Wasted garage ceiling height

[dpb]

On 10/18/2019 8:51 AM, micky wrote: ...

They do because they were sized for the size of door you have to only raise to the opening height.

Just raise the horizontal rails to the desired height, cut off the back end straight sections and add to the bottom of the verticals. That arrangement uses the same stroke on the opener and leaves the door partially vertical when open.

As someone noted, will probably want to stiffen up the springs some--make a step up if using linear springs or torque the coil some more if particular door uses it.

If you're going to raise the door, you've also got to raise the opener to match, of course. If going to go to the full horizontal or nearly so position there when open, will have to extend the opener track the same length as well. If the traditional chain drive, that's not too bad, would probably be difficult with the other worm drives...

The simplest solution to implement leaves it the same length but then there's the weight against the motor/drive mechanism when open. Balancing that so could open manually when don't have power to the opener or something fails in it will be the trick there. Getting the proper spring tension to be able to do that plus just the physical problem of how to push something 10-ft off the ground when need to do so would likely be the hardest issue to solve. Not that couldn't be done.

The ideal solution would be to go to a commercial door opener system...other than talking big bucks for those and not sure what could find for as small an opening as a single-height car garage door.

[gfretwell]

It is clear you never installed a garage door. There is a joint at the

90 and the upright part of the track by the door is a separate piece. If he could find some track, he could extend that or just replace the upright part with a longer one. The trick is balancing the door.

[micky]

How can you do this without having the door hit the wall of the garage that is above the door? One can only get the door up now because the track bends inward at the current top of the door.

dpb and gf were not any more clear.

[gfretwell]

The "Vertical" actually leans back into the garage a ways so the door will clear the wall.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Same way it does now. The door is inside the wall, not under it. It actually moves up a couple of inches before the bend. You are just going to increase the height on the same plane.

Take a good look at how the door and track is mounted. All inside the wall.

[micky]

Oh. I get it. Thanks all. Sorry it took so long.

Even expensive houses in Baltimore were built without garages. Often carports. Recently garages have become popular even in townhouses, but I don't know anyone with a garage. :-(

[Ed Pawlowski]

Same with Philadelphia. Many thousands of houses were built before the automobile was invented. Street were made wide enough for a carriage but they did not plan on parking a car for every house.

[micky]

Just to be clear, in Baltimore expensive houses built in the 1970's and maybe 80's and 90's didn't have garages.

Now, when a townhouse has a garage, the space comes out of its basement, making the house itself more like 2.5 floors.

[Davej]

I think this is a do-able project. I will start looking for some sections of track. Maybe I can find some used track on Craigslist or similar.

[Clare Snyder]

Why? just raise the 90 degree bend - the door would only be "partly open" when the fullopening is revealed, but that's not a "problkem"other than balancingthe door - which is NOT a problem with a heavy duty garage door opener.

[gfretwell]

I had to add a garage to a 4br/2.5 bath house built in the 70s.

[gfretwell]

It is still a problem but one a garage door company should be able to fix. You certainly will need different springs. Garage door openers generally want a well balanced door unless you want to be replacing those gears a lot. These days some of these doors are pretty heavy too. Two guys couldn't bump mine off the ground if the springs were not balancing it.

[Clare Snyder]

but you do NOT need to balance it to the point it will stay anywhere you put it without a GDO.Balancing within 10 to 20 lbs is actually not that hard - and a 1/2HP opener can handle that unbalance with no problem at all.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Here in hurricane country it has to withstand 140 mph wind. My door has nearly as much steel as the George Washington Bridge. OK, I exaggerate. At least the upper deck.

[gfretwell]

My door panels weigh about 200 pounds each (4 total). One remaining in the vertical is not going to be 20 pounds, it is closer to 10 times that. The springs are calibrated to have virtually zero "help" at a 7 foot travel because they assume the door is horizontal at that time. Maybe you folks up there without a wind code can get away with an 80 pound fiberglass door with some styrofoam in it but not here.

[Clare Snyder]

Another reason I'm glad I'm not in Gatorland - but you did not understand what I said. I didn't say balancing a 10 or 20 lb load - I said balanceing TO 10 or 20 lbs (not zero as is required without a GDO). Not a problem for the GDO to have to either hold 10 or 20 lbs with the door up OR having to pull 10or 20 lbs to close the door. - or have to lift 40 oir so lbs with the door closed and pull 10 or 20 lbs to get it started coming down with the transition being gradual as the door moves up and down. On my old one piece door it takes power to raise the door and power to lower it -as the arms go over-center you go from lifting the door to the door opening itself, and when closing it it goes from you pulling the door down to the door closing itself. This is with "linear" springs direct acting on the door levers. These one piece doors are no longer sold.

In the garages I have worked at several had doors installed the way that has been recommended - with half of the door still vertical with the door fully opened - and it still took a pull to open them AND to close them - with a chain /sprocket to crank it up and down. To hold the door in a fixed half open position you sometimes needed to fasten the chain against either or both directions. Condensation on the glass or freezing rain on the outside made a SIGNIFICANT difference in the "balance" of the doors!!!!. I put in ceiling fans to reduce the condensation on the doors and keep the windows from frosting/freezing in cold weather - about the only time I'v wished I WAS in Gatorland!!!

I did have power actuators on a couple doors over the years

[Davej]

Your garage doors must cost some serious money. Here in the Midwest I'd bet my flimsy sheet metal door panels weigh less than ten pounds each.

[gfretwell]

Mine was a few grand 15 years ago in the box(es). I installed it. That is why I know the panels are ~200 pounds each. I ended up using my motor lift to get the top two stacked in the hole.