Roll-up door: insufficient headroom. Thoughts on cutting down vertical tracks?

[xmate]

I purchased a 7 foot tall garage roll-up garage door (Ideal Door 200M). I have found that I lack about 6 inches of headroom to install it.

Any experience cutting down the vertical tracks on a roll-up garage door? Would there be any issue opening, closing, latching the door with a few inches of door left on the roller?

I appreciate the input.

Steve

 

[manwithtools]

If you are talking headroom in terms of ceiling height, there are low headroom tracks available for that exact situation. Take a look here for a good explanation:

https://ddmgaragedoors.com/blog/2015/08/31/low-headroom-garage-doors-with-double-tracks/

Edit: Never mind, I thought this was for a conventional sectional rolling garage door. There should be no issue leaving part of that door on the roller shaft.

 

[TurnipTruck]

I suspect that if you cut that much off, your uppermost roller won’t reach and/or the door will hit the ceiling once opened. Low headroom tracks have a single vertical track but two horizontal tracks.

 

[PCustoms]

If you are talking headroom in terms of ceiling height, there are low headroom tracks available for that exact situation. Take a look here for a good explanation:

https://ddmgaragedoors.com/blog/2015/08/31/low-headroom-garage-doors-with-double-tracks/

I suspect that if you cut that much off, your uppermost roller won’t reach and/or the door will hit the ceiling once opened. Low headroom tracks have a single vertical track but two horizontal tracks.

Maybe I'm confused about what a roll up door is....

 

[kbuhagiar]

 

[PoorUB]

I installed one in my mom's garage many years ago, then a few years ripped it out and put in a "real" garage door. If the door gets daily use it will not last long.

As for trimming the lower end of the rails I don't see why it wouldn't work. You may have to re-engineer the locking mechanism. If you lower the door, you may end up with a gap at the top of the door opening. If the opening height is high enough you could "trim" the top of the opening down and equal amount of what you cut the rails.

 

[xmate]

kbuhagiar -- thank you for posting the video; that is indeed the kind of door I have.

PoorUB -- thanks for the advice. I will look into the locking mechanism. The door is for a shed that may get 2-3 openings a week and will hopefully last a few years.

If there are others with experience, I would be grateful to hear.

 

[gungatim]

I helped a buddy build a shed years ago and he had the exact problem, IIRC, about 12" too short. I framed it for site built swing doors but he found a deal on the roll up...

yes, we just left a little of door on the roll. I do recall we had an issue latching it shut but I don't remember what we did, seems like it closed but couldn't latch it and it would rise a little bit.

 

[Bad Habit]

Just installed a roll up door on my shop, little bit bigger and has an internal motor but the concept is the same. I don't see any issue with shortening the tracks, you just don't roll it down as far. Basically the door sits behind the opening. You may need to do something for the top of the opening if you want a draft barrier.

 

[xmate]

This is very helpful, I appreciate your inputs gungatim and Bad Habit. I'm reassured that the doll will work - with maybe slightly diminished functionality, with the cut tracks.

 

[Patos]

These roll up doors will last just as long as the panel style garage doors. I have some mini storage units that are 20 years old and still have the same doors. You may have to replace a spring every 6-10 years or retention the door but people abuse these things and they keep on ticking.

 

[adsinnott1]

You will actually have less of a gap at the top. The more rolled up on the drum the smaller gap you will have to fill. My janus roll up door came with a header seal. It was a big ugly gray rubber flap. I installed it under the PVC trim board so you only see about 2 inches of the rubber.

 

[Bad Habit]

Yeah, that header seal was the only thing I was less than impressed with on my Janus door. They gave me some tek-screws to attach it to the door itself. They promptly ripped out of the thin metal. Just gonna get some plugs to fill those holes, then get a some brush seal and attach it to the header itself. On my install, the gap ranges from about 1/2" at full open, to about 1-1/2" at full close (10' tall door).

 

[adsinnott1]

Here is how I ended up doing mine.

 

[MatBirch]

I just did exactly this. It was kind of a pain, but it came out great. I had to take the entire thing apart and trim the door down as well. The plan of just not lowering it as far didn't work. It didn't sit right at the top. I cut the door and reattached it, cut the sides and a new slot for the lock bar. Worst part was re-loading the spring. I was working alone, so rolling the entire door over the top didn't work. It would still unwind. I wound up removing the door again, and winding the bar, then reattaching the door.
All in all, it was a pain, but it was a free door!

 

[xmate]

I just did exactly this. It was kind of a pain, but it came out great. I had to take the entire thing apart and trim the door down as well. The plan of just not lowering it as far didn't work. It didn't sit right at the top. I cut the door and reattached it, cut the sides and a new slot for the lock bar. Worst part was re-loading the spring. I was working alone, so rolling the entire door over the top didn't work. It would still unwind. I wound up removing the door again, and winding the bar, then reattaching the door.
All in all, it was a pain, but it was a free door!

To be clear, you tried to trim the tracks without trimming the door roll itself and then had trouble with the roll "not sitting right"?

Can you clarify what you mean by it not sitting right?

 

[MatBirch]

To be clear, you tried to trim the tracks without trimming the door roll itself and then had trouble with the roll "not sitting right"?

Can you clarify what you mean by it not sitting right?

It didn’t sit close enough to the header at the top. It sloped back over the roll, rather than holing more vertical. It not only left a big gap across the top, it didn’t start rolling up correctly and would catch. The gap was far worse with extra door on the roll than without. The way I see it, when the door is fully extended, the top is kinda “pushed forward”. When it had the extra on the roll, it stayed taut, and pulled backwards over the roll. Hard to explain, I guess. It just wasn’t “right”. It still isn’t perfect, but it’s darn good. Sorry, I didn’t take more pics of the process, I kinda had my hands full.

 

[MatBirch]

Oh ya, I still added a rubber sweep made for a door bottom, to the header to seal a bit better

 

[xmate]

It didn’t sit close enough to the header at the top. It sloped back over the roll, rather than holing more vertical. It not only left a big gap across the top, it didn’t start rolling up correctly and would catch. The gap was far worse with extra door on the roll than without. The way I see it, when the door is fully extended, the top is kinda “pushed forward”. When it had the extra on the roll, it stayed taut, and pulled backwards over the roll. Hard to explain, I guess. It just wasn’t “right”. It still isn’t perfect, but it’s darn good. Sorry, I didn’t take more pics of the process, I kinda had my hands full.

Thank you. I put mine up today, having cut 6" off the 7' tracks. I see what you mean in terms of a gap at the top -- I think weather stripping will many it pretty enough, as others have mentioned. So far, no real issues with door operation.

 

[MatBirch]

Glad it worked out for you!

 

[jsay]

Thank you. I put mine up today, having cut 6" off the 7' tracks. I see what you mean in terms of a gap at the top -- I think weather stripping will many it pretty enough, as others have mentioned. So far, no real issues with door operation.

Hi there - I find myself in the exact same situation. I need to cut 5" off the 200m (menards) 8x7 roll up door....or dish out an extra 1K for a low clearance solution.

Couple questions:
How big was that gap at the top?
What weather stripping did you use?
Can the door still lock?

Pictures would be cool, thanks!