Resizing the Opening for a Long Beach Garage Door

Buying an older home comes with its downsides. One issue can be having a narrow garage entrance. Sometimes, it can feel like the garage can only accommodate half of your car. This can be a hassle. When you try to maneuver your car into the garage, you may cause some damage to your car’s paint job. You may be causing damage to the edges of your garage entrance as well. If you are tired of this, there is a solution that may involve your Long Beach garage door.

Reasons for Wanting a Larger Opening

If you have a large vehicle or require more storage, you may want to increase your garage’s height. You could install overhead rafters to store objects in the garage. You can also fit your big SUV or truck in the truck.

Change Your Long Beach Garage Door

If your main motivation for resizing the opening for a garage door is because you have a bigger car, you may only need one extra foot of headroom. The headroom could be blocked by the garage door because of how it hangs when open. You can replace that garage door with one that hangs from the front of the garage. This will allow you to house a larger vehicle without much work. You could also have a pocket garage door installed. A pocket garage door can slide sideways from within a pocket in the garage wall. This will give you more headroom, and it won’t take up the width of the garage.

Extend the Walls

The garage door usually fits neatly on the garage entrance. So, having a larger door in all actuality means having a larger garage. In order to do so, you would need to extend the wall of the garage. You would have to take off the roof of the garage and raise the roof to the height you want. Then, you need to add new wall sections from the original wall to the roof. Once this part is completed, you can buy a new garage door and have it sized to fit the larger entrance of the garage.

Options for Raising the Roof

One way to raise the roof is by using hydraulic lifts and bracing inside the garage. If the roof is unstable, you may have to use additional support. So, be careful. Another option is to raise the garage. Doing so may cause some structural issues. It is important to work with a contractor if you plan on going this route.

You could also install a new roof. It is the easiest approach compared to the other two. Trying to lift a roof or garage off the ground and adding to the walls is much more challenging.

Storage Ideas for the Bigger Garage

Now that you have some extra space in your garage, you may be wondering how you can use the space. Pinterest can give you some ideas to use the space from making the garage larger. It can also help you improve the organization of the storage in the garage. Some of the ideas on Pinterest are budget friendly. So, you don’t have to pay a fortune.

Mounting objects on the walls in the garage can be a great way to use the space. Adding a quarter inch of plywood to the drywall in your garage can give you ample surface area to mount your storage hardware. It can also help you evenly space your stuff, so you can add a good amount of stuff on the wall.

If you have extending the ceiling of your garage, you may be able to use the ceiling for storage. You can store light items like Christmas decorations or your sleeping bags. Building a ceiling storage system can be completed in a day.

Screw 2x2s to the ceiling framing with 3-1/2-in. screws spaced every 2 ft.
Use the bins as a guide for spacing the 2x2s. The lips on the bins should just brush against the 2x2s when you’re sliding the bins into place.
Then, center and screw 1x4s to the 2x2s with 2-in. screws.

The Wrap Up

Resizing the opening for a garage door is not impossible. You can choose a door that is less likely to take up space, like a front-hanging or pocket door. You can also extend the walls of the garage door. Another option is to raise the roof or install a new roof. It is also possible to raise the garage.

A garage door technician can provide all your Long Beach garage door installation needs. A professional who is trained to install and repair garage doors will have the knowledge and expertise to tackle all your garage door problems. You can work out with the technician a time that is convenient for you and pick a number of different styles like a steel, wood and glass for the perfect Long Beach garage door.