Garage Door Question (help)

[Guest dugydog]

I currently have a 7' high garage door opening and door. The ceiling height in my garage is 11 feet. I was just given a 2 post car lift that I want to install in my garage. What I want to do is put a taller door in and extend the door track so that when the door is in the up positon it is close as possible to my 11' ceiling therby making room for me to open and close the garage door while I have a car on the lift. Has anyone ever run into this problem? It seems silly to have to buy a 10' door when only 7' of it will show is there a better answer? Thanks!

[MCHinson]

I just had a contractor enlarge my garage door opening and add an 18" panel to my previously 7 foot tall door to make it possible to get taller vehicles into the garage. My general contractor's guys had some problems and they had to sublet part of the work to a garage door contractor. From my experience I would think that a commercial garage door contractor could put a taller track in to allow you to do what you want to do. If you are not going to enlarge the door opening, they can just change the track and keep the same 7 foot door. There is no reason to have to change the door. The existing door would just go up higher when it opened.

[Guest dugydog]

Thank you, I was under the impression that regardless of the height of the garage door that the top portion of the track has to be that high as well, to properly lift the door. I no longer think this is completely accurate. I think a different spring pulley set-up may help without adding panels to the door. Thanks for your help.

[MCHinson]

They should be able to add the longer (taller) tracks, change out the springs only if necessary, and install your existing door. That would get it up and out of your way when it is opened.

[Jim Bollman]

A second benefit to keep the short door and extending the rails is you don't need to have it roll back as far on the ceiling, you can leave 1/2 the door on the wall above the door opening so the ceiling rails would only have to be about 4 foot long.

My Dad has a door that goes straight up through a slot in the floor into the second floor so he didn't have to deal with the rails and springs in the main shop. The door runs in wooden groves and is pulled up with a chain sprocket arrangement with a motor. He use to have weights to counterbalance the door till one broke loose and came through the ceiling landing in front of him. He switched to springs then.

[Guest kiwi mopar]

Hi

i have just done that myself.

it was a 2.2m high door and the shed is 3m high.

my is a 4 panel door. all i did was go to a garage door maker and buy two 3m high tracks and replace my one's.

this took me about 2 hours to change myself.

i have now made the door hole itself bigger to 2.7m high.

went to the same place and got a exact panel for the door.

gary

[mdsbob]

Another alternative is to replace the door with one that rolls up into a can above the door. These (the can) only protude out into the shop about 18". Also, (in my opinion) is a better door than the panel doors.

[Paul Dobbin]

Easy Fix:

Get a longer peice of track and run the door up higher before it curves inward toward your new lift. The track can follow the wall up to the ceiling then turn.

For folks with 8 foot wall an scissor trusses you can

also run the track up the sloped ceiling to accomade a

lift. This is done by cutting the turn radias in the

track to aim the door where you want it. You will have

to adjust the spring tension for the increased pull.

[Barry Wolk]

There's a simpler solution. Just move the entire assembly almost 4 feet straight up and add track extensions to the bottom of the side rails. You will need longer cables or, you could just create a new attachment point 4 feet up the door.

You're still only moving the door 7 feet but most of it's travel will be vertical and little of it horizontal. I believe if you space the tracks 6" down from the ceiling everything should fit. The only cost in this proposal is the track extensions. In fact, since there's so little horizontal travel, those rails could be shortened enough to create new vertical rails. No cost retrofit.

I gained a lot of experience with garage door springs when I did my trailer. The springs can be very dangerous. Equal turns is what it's all about. Best left to a professional if you have no experience.