Doors made of heavy solid wood will need a horsepower oversized garage door opener to work properly.
What size garage door opener do i need for a two car garage.
The overwhelming majority of garage door openers we install are 1 2hp and in almost every instance we use those powered by dc motors to insure quiet performance.
Certain garage doors like those made out of wood can be extremely heavy.
As an example a 2 car garage door will need more power to lift than a smaller door.
Once you know what material your garage door is made of simply go down to that row and use the hp value in the corresponding box.
Read our garage door buying guide to learn about different types of garage doors.
Single car doors are usually seen as being 10 feet by 8 feet and usually only require a smaller garage door opener.
However most of us have single or two car garages in which case the products we will be reviewing of you will work just fine.
If the garage is the main entrance to your home or you have a one piece door or a heavy oversized garage door you ll probably need one with the lifting power of a 3 4 to 1 1 4 horsepower opener.
A horsepower opener isn t suitable for a heavy double door but there are two other sizes to choose from that would be more suitable.
Heavier or one piece doors may require higher horsepower openers.
Again this opener will only be efficient when the door is properly balanced and an opener with more horsepower will last longer.
If you have a wooden or insulated double car garage door up to 16 feet wide and 8 feet tall you may want to move up to a 3 4 horsepower opener.
The size of it will affect the opener s function so you want to know what size door you have before you go shopping.
This size opener is the most popular out of the three and is recommended for single or double garage doors with average weight ex.
Oversized large and heavy doors will need an opener with horsepower ex.
If you have a sectional double car garage door a 1 2 horsepower motor should be sufficient but a higher power model will operate with less effort and less wear and tear on the motor.
For doors that are more than 16 feet wide or very heavy an even large opener that s 1 horsepower or higher can reduce strain on the motor.
A 3 4hp motor has the additional power to compensate for these changes and the settings on the motor itself will not need seasonal adjustment.
You also want to get a garage door opener that suits the size of your garage.
While it s the most expensive option it s also long lasting and durable with the maximum amount of power.
1 2 horsepower garage door openers work well with standard aluminum doors in a residential garage.
It is the cheapest of the three and least power.
These and oversized doors over 14 feet in width require a 3 4 hp opener in order for the component to function long term.
It is the second cheapest of the three with medium power.
Garage door size and frequency of use.