Garage Door Header Thickness

[Mwaters]

Quick question... Should a garage door header be the same thickness as the wall it is set upon? For example, if a garage is framed with 2x6 walls, would the header also need to be that thick, or is a 3.5" thick header acceptable? Specifically thinking about a glulam beam here. Thoughts?

 

[CraigStu]

It will be easiest if it's the same thickness. Inside you may have opener parts attached and outside of course the siding. I would get whatever thickness glulam is specified and build up the thickness. 2x10s are a lot less expensive than glulams. I would add the extra 2x to the outside. The glulams are so hard you don't want to be trying to attach the usual siding j mold and brick mold to it. If you need to attach door hardware you will probably need to pre-drill and use lag bolts but that will usually just be 2-4 bolts.

 

[vtjon]

I just put up my garage door header. I used laminated beams. They are 1.75" each two of them worked out for my 2x4 wall. I assume they make thicknesses that work out for a 2x6 wall.


Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

 

[tfinniii]

Depends if load bearing or not.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd assume you are talking about the overhead doors and not the man door ? I'd lean towards the same thoughts are Craig.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

The answer is depends... for example, my garage has 10’ wide doors I used 2x 9.5” LVLs on a 2x6 wall (no second floor, only roof loads). From a load perspective the 2 lvls are enough, but only account for 3.5” of thickness. I filled the remainder with 2” rigid foam on the inside for insulation. For the garage door installation, I created a 2x6, on flat, goal post setup to mount tracks and hardware.

For the man door and windows I used 2x 2x10s, so again I filled the remaining space on the 2x6 wall with rigid foam insulation.

 

[The Cobbler]

no need to be the same thickness. but it would be easier to finish the inside, but you can always cut shims to build up the inside .

 

[Mwaters]

Depends if load bearing or not.

This would be on the gable end of a 20x30 garage (and on the 20' wide part) with nothing more than trusses and roof above, so not load bearing, I think. Door will be 16' wide. Engineer set this as the 3.5" glulam but will be on 2x6 framing. I have a question in to them about if this is acceptable or was an oversight that I didn't catch until now. Hopefully building will commence end of July/early August.

 

[spudley]

This would be on the gable end of a 20x30 garage (and on the 20' wide part) with nothing more than trusses and roof above, so not load bearing, I think. Door will be 16' wide. Engineer set this as the 3.5" glulam but will be on 2x6 framing. I have a question in to them about if this is acceptable or was an oversight that I didn't catch until now. Hopefully building will commence end of July/early August.

I'd use a 1/2" piece of ply or OSB or foam covered with a 2x (whatever your glulam height) which should equal your wall thickness. Mine was load bearing so the spec was three 1.75 x 14" lvl's. Using 2x6's walls, I was still 1/4" short so I added some plywood to flush it out.
As stated, nailing anything into an LVL or glulam isn't for sissies.

 

[Chris705]

As stated above no need to match wall width as long as the loading is accommodated. If heating your garage ideally would be great to pad the outside face with rigid insulation.

 

[jkuro]

I think an LVL header would be cheaper than Glulam.

 

[mike93lx]

Leaving it narrower allows for you to insulate the space. Wood is only R-1 per inch. Using 2 inches of foam board instead of wood can replace R-2 with R-15

 

[Innovate1]

I like to put the plywood or insulation between the lumber or gluelams. That gives a nice solid surface on both sides to fasten opening trim or whatever to. For example on an interior wall with 2 x 4 studs two flat 2 x 10 are total of 3". Add a few scraps of 1/2" between and it comes out to 3.5. No need to fit the plywood exactly or fill the whole space. If you have pocket door track or something that falls in the middle that you need a solid attachment for you can use a flat 2 x on the bottom of the header or use plywood on the outside so the middle of the header section is solid. For my 2x6 exterior walls the framers put the 2 x headers together so I am filling the remainder with solid foam insulation. I used 2" insulation and covered it with 1/2" OSB to have something to nail to on the inside.

 

[mike93lx]

I like to put the plywood or insulation between the lumber or gluelams. That gives a nice solid surface on both sides to fasten opening trim or whatever to. For example on an interior wall with 2 x 4 studs two flat 2 x 10 are total of 3". Add a few scraps of 1/2" between and it comes out to 3.5. No need to fit the plywood exactly or fill the whole space. If you have pocket door track or something that falls in the middle that you need a solid attachment for you can use a flat 2 x on the bottom of the header or use plywood on the outside so the middle of the header section is solid. For my 2x6 exterior walls the framers put the 2 x headers together so I am filling the remainder with solid foam insulation. I used 2" insulation and covered it with 1/2" OSB to have something to nail to on the inside.

With a 2x4 wall, it is hard or impossible to get a meaningful amount of insulation in a wide header, but with a 2x6,it should be reasonable to get some in

 

[Kevin54]

3 LVL's and a spacer board to match the 2x6 studding.

 

[matt_i]

With 2x6 wall it could be 2 plies of 1-3/4 LVL and then a 2" rigid foam sandwich as mentioned. I like to keep solid blocking between the faces so in a couple-three places I'd put in a 2" wooden block to keep the dimension constant.

 

[mike93lx]

I think the beam would be stronger if the two plays were attached, no?

I would be inclined to attach them to each other and favor the exterior of the building, then foam on the inside. Add blocking where needed