New Garage Door Installation Near Wolf Trap, Merrifield and Idylwood

Four Measurements Before Any Door Is Ordered

Door makers publish the room each system needs. These are the figures from Clopay and Amarr; your own door’s instruction sheet has the final word.

Amarr advises measuring the width at the top and bottom of the opening and the height on both sides and at the center, then using the smallest figure, because openings are not always square. When the numbers are in hand, send them with the form on the contact page, along with a photo of the opening.

Single Doors and Wide Doors

Clopay lists a standard single door as 7 feet high by 8 or 9 feet wide, and a standard double door as 7 feet high by 16 feet wide (Clopay installation guide). So a one-bay townhouse garage sits in the single range, and a two-car garage sits in the 16-foot range. Clopay adds that few home centers and only some garage door stores keep doors that large in stock, so expect to order one. This page makes no promise about lead time.

A two-car opening leaves you a choice. C.H.I. Overhead Doors says one double-wide door gives a clean, unbroken facade and needs just one opener, while two single doors let you open one side without exposing the whole garage. Switching between the two changes the opening, which is where the permit question below begins.

Which kind of garage is yours? Our Merrifield page covers who has to approve work in rented and shared buildings, and our Wolf Trap page covers family doors that cycle every day.

Does a New Door Need a Permit?

Fairfax County’s guide lists “direct replacement of existing windows and doors” among the work that needs no permit, and lists installing new door openings among the work that does (Land Development Services). Virginia’s building code text exempts replacing doors with doors of similar operation and opening dimensions when the framed opening does not change (13VAC5-63-80).

Neither source names garage doors. A like-for-like swap in the same opening is the simple case; if you want a wider or taller opening, ask the county before you order. The county also says other agencies may require approvals even when it does not.

What a Replacement Involves

1. Removing the old door. Amarr says the existing door may weigh up to 650 pounds and carry significant spring tension (Amarr DIY guide). Amarr recommends hiring a professional installer rather than doing it yourself.
2. Judging the track. DASMA warns that an old track may not suit the new door, so the track is checked, not assumed.
3. Hanging the new door. Sections, hinges, springs and cables go in to match the door you chose.
4. Matching the opener. Clopay says a 1/3 horsepower opener generally suits a single-car door and recommends 1/3 or 1/2 horsepower for some of the heavier two-car doors (Clopay FAQ). See opener installation if the opener changes too.
5. Testing the balance. Amarr describes a four-part test: with the opener disengaged, the door should hold when raised in one-foot steps, lower in a controlled way, rise at a controlled pace, and finish with its bottom edge level with the bottom of the header (Amarr FAQ).

Do not run that balance test yourself on a door you think has a broken spring. Federal rule 16 CFR 1211.16 says to use an opener’s emergency release only with the door closed, if possible (eCFR); see emergency repair first.

Not Ready to Replace?

A door that is only worn may need less than a new one. Spring trouble is covered under spring repair, one damaged section under panel replacement, and rails that have bent under track repair. If you cannot tell which, garage door repair is the place to start.

New Door Questions, Answered

Starting prices for repair work are on the pricing page. Also nearby: Idylwood, where the older homes make a track check worth asking for.