paredown
Well-known member
Sometimes it is the seemingly trivial projects that stump you--and then when you finally have the 'ah-hah' moment, you beat yourself up for not getting there sooner...
A few years ago, I bought a set of three garage doors (with hardware) from a guy who decided not to build his dream house. My plan was to use two on my double ended garage short term, and then build a three car garage later (and use all three doors, turning the double ended garage back into a carport/porte cochere).
They were nominally the correct size (or rather I redid the framing on both ends of the existing garage to match 8'h x 10'w doors that I purchased).
Then the head-scratching started. Turns out I had a "low headroom" situation, and that is problematic for an overheard door, and especially problematic for the torsion spring hardware I got with my bargain doors. Tried to get estimates--not much joy, and where we ended up was either manual doors without openers, or the "double track" solution which would not have cleared my recently installed cabinets. Things sat while I tried to figure out how to solve my problem. I chatted to a couple of guys on this forum, but I didn't know enough to translate what they were telling me into a plan of attack.
First breakthrough was this Spring--I decided I did not need a big door on each end, so I reframed the back opening and put in a bargain/salvage Andersen double french door. This gives access to the back yard, and is wide enough to get stuff in and out.
Then I sold some woodworking tools that required taking down each (HEAVY) tacked in place door panel, so I could schlep the tools out the front door. Vowing that this was the LAST time I would do this, I went back to my notes and conversations with people who knew stuff, and decided to use Super Sneaky quick turn brackets. These let the door drop back before it starts on its upward path, and the second part of their system lets you put the mount for the opener lower down on the wall.
There was still some more head scratching though--and an extra piece of the puzzle was finding end bearing brackets that let me drop the torsion spring much lower than I could with the hardware I had. I then had to do some very rough walk throughs to see how the panels would turn in space and only cut enough off the vertical track so I could squeeze in the opener, and not so much that the door would hit the edge of the cabinets. I also trimmed the top of the door so I could get the Sneakys lower on the door (and reduce the door to a true 8'--it was made oversize)--which is why you can see a raw edge in the picture.
Believe me when I tell you that you will not find exact information about this install anywhere on the web--it was seat of the pants...
Here it is--an operational garage door with an electric opener that fits (barely) and works more or less how God (and the designers) intended...
A few years ago, I bought a set of three garage doors (with hardware) from a guy who decided not to build his dream house. My plan was to use two on my double ended garage short term, and then build a three car garage later (and use all three doors, turning the double ended garage back into a carport/porte cochere).
They were nominally the correct size (or rather I redid the framing on both ends of the existing garage to match 8'h x 10'w doors that I purchased).
Then the head-scratching started. Turns out I had a "low headroom" situation, and that is problematic for an overheard door, and especially problematic for the torsion spring hardware I got with my bargain doors. Tried to get estimates--not much joy, and where we ended up was either manual doors without openers, or the "double track" solution which would not have cleared my recently installed cabinets. Things sat while I tried to figure out how to solve my problem. I chatted to a couple of guys on this forum, but I didn't know enough to translate what they were telling me into a plan of attack.
First breakthrough was this Spring--I decided I did not need a big door on each end, so I reframed the back opening and put in a bargain/salvage Andersen double french door. This gives access to the back yard, and is wide enough to get stuff in and out.
Then I sold some woodworking tools that required taking down each (HEAVY) tacked in place door panel, so I could schlep the tools out the front door. Vowing that this was the LAST time I would do this, I went back to my notes and conversations with people who knew stuff, and decided to use Super Sneaky quick turn brackets. These let the door drop back before it starts on its upward path, and the second part of their system lets you put the mount for the opener lower down on the wall.
There was still some more head scratching though--and an extra piece of the puzzle was finding end bearing brackets that let me drop the torsion spring much lower than I could with the hardware I had. I then had to do some very rough walk throughs to see how the panels would turn in space and only cut enough off the vertical track so I could squeeze in the opener, and not so much that the door would hit the edge of the cabinets. I also trimmed the top of the door so I could get the Sneakys lower on the door (and reduce the door to a true 8'--it was made oversize)--which is why you can see a raw edge in the picture.
Believe me when I tell you that you will not find exact information about this install anywhere on the web--it was seat of the pants...
Here it is--an operational garage door with an electric opener that fits (barely) and works more or less how God (and the designers) intended...