Garage door frame slumping.

kadetklapp

So basically the two 2x10s are sandwiching a piece of half-inch plywood and that is supposed to act as a big "beam" which is apparently not enough.

So I'd need to somehow jack it up, remove this "beam" and replace with with something a lot beefier. My father in law is convinced he can do it, but I don't want the house falling in here. My guess is a better beam would be three 2x10s sandwiched together but I know nothing so...

Yoyizit

Take a picture from outside with the camera at right angles to the door. It looks like your gutter is sagging as well close to the inside corner. Maybe there is some very localized damage at your wall/roof line.

kadetklapp

Here are a few more pictures. One thing I did want to mention is you notice the sag all the way up to the gutter, but beyond that you don't see it it. I've looked at the roof line every which way and see not issues at the pitch of the roof. It appears to be just fine. It's simply above the door to the soffits and gutter.






Here's what appears to be some old water damage. The roof is newer and appears to be just fine.

Marvel

Is that a single top plate (2x4 on the flat)?

Daniel - do you see a prospect of modifying this to a composite section?

kadetklapp

On top of the 2x10 above the door or up at the top? Above the 2x10 it's a single, up top I can't reach.

fixrite

Check to see just how bowed that header is by running a string line under it and measuring the difference. If you determine that there is a ply between it I would think you may need to get an engineer to determine what is needed. My guess is there is nothing between those 2 by 10's. If that is the case then you may be able to replace the 2by10's with ply between them glued and screwed crown up.

arigatou

Need to determine how many 2x10s, 2x10s plywood such as the filler piece between.In addition, measurement, 2X10, 2X10, in order to determine the exact height, they are usually HP 96 9-1/4 inches.

Daniel Holzman

It would be helpful to know where you are located, in terms of roof loading. Near as I can tell, you have a 10 foot long double 2x10 header, possibly with a piece of 1/2 inch plywood sandwiched between the 2x10's. This appears to be supporting only the roof, as I did not see any indication that there is storage being supported by the rafters.

I took a quick crack at some computations. I assumed the garage was 20 feet deep, you can confirm this. Using 40 psf roof load (heavy load based on snow, but then you never told us where you live) plus 10 psf dead load (no storage, framing load only) makes for 50 psf total. Assuming your header picks up half the load of the roof, that makes for 500 pounds/foot distributed load on the header.

Even at that load, which may be high (depends where you are located), the beam is probably structurally adequate (it is close). However, the deflection at midpoint would be a little less than half an inch, which should not be too noticeable. And the deflection would only occur if you got a major snowload condition.

To make more progress, you need to verify ALL the dimensions discussed, and tell us where you live.

12penny

Hey Daniel....nice of you to spend your valuable time helping folks.

Went to some other threads of the op's and I think he's from Indiana. But where in Indiana is anyones guess.

And I'll bet ya lunch on the waterfront thats a 16' door.

Big Stud

12 penny has is right indeed. that span should have a solid beam such as a microlam or equivalent. Any engineered beam will do. You can even do it yourself if you are fairly handy. It will require jacking up the trusses and making a temporary wall to hold them up then replace what is there with a beam and new cripple wall. Then lower the trusses and reattach them and redo the siding and drywall that had to be torn off. This is not going to be an easy job. It will take much hard work and sweat to do, and you will need help in lifting the beam into place. A contractor could have it done in a day or so. Will likely take you a few weekends to accomplish from demolition to finish. How much is your time worth and what would happen if you got hurt doing this job? Those are two major questions that you need to answer before attempting this. If you feel confident you can do this, any Home Depot or lumberyard can order you a beam for the span you give them. Just make sure you put the crown up on the beam. It will usually say "this side up" on the top of the beam,

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All the best to you and yours, Tom