Door Height, is 6'6" enough? Opener Options?

[Vintage Veloce]

I have some design issues that are leading me to consider having the opening for the roll up garage door to be only 6' 6" high (78") instead of the usual 7'.

This is high enough for standard cars and even most mid size trucks. But a 2015 Ford F150 is 76 to 78" high. For reference, a Hummer H3 is 73" high and a Cadillac Escalade is 75" high. So it's tight for big vehicles.

Now, I am short and I am motorcycle and small car guy, so I don't personally have much trouble with the lower height opening. Thus I'm considering this lower opening.

The thing that is driving this is that the inside ceiling height is 8' and I really prefer the jackshaft style garage door opener like the Liftmaster 8500. However, my garage door guy says he really needs another 3" for the opener (15" above the door opening in total) for a good installation.

It's easy to make the opening lower, thus gaining more room for the jackshaft door opener. But is this a big mistake? Is there an option I'm missing, besides a regular door opener hanging in the middle of the garage

 

[ishiboo]

There's an offset adapter for jackshaft openers to allow you to mount them below the jackshaft.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002P5RDDK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Ooh, THAT is very interesting! I'll show it to the garage door guy.
Carl

There's an offset adapter for jackshaft openers to allow you to mount them below the jackshaft.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002P5RDDK/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[NUTTSGT]

Is the garage already built ?

 

[rburke65]

My garage door is 6'6" and I curse the guy that ever built the opening to that height! And, on the inside, I probably have a 9' to 10' ceiling height. Don't ask me....

 

[sublimate]

I'm a small car (very small French cars) and motorcycle guy, but like me you may find you want a truck for runs to pick up parts & hardware.
Here's my truck just barely fitting under a 7' door, and only after disconnecting the door and manually pushing it up higher than the lifter would pull it.

I suggest sticking with 7' as a minimum.

 

[upndown]

Your garage, your choice. Personally I would go with 7' high door and belt drive opener, you're not getting a lift in there with an 8' ceiling anyway.

It would **** if you couldn't work on or even purchase a vehicle because of a 6'6" opening! Never know what the future may hold. JMO.

 

[upndown]

I'm a small car (very small French cars) and motorcycle guy, but like me you may find you want a truck for runs to pick up parts & hardware.
Here's my truck just barely fitting under a 7' door, and only after disconnecting the door and manually pushing it up higher than the lifter would pull it.

I suggest sticking with 7' as a minimum.

If that bottom strut was any lower, you'd be SOL! I'd do whatever it took as well..nice looking truck!

 

[lakeroadster]

Funny, the wife and I were just talking about this today. Our "new to us" home has a nice oversized attached 2 car garage with a 9' ceiling. It has one 9' x 8' door... and one 8' x 7'... it leaves us wondering what the thought process was that lead to such a weird door selection?

I wouldn't want a door less than 7'.

 

[mike93lx]

I can't imagine building the opening that low just for a specific GDO.
You may say resale isn't a concern, but i would have passed right by a house with doors that low.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Looks to me that ishiboo solved the problem for me with that Liftmaster 480LM. I'll see what the door guy says, but I'm pretty confident.

 

[slow]

Start lifting vehicles and short doors are a concern. I cannot put my h3 in the garage with 7' doors. I would love a taller door opening.

 

[lakeroadster]

Start lifting vehicles and short doors are a concern. I cannot put my h3 in the garage with 7' doors. I would love a taller door opening.

Air Ride...

 

[slow]

No room with the drivers side drop solid Axle and duramax oil pan. It is already on coil overs just no physical room to lower it and I am.not sure if air ride will allow for 12" suspension travel down for rock crawling.

Ryan

 

[onewheat]

I had a 7' door and removed the header and modified everything to get an 8' door installed. Personally, I would not go with a short door just to get a jackshaft garage door opener. I'd rather have a taller door and no opener than a 6'6" door - but being able to do a normal belt drive opener makes it a no-brainer for me.

 

[Yamaguy]

Your garage, your choice. Personally I would go with 7' high door and belt drive opener, you're not getting a lift in there with an 8' ceiling anyway.

It would **** if you couldn't work on or even purchase a vehicle because of a 6'6" opening! Never know what the future may hold. JMO.

This!

I have a 7' door and my truck with leveling kit and larger tires fits with only fractions to spare. You may only be a small car guy, but the houses next owner may not be...

 

[jhelrey]

I have an F250. I like snowmobiling so often I pull it into the garage with a snowmobile in the bed of the truck. I could never do this with a 6'6, or even a 7. I love having an 8 foot door.

 

[upndown]

To anyone building a house or shop, to go with anything less than 8' would be totally foolish. You only pay a little extra for the door.

 

[Radix2]

The jackshaft openers are nice - but not nice enough to make short door!

 

[mike93lx]

To anyone building a house or shop, to go with anything less than 8' would be totally foolish. You only pay a little extra for the door.

Except for all of the split ranches that get built around here with garages in the 1st floor. Moving up to an 8' door would cost tens of thousands, so none of them have any more than a 7' opening. For a garage to park a daily driver, 7' is more than enough in nearly every circumstance.

 

[maxpower_hd]

I would go without an opener at all before I made the opening smaller. But that's just me. I need to be able to fit lots of stuff into my garage so I need the height. But I went years without the opener and really still don't need it. I only use it on the motorcycle so I don't have to get off when I get back to open the door. I don't even park cars in mine. I use it more as a shop.

 

[Stuff]

Did you get this sorted out? Around here we have lots of 6'3" doors with 9" of headroom so I am not feeling your pain.

Unless there are other problems that you have not mentioned it sounds like a fairly easy install. You need to find a different installer.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Yup, was resolved earlier in this thread.

 

[frank001]

Except for all of the split ranches that get built around here with garages in the 1st floor. Moving up to an 8' door would cost tens of thousands, so none of them have any more than a 7' opening. For a garage to park a daily driver, 7' is more than enough in nearly every circumstance.

When I built my new 3 car garage I went with 10'x10' doors. My van needs a door at least 9'-3" high and even though the other cars don't need anywhere that much, I glad I didn't go lower.




http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284998&highlight=frank001

 

[kbs2244]

How long will you live there?
A non-standard door will definitely affect your resale value.