8 feet wide · 7 feet high · single
8x7 garage door
One small car. Tight for anything wider than a sedan — mirrors are the problem, not the body.
Where it comes from
Why an opening is 8x7
Eight by seven is an old door. It is what single garages were built to before cars got wide, and on a house from the 1950s or 60s it is often still the original opening. Nobody specifies an 8x7 on a new build any more.
One small car, and it is genuinely tight. A modern compact is around six feet across the body but closer to seven across the mirrors, and eight feet of opening leaves inches on each side. The body will clear. The mirrors are what people catch, and they catch them on the way in at an angle, not straight on.
Fitting one
What changes at 8x7
A narrow door is the easy end of the trade — one spring, no strut, a short shaft, light sections a single fitter can handle. The complication on an 8x7 is almost never the door. It is that the opening is in an old wall, and old walls are not square.
The opener. Anything will lift it. A half-horsepower chain drive is more than enough, and on a door this light the argument for spending more is noise rather than power.
Getting hold of one. Stock, and cheap, because it has been made continuously for seventy years.
The mistake
What people get wrong about a 8x7
Replacing an 8x7 with an 8x7 because that is what was there. If the car has been scraped once it will be scraped again, and going to a 9x7 is a framing job, not a bigger door — one that is far cheaper to do while the old door is already off than as a separate visit two years later.
What it costs
A 8x7 door, installed
| Material | Typical, installed | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Sectional steel | $3,170 | The baseline, and most of the doors on most streets. |
| Insulated steel | $3,920 | Worth it on an attached garage or one with a room above it. |
| Steel overlay, carriage look | $6,720 | The swing-door look on a sectional door. Where the price starts climbing. |
| Wood overlay | $14,570 | Real wood over an insulated core. Beautiful, and it needs refinishing. |
| Aluminium and glass | $8,320 | Modern, lots of daylight, lower insulation value. |
The gap between the cheapest and dearest 8x7 is $16,570, and not one dollar of it is the size. Same opening, same fitting, same morning — what moves the number is the model: panel style, insulation and overlay. Why a door costs what it does →
National guide ranges, checked September 2026, not a quote — what moves the number.
That is the door, the tracks, the springs, fitting it and taking the old one away. An opener, a keypad and any work on the opening itself are separate — what is in a quote and what is not.
Before you book it
What the extras cost · why nobody should touch their own springs
Framing
Rough opening for a 8x7
8'0" × 7'0"
For a sectional door the rough opening equals the door size exactly. A 16x7 door needs a 16'0" wide by 7'0" high finished opening.
Fits
What goes through a 8x7
- Nothing on our list clears this one. Check your own measurements.
Questions
8x7 garage doors, answered
How much does a 8x7 garage door cost?
A 8x7 in sectional steel runs about $2,080 to $4,250 installed, and $2,580 to $5,250 insulated. That is the door, the tracks, the springs, fitting it and taking the old one away. An opener is separate.
What is the rough opening for a 8x7 garage door?
8 feet by 7 feet, exactly. For a sectional door the rough opening is the door size — framing it wider leaves a gap the seal cannot close.
How much clearance do you need for a 8x7?
12" of headroom above the opening for a standard torsion setup, 9" front, 4.5" rear of sideroom each side for the vertical track, and the door height plus 16 inches of backroom. The full table, including low-headroom kits, is on the rough opening guide.
Should I widen the opening instead of replacing like for like?
Worth asking, because the framing work is far cheaper while the old door is already off than as a separate visit later. If the car has been scraped once it will be scraped again, and going from 8 feet to ten is a header job rather than just a wider door.
What fits through a 8x7 garage door?
Nothing standard, comfortably. This is a workshop or storage door rather than a car door.
Is an insulated 8x7 worth the extra?
About $500 to $1,000 more. Yes if the garage is attached or there is a room above it — you feel it in the summer and in the heating bill. A detached garage you only park in: skip it.
How long does it take to fit?
Three to five hours for a single door, plus an hour or two if the old one is coming out.
What opener does a 8x7 need?
Anything will lift it. A half-horsepower chain drive is more than enough, and on a door this light the argument for spending more is noise rather than power.
Is a 8x7 a stock size?
Stock, and cheap, because it has been made continuously for seventy years.
The next size up
8x7 or 9x7?
A 9x7 is 1 feet wider and costs roughly $0 more in steel. Worth it if you open car doors inside the garage rather than on the driveway. See the 9x7 →
Other sizes