Framing around garage door

[OneStaple]

Hey all,

I'm trying to understanding the framing around my garage door (2-car) so I can hang a couple lumber racks above the torsion spring. I'm not understanding how this is framed based on what I'm reading on my stud finder, so I'm hoping someone here can provide insight. House was built in 1986 and uses 2x8s for joists everywhere I can see (e.g., unfinished basement) as opposed to wood I-beams or LVL. There is living space above the garage.

In the first picture, I show the space above the garage door, with the garage door framing to hold the brackets and spring on the surface. The second picture shows where I detect studs (?) behind the drywall above the opening, indicated by green lines. Surprisingly, I only detect horizontal items, not any vertical ones. Tapping on the drywall with my hand sounds hollow, which would roughly confirm this. There appears to be a double top place (top green line). The middle line appears to be 1.5" tall, although it reads as 3" in some spots. The bottom line is hard to tell on height since it goes behind the surface-mounted garage door framing. But it's only about 4.5" from the finished opening, so it can't be a header.

Nothing reads as 2x12 headers or similar.

Looking at the corner of the opening gives a little insight into what's behind the drywall:

• A - "surface" mounted garage door framing. It sits 1/2" below the drywall, so it's attached to whatever is below the drywall
  
• B - 5/8" plywood
  
• C - small piece of plywood seemingly covering the vertical stud
  
• D - 2x4 (not 2x's stacked next to each other)
  

So, any thoughts on this? The only thing I can think of is that there is plywood covering the studs, or at least bands of ply, so I'm just reading those and can't detect the studs themselves. But I'm not sure how to tie into this structure for lumber racks. Also, surely there must be a header in there somewhere.

Thanks,
Tyler

[JosephP]

Where was that last picture taken?

Can you hang the lumber rack from the ceiling?

[OneStaple]

That last picture is the upper left corner of the garage door opening. I'm the first picture, that spot is hidden by the upper left corner of the garage door itself.

Maybe I could hang stuff from the ceiling. I'm not sure what my weight capacity would be, especially relative to a wall mounted one

Tyler

[JosephP]

That last picture is the upper left corner of the garage door opening. I'm the first picture, that spot is hidden by the upper left corner of the garage door itself.

Maybe I could hang stuff from the ceiling. I'm not sure what my weight capacity would be, especially relative to a wall mounted one

Tyler

Can you see back to the right deeper into the cavity there?  If there is just a 2x in the way, can you drill a small hole for an inspection camera?

[MstrCarpenter]

It looks like you have a built-up header at the top of the opening and cripple studs above that to a single or double plate. Your ceiling joists would be on top of that (those) with the drywall attached to the bottom, or strapping then drywall on the bottom. The stud finders are better now than they used to be but I can get that close with a few taps of my knuckle. I still use a nail to find the edge of a stud then mark at center. In your case the header framing may be 1/2" to 2-1/2" from the back of the drywall. I use an insulation support in a cordless drill to quickly find framing. When there's even a small chance of drilling into wires, I use a 6" piece and a hammer. Note; your wire cutters are not going to cut it. A cold steel chisel on something resembling an anvil to make a crease then bending is pretty quick if you don't have a wizz wheel handy.

Now for the lumber rack. If you're considering just arms that stick into the garage to rest the lumber on, we all know we can easily make them 3-4' long with just 2 x2 angle and a little welding. The problem is that there's not much keeping the header from bowing outward in the middle. You might get more, and more accessible storage if you mounted racks to the ceiling framing. Easiest way I can explain? Picture large, welded, "E"s with the top of the "E" lagged to the joists. "I"s could work too. (actually more like a sideways "H".)

Another way that's slightly adjustable is to mount unistrut to the ceiling to hang more unistrut with 3/8" all thread. If it's mounted to the ceiling securely enough, you could hang your car from them.

[tomsteve]

it appears to be a 6" wall and possibly a double 2 by header packed out top and bottom of header to make it fit the wall no crips between header and top plate.

mount lumber racks to pieces of 2 by that span top of wall to bottom of header then mount those on wall

[EdL]

The Unistrut on the ceiling would be a very good way to do it.

Ed

[JosephP]

...If it's mounted to the ceiling securely enough, you could hang your car from them.

Nest idea yet.  Then lumber is easier to access at floor level.


My ceiling lumber rack (and I don't remember how I got the idea):  I used 1" (or maybe it's 1.25"?) black iron pipe.  I drilled end cap and put that into ceiling with a lag bolt.  Screwed in a 12-16" down piece, elbow horizontal to next elbow and back up.  3 of those and I pull lumber in and out of the ends.

Unistrut sounds easier.