The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Garage Door Height

I am getting ready to frame up my garage. I live on a 3 acre parcel and unfortunately I am restricted to the height of the building. The best I can do is 10 foot walls. Just wondering what door height you might have for your big bolts that gives you clearance. I don't have a bed on mine yet, but I could make a removable headache rack on the back. I would think 8' would be my best with the header, top plate and trim. Is that good enough?

Depending on your tires/wheels and springs, it looks like the top of a standard 2-ton cab would be at about 86"

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/4874.htm

Hey.. thanks for the link. I totally forgot about that. Puts my mind at rest.

my 350 gmc with roof beacon and my 6100 chevy fit in an eight foot hole with 8-20's

I do not think my GMC 350 (2-ton) 54/55 COE will fit in an 8' tall door opening, with the open door hanging 2-6 inches under the door opening?

Hy Super55 and guys, I would install the header right under the top plate and make the door as large as possible.

My door openings are 12' wide by 12' tall with the doors sliding on roller tracks, and I'm concerned with them being tall enough for some of the stuff I plan to work on, farm equipment, backhoes, etc.
Jerry

I agree, there's no such thing as a door being to big...make it as big as you can, you won't regret it.

Also make it at least 10' wide...12' would be better.

Mike B

In a really cold climate area, the taller the door (and the corresponding ceiling height) the harder it's going to be to heat the shop to a comfortable level. I'm planning to use a big steel barrel stove, filled with scrap cylinder heads, brake rotors, and other bits & pieces of cast iron and fueled by a waste oil drip. My main shop is 24X40, with 12' doors and a hip-roof shape. I haven't decided whether or not to put in a drop ceiling at the 12' level to help with the heating effort.
Jerry

on the other hand on a hot day a big opening lets in a lot of light, and lets out a lot of heat....

Could you put your door on an end wall? Then you wouldn't have the roof to contend with and could go taller. You could also look at using a steel beam for a header, that will give you less depth with the same strength. Perhaps put a dormer over where the door is
going so that you can raise your framing up into that space.

I'm thinking you shouldn't loose 2' for your door though in any case. how wide of a door are you putting in and how deep is your garage? You can get a 12' door with a 2x12 header depending upon depth of your building. That would only give you a loss of a little over a foot....if you are even looking at a door that wide. A LVL will give you more span(or less height).



Tad

If you're in a cold climate and have high ceilings look into Infrared Heaters (Propane burner with a long black pipe and a reflector), I have them in my shop with 16' ceilings and they are great and economical to rum. They heat the solid objects (floor, tools, vehicles, etc.) and not the air. they even work with the door open! You see them in car dealerships. I have them wall mounted about 13' off the floor.

Mike B

I already have radiant floor heating installed. I have been searching around and thinking more about the doors. I am either going to go with a jamb tilt door, or my original idea of swing out doors. The tallest opening would be 9'1/2" tall X 10' wide. I like the idea of the jamb tilt, but having a hard time even finding them on the internet. Seems like Australia likes them! Roll up doors would require me to leave room inside for the door and hangers, plus I had lights planned for that area.

I have a friend that built his garage so the roll up door went up into the attic. His door track is on top of the ceiling joist.

Swing out doors would be a pain if you get any snow.

I thought about Radiant Heat for my shop, but didn't go that way because I didn't want to run the heat when I wasn't in the shop...there are times where I might not go out for a week or two and having the heat on would just waste money. With the Infrared Heat I can turn it on and heat the shop in 20 minutes...you can't do that with Radiant...takes a long time to heat the concrete up, but it's great if you plan on being in the shop every day.

Mike B

We don't get much snow, and even if we did I would only have to shovel the front apron to open the door. I plan on spending LOTS of time in the garage. We have a very mild winter... crossed fingers, like Seattle. Mostly rain, rain, and more rain. It's my new man cave. You can set the radiant floor heating low, and it's such a small area, it's pretty efficient. I have another building, my wife's studio, (which is full of my tools right now) that just runs off the hot water heater. My shop will have a small high efficient boiler.

A steel beam properly sized for the header might give you the most room for the door in comparison to wood.

Speaking of how the door opens.. I have about a 9.5' tall doorway and an 18' ceiling, had the door installed so it runs up the wall and turns at the ceiling, gives plenty of inside height even with door open. Here's a picture you can just see the track in the corner. https://picasaweb.google.com/118082...sionProgressPictures#5795541210979156226

Grigg

Another thought...
Figure out how they measure wall height. If it's what you see on the outside then set some short block walls and build on top of those. Fill in with dirt as tall as the block. Be sure you don't create a drainage problem at the door though.

