Expert: Dan Griffin - 2/29/2008

Question
I have a 20'x22' detached garage.  Purchased a new truck that won't fit in door.  The door is 6' now need a 7' door.  Thought of cutting studs at sill, raising with jack stands, resupporting studs on sill.  Any suggestions?

Answer
A typical residential garage door is a nominal 7 feet.  Even I would bang my head on a 6 foot opening.

Single wide door or two small doors?  Is the door problem on the 20 foot side or the 22'?  What is above the garage door - eave with soffit or gable end?  Can you see or tell what is holding up the garage above the opening - it is called a header and I am asking how big of timber, steel beam, or ganged up 2x12's you have.

Maintaining the garage opening can be quite difficult.  There isn't much wall on the sides of the door, and that little bit of wall has to stop the wind from blowing the building out of plumb.  The connection of a moment frame or other method of wind bracing this condition is very important.  There are some special units made by people like Simpson that deal with this issue, a custom steel moment frame would need a structural engineer's stamp to pass code.

After all this information, let's see what you should do.  Raising the entire garage seems like a strange approach to me and I don't think you should do it without a structural engineer.  It will involve the exterior finish (if it is brick, it is prohibitive), the seismic/wind bracing  on all the walls, and any utilities  you have - electric/water/sewer.  I don't know what loads you are carrying now or what size header you have or how much door clearance you have inside the garage.  I want to suggest raising the header or making the header of an alternate material that is thinner.  You may have problems with the type of door and being able to raise it inside.  There are vertical and horizontal bifold doors that can solve this problem.  I think your best call at this point would be to a garage door specialist.  They will know the issues and can see the circumstances much better than I can on the internet.