residential garage door delima

[motorbreath53]

I can't imagine that this hasn't been covered... but I can't find what i'm looking for after 30min of searching... so, sorry if i'm adding unnecessary threads...

I have a wood slab style garage door on my residential two car garage. The wife wants a roll up to add some curb apeal to the house.

I HATE the idea of giving up space when the door is up. The a roll up would block another row of my lights, and the tracks would be in the way of my cabinet plans.

Is there such thing as a "pretty" garage door that would not intrude on precious space inside my humble little shop?

Or, worst case, is it possible to run the tracks for the roll up tight to the celing? At least then I could run cabinets under the door withouth losing more than 10 inches or so...


old pic, and a lot has changed... but you get the idea of what i'm working with...

 

[58Yeoman]

Get a roll up door with windows, then mount your lights above where the windows are when the door is up. With the door open, the light should shine through the windows?

 

[pattenp]

Do a search for "highlift" or "high lift". You'll find a lot of threads.

 

[1991Syclone]

Could you do a roll up / self storage door? http://www.tracrite.com/

 

[BPJOOP93]

How tall is your ceiling? If its high enough you can high lift the door and run your lights under the door. Seen it done when i was installing doors. Call a door company for ideas.

 

[darkk]

Get a roll up door with windows, then mount your lights above where the windows are when the door is up. With the door open, the light should shine through the windows?

You do realize when the door rolls up, the windows are also rolled into the door and you can't see them...adding lights above that door will do nothing. You can get a multitude of regular garage doors that have great curb appeal. Check a few doors here on the forum.

 

[1320stang]

so darkk, in your world, if the windows are under the lights when the door is rolled up and the lights are on........

 

[Sureshot]

Can you get or make a bifold door like hangar's and large farm shops have.

http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28657

 

[Stuart in MN]

If the only concern is curb appeal, a one piece tip up door can be made attractive...

They're pretty uncommon in my part of the country because of snow on the ground, but from what I've seen one piece doors aren't unusual in California. Check with the local garage door companies and see what they have to offer.

 

[motorbreath53]

Funny... I had JUST finished reading about "bi-fold" doors before I checked back in here to find your suggestion Sureshot. Those overhead ones look AWESOME... but I don't know that they'd be my best choice. For the purpose of resale of the home, I don't want anything thats too different from the norm... and those are different to say the least. I can't imagine they'd be cheap either.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

The "hi-lift" option was exactly what I was looking for as my "option #2". (I knew I wasn't searching for the right key words)

I think the high-lift tracks could be an acceptable option if I built an "L" shaped bracket that placed some light fixtures under the door when its up. I think that might be my best compromise.

Thanks again guys. Anyone have a link to more pictures of high-lift mounted doors?

 

[motorbreath53]

Stuart in MN- the wife and I have discussed that as well. But I think a "hi-lift" mounted roll up would still give me some more usable space inside the garage. As it is now, I loose almost two feet of floor space due to the springs and linkage from the slab door.

i'm also curious as to which insulates better. (both weather/temp and more importantly SOUND) Wood slab or steel roll up (obviously, an INSULATED steel roll up for purpose of comparison)

 

[Sureshot]

You can always mount the lights on the side walls. Have seen that on taller shops.

 

[Rittles]

What about carriage doors? I've always like the looks of them but I don't know if they would work for a door that wide though...

 

[motorbreath53]

I'd rather use the space on the walls for cabinets. The more I have hanging, the less **** will be on the floor.

Carriage doors would be bitchin... but i'd need to see what the cost would be to make them auto-open.... (and not take up too much of the opening with the mechanism...

 

[kbs2244]

The bi-fold doors do not have the hinge line horizontal.
If you make it vertical (like some cloths closets) everything will be outside.
This will work in CA if there are no snow problems.

 

[synik]

high lift!

Check out google images of others high lift doors. Exactly what I am doing to my new home.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi