High Lift vs. Large Radius

[sbosecker]

The garage attached to my house has 9' x 7' garage doors. The door openers are chain drive with the springs that run along the tops of the tracks. When moving, these things sound like the gates of Hyades opening up so I'm looking to change things.

The garage ceiling is pretty close to 11 feet tall. I was thinking a high lift system with a jackshaft motor driving it. This would result in just about a complete replacement of all my hardware.

So today I started interviewing garage door installers and, as is usually the case, I learned something. The term "High-Lift" doesn't mean "garage door track is close to the ceiling"; it's a technical term for a particular way of getting the garage door track close to the ceiling.

It was pointed out to me that another approach to get the track close(r) to the ceiling is to use a larger radius track to transition from vertical to horizontal.

After today, I have a pretty good mental picture of what the large radius solution would look like. For me the space trade-offs between the two systems aren't an issue and I get the idea that the large radius solution might be more cost-effective as well as a (potentially) smoother operation.

Does anyone here have any thoughts on the trade-offs of "High Lift" vs. "Large Radius" garage track systems.

Granted I think the "High Lift" would offer a little more flexibility should I ever (or somebody else) want to use more of the space above the garage bay.

Scott

 

[Trey T]

The term "high-lift", like you said, is a "way of getting [a] garage door track close[r] to the ceiling". It's a general term but can be interpreted in different ways.

There are two methods to the "high-lift":

1. raise the track by an extension w/ the same radius corner track <<<-----this is what most people are familiar with.
2. change the corner track to have larger radius than 15"

If you lift the track up, and depend how far up, you may have to change your spring or even the shaft (if you have hollow shaft) to solid shaft.

 

[Flexia]

When I had my door installed I went with the bigger radius. I have 10 ft doors and 12ft ceiling. The high lift would have got me 2in closer to the ceiling then the bigger radius. Wasn't worth the price difference for that little gain.

Also you can only get so close to the ceiling.

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

If you have 7 foot high doors and 11 foot ceilings, you could always make the opening taller ( say 8 feet tall) and keep the same radius. It would cost a little more. Add another panel, vertical tracks, springs and cables. At that time you could switch to torsion springs. Much quieter. And a jack shaft opener. Only down side would be re framing the opening (removing and reinstalling a header beam). Overall it may be something to think about, in my 10 years doing garage doors iv noticed cars getting taller and wider. Making the door 8' high would make fitting a SUV much easier in the future.

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

Or even 9' high.

 

[sbosecker]

If you have 7 foot high doors and 11 foot ceilings, you could always make the opening taller ( say 8 feet tall) and keep the same radius. It would cost a little more. Add another panel, vertical tracks, springs and cables. At that time you could switch to torsion springs. Much quieter. And a jack shaft opener. Only down side would be re framing the opening (removing and reinstalling a header beam). Overall it may be something to think about, in my 10 years doing garage doors iv noticed cars getting taller and wider. Making the door 8' high would make fitting a SUV much easier in the future.

It's a brick house.

Best regards,

Scott

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

Okay well then I'd say go with the radius track.

 

[sbosecker]

Or even 9' high.

Dcampbell98xj,

Although this comment was probably not practical regarding the project this thread was referring to, I do plan to build a large outbuilding/garage/workshop in the near future. Of the 3 bays, one has a very tall door but the other two I had specified to be 8 feet high.

Since I hadn't had any trouble driving my vehicles into my current house garage's 7 foot high doors, I had thought 8 foot high doors were more than adequate.

Your comment got me to wondering if I would regret the 8-foot decision. Is there anything other than the philosophy of "Anything worth doing is worth over-doing" driving the 9-foot comment? Don't get me wrong, I often find myself yielding to the quoted philosophy. I'm just wondering if you had anything other than overkill driving that remark.

Thanks!

Best regards,

Scott

 

[Dcampbell98xj]

I don't know much about you or hobbies but I'd assume being as this is GJ that you possibly spend a good amount of time in the garage. Projects, working on cars or whatever. In my area more and more houses are being built with 8' high doors mostly because you never know if a person has a huge SUV or truck, boat rv or a trailer. I had 7' doors on my house. Once I lifted my jeep, not crazy tall just 3" and it left me with about 2" of clearance between my roof and the door. Just a thought if you had the height in the garge why not.

 

[sbosecker]

I don't know much about you or hobbies but I'd assume being as this is GJ that you possibly spend a good amount of time in the garage. Projects, working on cars or whatever. In my area more and more houses are being built with 8' high doors mostly because you never know if a person has a huge SUV or truck, boat rv or a trailer. I had 7' doors on my house. Once I lifted my jeep, not crazy tall just 3" and it left me with about 2" of clearance between my roof and the door. Just a thought if you had the height in the garge why not.

Got it

Thanks!

Scott