a stepladder so it s conveniently close to the ceiling. Together the headers king studs and trimmers act as a system that transfers weight from above down and around the window and door openings to the floor and foundation below.

Lift the power unit. 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. Cut a 2 x 6 piece of lumber and nail to the face of wall exactly in the center of the garage header. The exact location depends on the type of door.

Torsion see above which mounts on the header above the door and extension photo 1 which floats above the upper roller track. This piece of lumber will be used to attach the center bracket of your garage door spring assembly. Attach lumber to the face of the garage wall to the edge of the garage door header. The garage door opener mounting bracket also called the header bracket secures the carriage tube to the wall above the door.

Start by clamping adjustable locking pliers onto the torsion spring shaft and wedging the pliers against the header wall above the door. In the past extension springs were safer to install but didn t have containment cables running through the center of the spring. The lowest point is at the middle and it sags down about 1 2. Headers should be a minimum of 12 wide.

Around the sides of your door add enough lumber to support the weight of the garage door header. The procedure for constructing a header for 6 inch exterior wall framing can be modified for any wall thickness.