(Another) Garage Door Opener Question

[JMURiz]

Question, if I had a garage like the one pictured below, except with only one 8x16' door...what would be the best way to mount a garge door opener?
I know of the Miracle, I-Drive, Jackshaft (probably a bit too industrial for my needs).
Would it be possible to have a 'normal' chain opener without it looking bad/tacky?

Thanks for your suggestions:

 

[W-Cummins]

No matter what you did with a conventional segmented door it would be a huge waste of space. The tracks are going to have to hang way down. You could mount the opener on the side that would be better than having it hang in the center. That way you would at least have head room when the door was lowered. I guess you could change the door style and have a roll up door that wouldn't take much space but I really don't like them much. Or you could use a bifold carriage type door.

William...

 

[Steve_S]

You could do a high lift kit. The tracks could be attached to the ceiling. You would need extra door panels and it would block the window when raised but at least you would save space.

Or perhaps do a regular style horizontal track and put a loft above it?

Or maybe think about carriage doors?

 

[bmwpower]

You could do a high lift kit. The tracks could be attached to the ceiling. You would need extra door panels and it would block the window when raised but at least you would save space.

Or perhaps do a regular style horizontal track and put a loft above it.

It doesn't even seem like he could go high lift...the ceiling is right there.

 

[Paradise Ridge]

Probably a stupid idea, but have you thought about adding a storage loft? Loft floor joists would be a great place to attatch conventional tracks, plus lots of space for misc stuff.

8' door would mean 10' +/- loft depth, extra 2' for opener and tracks. No wall, just railing and removable ladder/steps would still let in the light from the window.

Scott

 

[DavidL]

Probably a stupid idea, but have you thought about adding a storage loft? Loft floor joists would be a great place to attatch conventional tracks, plus lots of space for misc stuff.

8' door would mean 10' +/- loft depth, extra 2' for opener and tracks. No wall, just railing and removable ladder/steps would still let in the light from the window.

Scott

Sounds good to me

 

[nova65ss]

High lift tracks would be out of the question there is no room for it to go up. It wouldn't be a big deal at all to hang an opener from there, just alot of drop. It is the perfect place for a loft though.

Jimmy

 

[OldCarGuy]

A loft would be the best way to go. If not I’d look into a steel roll-up door with an electric opener off to the side.

 

[JMURiz]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll probably go with something like an I-Dive or the Miracle opener. I wanted the open ceiling for the future possibility of a 4-post lift. In the rear of the shop I'm going do do a loft/shelf about 6' deep for parts storage.

 

[tkellytn]

Loft

I have the same layout 2 doors and the ceiling goes up to 15'.
I droped down where the doors go and extendet the track up about 2' farther and made a storage loft above it is very nice to use the waisted space.
I will try to resize a picture and send

 

[BowtieNut]

I'm with the other guys here. A loft above the doors is the way to go. Even if you do have a lift, you're not going to be able to use it under the doors anyways or you'll run into the tracks. I guess you could go up between the tracks, but then you can't open the door. Plus, you already said you're going to do a loft, so can't you just switch it to the front instead of in the back, and put the lift in the back? I don't know, maybe there's something else preventing this, but if not, this seems like the logical choice. Just my .02.

 

[JMURiz]

Good point, I'll look into that as well. We are doing the plans for it anyway, so the change should be easy enough.

New question: Would just using 2x6 be good enough for the floor, if it had another 2x6 support up higher...or would I need some fancier truss design? There's not going to be more than a spare parts and storage up there anyway. Thanks!

 

[BoostAddiction]

I have the same layout 2 doors and the ceiling goes up to 15'.
I droped down where the doors go and extendet the track up about 2' farther and made a storage loft above it is very nice to use the waisted space.
I will try to resize a picture and send

Nice use of recessed lighting in the garage. THe angled ones could even be skylights under the right circumstances.

And the loft idea there is useful as well; offering enclosed storage, yet leaving the rest of the garage open for a lift is a good match.

-Will

 

[rickas]

Here is a not so great picture of my garage loft. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/[email protected]/detail?.dir=bf8e&.dnm=4f26re2.jpg&.src=ph I installed 6 storage trusses at each end and then 5 scissor trusses thru the middle. This gives me a 12' long x 7' wide x 4.5' hi storage loft at each end. And the center 12 feet is open for the possibility of having a lift someday. The trusses were less than $100 each and the truss engineer can design them to your needs.