Grigg

They measure to the peak of the roof.

From what?

What is the total allowed height.

NO the walls are 10 feet, but the height limitation to the peak of the roof is 19"6".

Can you go with a lower pitch roof to get taller walls?

How big is your foot print for the garage?

With 10' walls and 9-1/2' of truss height available (total of 19' 6" above the ground) and a common 4/12 pitch roof you could have a truss that would span 57'...that's a big building!

Mike B

The roof pitch is 12 7. I don't want to go with too low a pitch. I don't like too low a pitch compared to the other buildings on the property. I should be fine with a 8'11" opening. That is my max with the design I have.

How big is the building?

Mike B

If your door is on the end of the building you can achieve more height by using a vaulted truss, If your roof is 7-12 pitch the inside ceiling could be a 3-12 or 4-12 giving you another foot of height over the door. There are other ways to frame your roof to get the same results if you don't want to use an engineered truss system.

I would check with the building dept. at city hall, I think the measurement is made from average grade to midway on the roof, they should allow a height of 5 meters (16 ft) at mid roof on a secondary building.

I haven't seen one of those flip up doors for years, they don't work well with a larger insulated door so the rollup took over the market. You will get a better seal around the door with a rollup than the flip up.

The building is 24 X 36. The doors are on the gable end. I have to have 5 acres to go higher on the peak, I only have 3 acres. They measure peak to grade. I don't understand why they are so picky on the height. In Maple Ridge. They have a development in Albion, I call "Tiny Town" because they cram as many houses on a lot as they can. They have non-functional front porches because they are not deep enough, but they want that look. They are at least two stories with high a high pitched roof. I guess they restrict out buildings more.(edit) I meant to also say that the doors only have about 18" of wall on the corners and 12" of wall at the center on the door openings.

Here is a link to the work done already. You can see the opening on picture 35.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Ibs2LFo3btLC

Nobody in this long discussion has actually measured a truck.
I have a 4100 on 7.00-20s, new front springs, its 2050mm (81 inches or 6 3/4 feet) high. Surely the bigger bolts dont get much higher?
A seven foot door is what I have so no problem. I have 9 foot walls, a one foot lintel holding up a 6 meter (sorry only know that one in metric) wide door.

I'm guessing that an 8'11" door will be plenty high enough for you.

I'm at a little loss as to how you are limited to 8'11" if you have 10' walls and your door is on the gable end. The gable end is non-load bearing so you really don't even need a header, and even more any header should be able to be placed on top of the walls, so nothing would stick down except your door itself.

Tad

Yes I do need a header. It is required on my drawing. I had to actually go through an engineer and I am required to meet his specs.

8'11" only leaves 12'1" to play with(if it it is a true 10'). The header will be required for the srping attachements, as well as the amount of space needed for the track to turn towards the inside of the shop.

Your roof trusses on a 24' span with a 7/12 pitch will be 7' tall measured from the ceiling joist to the top of the peak. This leaves you 12' of available wall height based on your 19' max by code.

If it were me, I'd want the building as tall as I could go. If you get close to 12' inside you could add a lift someday and you could make the doors a standard height which might save you some money (10' x 10'). Just a thought.

What are all of the drain pipes for?

Mike B

I can see that the ship has already sailed but I would have made taller stem walls and lowered the floor a foot or so. Looks like a pretty big step into those doors.

That picture might be deceiving. The entrance is only 1 1/4" higher than the driveway level,1/4" per foot of slope with a 5 foot front apron. I'm going to see the truss company tomorrow and get some exact measurements on the trusses. I haven't framed the walls yet so I'll max them out. The drain pipes are the perimeter drain that runs next to the footer. The two vertical pipes at the back are required clean outs. The other set of pipes are the eaves drains, both tie in together before that concrete cylinder, sump, and then runs to the drainage ditch. Everything I am doing is code for this area. I have decided to build swing out doors. Don't want the roll ups, they would interfere with my lighting inside. Still open to bi-fold too. FriedGreenTmater, how could I make my floor a foot lower? That would put it below grade. I must be misreading your idea. The foundation wall is only going to be 5" above grade by the time I surround the shop with gravel.

When you say bi-fold, do you mean a horizontal or vertical bi-fold? The horizontal bi-fold door would work very good on a gable wall. I've done them before, one was 48' wide x 16' high, slick as can be.

btw, don't lower your floor, especially in a wet climate, no end to potential problems.

It must be an optical illusion. It looked to me like the door sill area is above grade significantly. It is a moot point anyway as the concrete is already poured.