Project Overview & Homeowner Objectives in Ellwood City & Ewing Park

Across the established neighborhoods near Ewing Park, Crescent Avenue, and surrounding Wayne and Perry Townships in Ellwood City, PA, many homes built between 1955 and 1985 feature two narrow 8-foot single garage bays separated by a center support post—making it nearly impossible to park modern full-size pickup trucks or SUVs without folding in the mirrors. In this turnkey structural and exterior upgrade, our clients wanted to remove the center structural pier, convert the two narrow doors into a single wide 16×7-foot insulated carriage-house door, and stop freezing winter air from chilling the bedrooms located directly above the garage.

Property Profile & Pre-Renovation Challenges

Standard garage door companies only bolt tracks onto existing openings—they cannot engineer or install a structural load-bearing beam to remove a center post, repair exterior brick/siding jambs, or rewire the garage opener outlets. Because Dependable Home Solutions is a full-service general contractor, we executed the structural framing, masonry/trim work, electrical, and door installation with a single crew.

Scope of Work & Turnkey Single-Team Coordination

• Temporary shoring of the second-floor bedrooms above the garage and removal of the center support pier.
• Installation of a double 14-inch LVL structural header beam, new 2×6 pressure-treated jambs, and custom aluminum coil trim.
• Precision insulated garage door installation (R-18.4) with high-cycle torsion springs and a wall-mounted LiftMaster jackshaft opener.
• In-house licensed electrical receptacle relocation, exterior motion floodlights, and concrete apron threshold leveling.

Center-Post Removal, LVL Header Engineering & R-18.4 Thermal Protection

Converting Two Narrow 8-Foot Bays into a Wide 16-Foot Clear Span

Our framing crew built an interior temporary shoring wall across the garage ceiling joists, demolished the center post and the two undersized 2×8 headers, and hoisted a double 1.75-inch x 14-inch Microllam LVL beam supported on triple 2×6 jack-stud packs anchored directly to the concrete foundation stem walls. We then framed a solid 2×6 center torsion-spring anchor pad above the header and wrapped the new 16-foot jambs in maintenance-free PVC-coated aluminum coil stock under EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm protocols.

R-18.4 Intellicore Polyurethane Door & Arctic Weathersealing

To keep the garage—and the bedrooms above it—warm during sub-zero Lawrence County winters, we installed a 3-layer steel carriage house door injected with 2-inch thick Intellicore polyurethane foam (delivering an R-18.4 thermal rating and whisper-quiet structural rigidity) complete with insulated Low-E top glass lites. We mounted heavy-gauge 14-gauge steel tracks, whisper-quiet 11-ball nylon rollers, and high-cycle torsion springs balanced so the 300-pound door can be lifted effortlessly with one hand, sealed at the slab with an arctic-grade EPDM bulb seal and dual-fin perimeter weatherstripping.

In-House Electrical, Wall-Mount Smart Opener & UL 325 Safety

LiftMaster 8500W Jackshaft Opener & High-Bay Garage Lighting

Rather than hanging a noisy chain-drive rail in the center of the garage ceiling, our in-house electricians wired a dedicated GFCI-protected high-wall outlet and installed a LiftMaster 8500W direct-drive jackshaft opener directly onto the torsion bar—freeing up overhead storage space while engaging an automatic steel deadbolt every time the door closes. Our electricians also installed high-output 5000K LED shop lighting and UL 325 safety photo-eyes, passing all Ellwood City PA UCC structural and electrical inspections.

Dependable Home Solutions | PO Box 23, Worthington, PA 16262 | (724) 243-2553 | https://www.dependablehomesolutions.net | PA HIC #PA212478 | EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm | Hours: Mon–Fri 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM