subject: Choosing The Right Garage Door Sizes According To Type Of Vehicle [print this page] Garage door sizes these days come in many sizes, shapes and forms. In Japan, especially in Tokyo, car designs were made narrower to accommodate the small space of garages there as land was expensive. Interesting to note as well that because cars and vans in Japan were narrower, they were also taller since most houses had three or four floors and the height of garage doors were taller than usual. Indirectly, this brought about a change of pitch in the seating of vehicles, contributing to a more ergonomic design of a car, which though it was narrower, it was taller and people seated did not have that cramped up feeling.
In the United States, there is no real standard garage door size these days. Some states do limit the width of the garage door for hurricane and tornado purposes, limiting the lifting ability of a home with narrower apertures. In the 70's and 80's, the standard for single car doors was 8 feet wide by 7 feet high and the standard for double car garage doors was 16 feet by 7 feet high. With the onset and popularity of Sub Urban Vehicles in the 90's onwards, the "standard" has somewhat changed making wider garage doors of ten feet to 18 feet wide. Housing developers have also changed the garage door sizes to fit their specific themes and price ranges for homes. Some of these developments catering to the upscale market may have even made these garage doors 10 to 12 feet high to accommodate Sub Urban Vehicles that have been modified.
These days here are the average standards of one car garages: 8 feet wide by 7 feet high, 9 feet wide by 7 feet wide. For double car garages they can be as follows: 12 feet wide by 7 feet high, 14 feet wide by 7 feet high and 18 feet wide by 7 feet high. For those with Sub Urban Vehicles, the average standard for them are 12 feet wide by 9 feet high for single SUVs to 30 feet wide by 10 feet high for double car garages.
As earlier mentioned, some states differ in minimum height and width restrictions. Those in hurricane areas cannot go more than 18 feet wide per garage door.
Whatever the case may be, in choosing your garage door size, it is important to first know what type of vehicle you drive and whether it is a full, mid or compact size. This information will be useful for you in deciding on your new home.
