Why door companies walk away
When there's living space above the garage, the centre post isn't holding door tracks — it's carrying the floor and the room above it. Door companies install doors; they don't remove structure, and most will tell you to find a construction company. That gap is exactly why this service exists as one accountable contract: engineered beam, building permit, post removal, exterior finishing, and the new door.
An engineer redesigns the load path
With a room above, a licensed structural engineer redesigns how the load travels down to the foundation, then sizes a beam to carry it. It isn't just the roof anymore — the beam carries a redesigned load path, so the engineering and the beam itself are bigger. The stamped design is filed alongside the permit application. This changes the design and the range, never the feasibility.
The beam is sized for it
The beam is engineered for your specific span and loads — typically LVL or glulam, with steel where the loads or clearances demand it. The span matters more than it looks: doubling an opening from 8 to 16 feet demands on the order of four times the beam strength, because bending force scales with the square of the length. Add a bedroom above, and the beam grows again. During the swap, a temporary support wall carries the load until the beam is in. Full detail on how the beam is sized and installed is on the engineered beam guide.
The municipality inspects
Widening the opening or changing the header beam requires a municipal building permit and stamped structural drawings under the Ontario Building Code. We prepare the application, file it, and carry the inspections through to sign-off. With a room above, that inspection is what confirms the load path is sound — not a formality, the whole point. Every project we run is permitted and inspected. See the Ontario garage door permit guide for when a permit applies and what the application needs.
This is the majority of our work
A two-storey home with a bedroom over the garage is the common GTA case, not the exception. We engineer for it as standard, in one contract, as part of the same two-to-one garage door conversion we run end to end: structural assessment, engineered beam design, permit and inspections, post removal, framing and exterior finishing, and a custom-width double door. For how the span and loads decide the number, see the cost guide.
Room-above questions, answered plainly
Does a room above the garage make combining two doors into one impossible?
No. A room above changes the beam design, not the answer. An engineer redesigns the load path for the room above and sizes the beam to carry it; the conversion itself stays feasible in almost every case we assess. .
Is a conversion with a room above more expensive?
Usually, yes, because the beam and the engineering behind it are bigger. Where nothing load-bearing sits above the opening, the all-in price is $16,000 to $18,000 CAD; a room above changes the beam design and is priced at the free assessment. .
Is it safe to remove the post when a bedroom sits above the garage?
Yes. A licensed structural engineer redesigns the load path and sizes the beam for it, stamped drawings are filed with the municipal building permit, and the finished work is inspected before sign-off. Every project we run is permitted and inspected. .
How is the load carried while the beam is being installed?
A temporary support wall carries the roof, floor, and room load while the old post and header come out and the new engineered beam goes in. The structure is never left unsupported. .
Does the bedroom floor need work when the beam goes in below it?
Typically not beyond what the engineer's drawings call for. The beam is sized to carry the existing floor and room load from below; the engineer's assessment confirms whether anything above needs attention for your specific structure. .
Room above? Still possible.
Sixty seconds tells you if your garage qualifies. The free assessment confirms the beam and permit path for your exact structure.