Raising a garage door

[John Schreiber]

I was looking at the thread on storage above a garage door Link and it got me thinking about changing the path the door takes as it comes into the shop/garage.

Could I add some vertical rail and raise the horizontal rails so that the door ends up just a few inches from the ceiling? That would really improve headroom.

It looks pretty straight forward, and I know not to mess with the spring (damhikt), but I haven't heard of anyone doing it.

[Doug Shepard]

Is this with a garage door opener? That alone seems like it would dictate more space above the door, but maybe there are other opener options?

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

A friend of mine did this, so he could get a hydraulic car lift and lilt one car up and park another below it. as I recall, it meant extending the track further up before it curved along the ceiling, and instead of a normal spring he went with a tortion spring system. He did not do it himself, he had someone do it for him. I could try to get pics of it though if you're interested.

[Ryan Cassidy]

John,

If you could get the pictures that would be great (sorry to hijack the thread). I am looking at lifts right now for my garage and am trying to figure out the best method of extending the door. I could literally pull the door straight up.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Ryan

[Roger Jensen]

I didn't want an overhead door blocking the skylights I put in my shop, so I used three 30 inch doors with strap hinges. I have slider locks on the inside of the middle door to secure it at the top and bottom of the door, and the deadbolt from the single door goes into the middle door.

I have been happy with the results. It still allows me to open the doors up on a nice day.

Roger

[Duncan Horner]

Bear in mind that if you extend the length of the tracks (move the entire horizontal portion of the tracks upwards, and have the doors travel to the same horizontal position), it'll put more tension on the springs when the door is down, since the door will have more travel.

On the other hand, if you simply move the point where the rails change direction, but leave the overall travel distance the same (move horizontal rail portions up, but have the opener shut off closer to the door opening), I don't see why it would create a problem.

I don't know how much another foot or so will affect the springs, just pointing it out for completeness.

[Rick Moyer]

I'd question the strength of the spring and/or opener. Most openers/springs pull the weight of the door mostly horizontally. Might take a beefier spring/opener to lift the door more vertically. I could be wrong

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm moving into a newly remodeled service drive on Monday morning. We took supplies up this evening. The doors hug the ceiling. In fact, the rails are double on the horizontal section for the way the doors work. Never seen it before. The openers, I'm guessing here, are the type that are with the central coil spring, but both are mounted up in the "attic" space, and therefore not visible. The bad thing is, the way they mounted the guide cables, the door doesn't open all the way. It goes horizontal before it reaches full height. Good idea, but bad implementation. The coils and therefore the rollers for the cables, need to be 3' away from the outside wall so that the cables would pull the door on up when it gets to the horizontal position. If I remember Monday, I'll take the camera and get some pictures.
I've often wondered if your ceiling joists ran parallel to the doors, why not have a slot above the door that the door would run through, and extend the track up into the attic, then curve. Would probably have to have a gable roof here instead of a hip to pull it off, and then the roof bracing would have to be designed right to pull it off. But the door wouldn't be in the way in the shop at all!! Just a thought. Jim.

[John Hixon]

When you get around to having the rails real close to the ceiling, check out these openers. They are a bit more expensive to buy but easier to install and calibrate, not just that they don't use another track/trolley system to open the door.

http://www.wayne-dalton.com/idrive_TorqueMaster.asp

Not affiliated, but a satisfied customer.

[Brad Sperr]

It could definitely be done with some additional track. You would also need a quick turn bracket, or some other low-head clearance adapter on the top panel, so that the door doesn't hit the ceiling as it's retracted. Some of these adapters are proprietary to the door manufacturer, but you can find some generic ones online. You may have to get creative with your torsion spring placement and opener options if you want really low clearance, but I'd imagine you could get the door within a few inches of the ceiling.

[Chris Damm]

Most garage door companies have what they call a hi riser kit that puts the door next to the ceiling. I used on to mount a 8' high door in a 12' high building. It basicly raises the track to allow more headroom.

[John Schreiber]

This sounds doable, but it sounds like there are enough unpredictable problems that I should work with a garage door company. I've worked with one before and I'll give them a call.