Add sections to overhead door?

[LoTec]

Hi. I'm new here.

For several years, I've been poking away slowly, a bit at a time, at building a 32'x24' addition on my shop. Finally got a slab poured this summer after having the floor be my grandkids' sandbox for far too long. I love my concrete floor now.

Current project is to install an overhead door. I have a pretty nice "lightly used" 16'x7' Clopay insulated door someone gave me. It appears to be complete, with tracks, torsion springs/shaft/pulleys, cables, and hinges and rollers.

The trouble is, my pickup (F250 with toolboxes and ladder rack) won't fit through a 7' tall opening. To accommodate occasional loads on my ladder rack, I'd like to have the door height be at least 9', better yet 10'.

I picked up a couple of sections from another 16' door, on the theory that I would add these two sections to the door for a total height of 10' 6". (The opening in my wall is currently 12' x 16', so I can frame the height to match the door height. )

But as I've studied what would be involved here, I am starting to get cold feet. I know that I'll need to extend the tracks, that's not that big a deal. But I now realize I probably will need to have different springs and pulleys and longer cables. I've looked at various websites to calculate what springs I would need, but none of the sites I've seen list any doors taller than 8 feet.

I go back and forth on whether to plunge into the adventure of trying to make the parts I have work, and deal with the worms as they crawl out of the can... or to just give up and buy a new insulated 16'x10' door, which will probably cost $1200 to $1500.

Anybody here have any experience with extending a garage door? Any advice?

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, Any one who services warehouse doors should be able to fix you up with any thing you need.

Fork lIft drivers look at overhead doors as targets.

 

[b-boy]

I'd buy a new door. The old door was designed to handle specific parameters. If you start adding panels and extra weight, who knows what will happen?

 

[bsg]

I would go with a new door!

I'm in the middle of doing the same thing, replaced the door on the house and saved the panels for the barn, Identical doors!
Both doors were 16' x 8' x 1.375" insulated doors with 2' panels, converted the barn door to a 16' x 12'!

I'm about $750 into the project, I had all the panels, just replacing all the hardware.....had a very hard time getting the door manufacturer to give me the correct spring size, seems they only want sell new?



Kevin

 

[kbs2244]

Time to find a pro that wants a Sat AM job

 

[LoTec]

I would go with a new door!

I'm in the middle of doing the same thing, replaced the door on the house and saved the panels for the barn, Identical doors!
Both doors were 16' x 8' x 1.375" insulated doors with 2' panels, converted the barn door to a 16' x 12'!

I'm about $750 into the project, I had all the panels, just replacing all the hardware.....had a very hard time getting the door manufacturer to give me the correct spring size, seems they only want sell new?



Kevin

Kevin, the door looks great... assuming it can be made to work properly. Could you elaborate on your interaction with the door mfgr? Did you know the correct spring size, or were you counting on them to tell you the right size? Did you finally succeed in getting what you need, or are they just blowing you off?

 

[rustyjames]

I would try calling the manufacturer and see if they're willing to give you some input.

 

[Zmann]

There are online door spring calculators
I have ordered from scratch before and got it perfect

but you are right you need cables / track / maybe drums / maybe a heavier torsion bar/springs and door sections
I think new may be best

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

I would suggest you price out a complete hardware package including tracks. Using the old sections works but adding height and length to the track is not as easy as it sounds. Then you need to use the correct stepped hinges to maintain the proper geometry. Torsion tubes are available in different gauges, and are designed for a specific weight capacity. Drums are specific to door height range. Cables are designed for a weight capacity. You will be walking under the door. Ordering a complete engineered system using your existing sections may also prove to be cheaper in the long run.

 

[p00p]

if you have 1 spring, you can add a second spring with pulley/drum & cable/bracket to gain the pull weight you need. Doing a really old shop a while back that had already 2 springs but needed more pulling weight. Removed the old rod & installed a much longer rod with bearings/brackets/drums/springs. Put the added LH spring on the RH & the added RH on the LH. Attached the additional cables to the added panel brackets. Was a lot of labor work, but it saved over 2k for parts to a new system. When a company see a "commercial" job coming, they seem to place that decimal in the wrong area when they quote those jobs...