Garage door opener, no clearance

[gwayms]

Here are a few pics. I bought a chamberlin chain drive to install on our new house. And of course I dont have enough clearance to install. Does anyone have any solutions? If you look in the pic with the trusses, you can see they only clear the door tracks by and inch or two. I am about to take it back to home depot but wanted to check and see if anyone had any ideas to make it work or what I could do.

Thanks

 

[Rewind97]

Do you have a garage door shop in your area? They specialize in installing openers and may be able to help you out.

Sent from My padded cell using tapatalk 2

 

[rasit]

Do a search on "jackshaft openers". They mount on the side of the track and drive the cable pulley.

 

[darkk]

Try an LM3800 jack shaft opener...

 

[wedge40]

Jackshaft door opener wont work until they modify the door. They require a torsion spring.
I agree call an installer. Little more expensive, but your time is worth something too.

Wedge

 

[upndown]

Well you win the prize, In all my years I have never seen top fixtures like that. It appears to be a fiberglass door.. Even if you could squeeze an operator in there, with the extension springs and all the flex in those aluminum channels, it would probably be tough to get it to work properly anyway!

Now might be a good time for an upgrade. Get some prices and see if anything fits your budget. IMHO I wouldn't spend A lot of money on your existing setup!!

 

[imnutz]

Reinforce the top section with a strut or angle across the top and notch the rafter - I doubt a small notch will hurt anything unless there is an awful lot of weight above - there is no way a 3800 will work

 

[AndyL]

Upndown - really? We see those all the time around here... The old farts around here call them sleds - believe they were an old Stanley product

gwayms - like upndown said - probably better to knock those out and replace. That door doesn't look particularly well kept to begin with, adding power - your likely to rip that thing apart... We call those banana doors, you can strut the heck out of it, but you'll never get enough strength in the top section, 90% of the time, the top section folds in half if it catches something on the way down (opener will only sense the load once the whole door piles up bent into a pretzel)

 

[Big-Foot]

I don't see anything wrong with his door. Looks like an aluminum reinforced fiberglass door. They are very lightweight and literally nothing for a door opener to move.

I also think that you could maybe fish-plate a reinforcement in those joists / rafters above and notch them just enough to get the track up above the door.

If nothing else, call some overhead door servicing companies and have them come out and look and bid the job. They will tell you what they would need to do in order to be compliant with code etc. if you feel comfortable in doing the work yourself, then have at it. If not, at least you now what it would cost.
You may want to tell them ahead of time that you already bought the opener but may be in a little over your head..

 

[upndown]

Judging by the size of those beams, I'd say there's a house sitting on them! I would never notch structural beams for an opener!! There are different options.

 

[Kevin54]

Get a low headroom clearance kit. What it is....it's a new set of rails. You will have one rail under your other rail. This lets the door top panel drop down for clearance. Then you need to get an extension bar for the garage door opener. My very first garage I built I had to put in a low head clearance system. I them put a garage door opener in and didn't have any problem. I think the only thing I had to do was drop down the door reinforcement bar that ran from one side of the door to the other that keeps the door from sagging.

 

[Kevin54]

Take a look at this and they show a garage door opener mounted to it.

http://www.diygaragerepair.com/Low-Headroom-Garage-Door-Parts-s/116.htm

http://www.menards.com/main/doors-w...m-kit-for-overhead-garage-doors/p-1312983.htm

Check this one out http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/low-headroom-modification-for-steel-garage-doors.php

 

[Steevo]

It isn't as dire or difficult as some of these posts make it sound.
No, a jackshaft opener won't work on a door with no jackshaft.

However, you can mount a standard GDO to the bottom of the floor joists, just not right above the door.
Open the door all the way, and mark where the top/back of the door ends up on the ceiling (at or between which joists).
Then mount your GDO to the bottom of the joists (as tight up against them as it can go), with the door end of the track just behind where the door comes to.
Mount the bracket to the top of the door as usual.
With the door in the down position, measure the distance between the bracket on the door, and a point about 6" back from the front (door) end of the GDO track.
Take a length of 3/4" EMT conduit, and cut it to that length.
Drill a 1/4" hole through both sides of the EMT about 1/2" from each end.
Cut a slot down the center of each end of the EMT, that extends about 1-1/2" in from the ends.
Use a 1/4" hitch pin or bolt with nyloc nut to attach one end of the EMT to the door GDO bracket and one end to the GDO traveling mount.
The GDO will pull/push the EMT, which will pull/push the door.

 

[Sureshot]

It isn't as dire or difficult as some of these posts make it sound.
No, a jackshaft opener won't work on a door with no jackshaft.

However, you can mount a standard GDO to the bottom of the floor joists, just not right above the door.
Open the door all the way, and mark where the top/back of the door ends up on the ceiling (at or between which joists).
Then mount your GDO to the bottom of the joists (as tight up against them as it can go), with the door end of the track just behind where the door comes to.
Mount the bracket to the top of the door as usual.
With the door in the down position, measure the distance between the bracket on the door, and a point about 6" back from the front (door) end of the GDO track.
Take a length of 3/4" EMT conduit, and cut it to that length.
Drill a 1/4" hole through both sides of the EMT about 1/2" from each end.
Cut a slot down the center of each end of the EMT, that extends about 1-1/2" in from the ends.
Use a 1/4" hitch pin or bolt with nyloc nut to attach one end of the EMT to the door GDO bracket and one end to the GDO traveling mount.
The GDO will pull/push the EMT, which will pull/push the door.

This exactly. I used a regular opener on 10' doors once. Rarely needed the 10' so when I did I would have to drop the "link" bar but I had room to the opener to go the full 10'.

 

[AndyL]

Kevin54 - he has a more vintage version of that already, those old ones work a bit better than the super sneakies like you have, as they're not reliant on the opener to flip the top section forward.

The issue with adding an opener to it now - is getting the proper operator bracket - They're no longer available. So you're stuck adapting something - and unless it's done right, that top sections going to fold if the door ever binds up or is obstructed (the load sensing reversing isn't going to save you) . Attaching to that center strapping is definitely not adequate; and usually why I end up in there replacing these doors...

That said... This might be one of the few times I'll say this - a dealer supplied genie 1200 (not a retail pack - there's a difference in the rails) has a rail that I know can be squeezed in ~7/8" clearance

 

[kbs2244]

If you do it the steevo way you can use two pieces as the push/pull rods.
Make a “V” from them.
That will let you spread out the force on the door frame to avoid any bending.

 

[gwayms]

Wow guys, thanks for all the input. Now I just need to see what will work best. The house is a rental, so dont want to spend alot of money. If I was buying I would replace that door first thing.

 

[wedge40]

Wow guys, thanks for all the input. Now I just need to see what will work best. The house is a rental, so dont want to spend alot of money. If I was buying I would replace that door first thing.

If your car were to accidentally slip into reverse with the door close.

Just kidding.

 

[93GT]

My neighbor has 2 garage door openers mounted like Steevo and they work great.

 

[upndown]

Good luck with that on a fiberglass door with extension springs..