Do-it-Yourself Your New Garage Door

Most companies that sell garage doors offer complete line of services including delivery, removal of old door, and installation of the new one. And since garage doors are heavy, large, and a little difficult to install, most people who buy them also take advantage of these services. However, if you are the do-it-yourself type of person, you can just save your money and DIY your new garage door. Although you may find the task to be frightening at first, simply take your time and do the task step-by-step. Later on, you will find out that installing it yourself makes it a good weekend project after all. Okay, so how to do it? Here is an outline of garage door installation instructions to guide you on your DIY project.

First, you need get some precise measurements since these will help you determine the size of the door you need. Make sure that you jot down each measurement so that you will not forget them. Now, measure the height and width of the door opening. This will serve as your starting point for your figures. Next, you have to figure out your “side-room” which is the one from the side of your door to the garage wall, on the same side.  

Take note that the vertical track for your standard torsion spring should at least be 3-3/4 from the side and 5-1/2 for your extension spring. After the “side-room”, proceed figuring out the “head-room”, the space from the door’s top up to the ceiling. In this case, you will need around 12 for the torsion spring and 10 for the extension spring. Now, if the headroom is really that limited and you need to install a garage door opener, and then be sure to use that special hardware designed mainly for that intention. Lastly, figure out the “back-room”, the space between the garage door openings all the way to the garage wall’s back. Add this up to whatever your door’s height is, plus another 18 inches.

After writing down all those measurements, now you can prepare the door opening for installation. First, have a frame of 2x6 wood jambs on the inside of the door opening; Make sure that the frame will match the headroom’s height that you measured earlier. Then, proceed to preparing the bottom section. Gather your hardware and then attach the weather stripping to this section, as much as possible do this on top of saw horses. Now to be precise, this is where you need to look at that manual since not all garage doors are the same. You have to inspect the instructions as to where the lift cable should be attached as well as the reinforcement strut and hinges. Remember this is just an outline. So, it is best to refer to your installation manual to know where you go from here.  

So, what do you think? Is it still alarming to DIY your new garage door? This garage door installation guide is actually very easy to follow. All you need is time and patience. But to ensure that you get the best results out of this do-it-yourself project, make sure that you refer to the instruction manual provided for the specific brand of garage door you bought.