Someone please help me out here!!!!

[silverage]

I bought my home a year ago. The garage has a very large door, with no garage door opener. I want to put one in. The previous homeowner told me NOT to put one in because the ceiling is vaulted, the doors open upward towards a slant, and he said if I put in an automatic garage door opener, the door will fall off and crush my children.

I had an installer come in, and he told e it wouldn't be a problem, and that he can put a motor in next to the entrance way door. He said he would put in a Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft and the door would open and close fine.

I'm still nervous. I've attached a couple of pictures. Maybe you experts can help me out.

Is it safe to put in an automatic garage door opener??

 

[Richard Cranium]

yes, it is safe, They have different tracks now and can follow the ceiling.

 

[silverage]

How can I tell if the current tracks I have are safe? What kind of tracks should I get? Suggestions??

 

[ford33]

Looks like an easy installation. Liftmaster is a reputable company. Find a reputable installer to install the opener then go ahead and have it installed.

Sounds like the previous owner just didn't want to pay to install an opener and was giving you a nonsense reason for not having one.

 

[BillK]

How can I tell if the current tracks I have are safe? What kind of tracks should I get? Suggestions??

Why would they not be ?? How old is the house ? They have been operating that long just fine haven't they ? Why would you not trust the guy that came out to give you an estimate to install the opener ?

Previous owner did not have a clue.

 

[59 wagon man]

liftmaster 8500 i believe will work and it will be the BEST investment in your garage

 

[larry_g]

I doubt the opener will make the door more or less likely to leave the track and fall.

lg
no neat sigline

 

[rmasonjr]

liftmaster 8500 i believe will work and it will be the BEST investment in your garage

I just had one installed and it works great so far!

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[mizzoutrover]

I agree, the opener only does what you do when you lift the door .

My guess is the previous owner didn't think the opener would support the weight since the track was going down at an angle and believed the door would fly down the track.
The jacks shaft openers hold up 16' wide 10' tall doors in high ceiling commercial buildings in the same configuration as yours, I would not worry

 

[UpNorther]

Do you use the garage door already and its safe without an opener?
The door itself doesn't know if your opening it or a Liftmaster 8500 is..

 

[Power Sedan]

A friend of mine re-engineered and catheraled his ceiling simular to yours, except higher, and a greater pitch, to fit a four post lift inside. He utilized the the Liftmaster 8500 as well, never had any issues, going on three years now.

 

[sublimate]

The previous homeowner told me NOT to put one in because the ceiling is vaulted, the doors open upward towards a slant, and he said if I put in an automatic garage door opener, the door will fall off and crush my children.

That's totally false...



...but the radio waves from the remote will give everyone cancer.

 

[LB-1911]

I bought my home a year ago. The garage has a very large door, with no garage door opener. I want to put one in. The previous homeowner told me NOT to put one in because the ceiling is vaulted, the doors open upward towards a slant, and he said if I put in an automatic garage door opener, the door will fall off and crush my children.

I had an installer come in, and he told e it wouldn't be a problem, and that he can put a motor in next to the entrance way door. He said he would put in a Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft and the door would open and close fine.

I'm still nervous. I've attached a couple of pictures. Maybe you experts can help me out.

Is it safe to put in an automatic garage door opener??

How can I tell if the current tracks I have are safe? What kind of tracks should I get? Suggestions??

It can be done.

here is what i did with my door this past summer after i raised my ceiling-

I could have put a high lift kit and get a special track build to put it closer to the wall but really didnt need to so I just took my existing tracks and figured my angle and broke out the sawzall. Then redrilled the holes and bolted it all together. I then called a local garage door guy who calculated out what i needed for a spring and had a local supplier make me a spring. Spring cost $35 and I paid the door guy $30 to install it. Works great! I plan on installing a jacksahft 3800 opener on it as well.

 

[nadogail]

You will have the protection of the warranty and the liability insurance.

If you are worried about your children's safety, keep them away from the door until you develop confidence in it.

 

[matt_i]

The commercial doors in our plant roll on a track that's probably 5 degrees off the vertical. The takeup sheave for the steel cables is machined in a spiral of decreasing radius (think beehive profile with a spiral track running up it), so as the door raises and the coiled moment spring unwinds to lesser torque, the cable still has the same amount of pull.

I think that feature is important as a standard fixed radius sheave has less and less ability to hold the door up the more the moment spring is unwound. This is not normally a problem with a standard track that bends to full 90 degrees horizontally as there are fewer and fewer panels to lift vertically.

Not so with a nearly-vertical track as the entire weight has to be balanced throughout the travel.

This would make sense, you don't want the plastic worm gear to fail in the garage door opener and allow the door to plummet back to earth.

 

[HotrodHR]

I bought my home a year ago. The garage has a very large door, with no garage door opener. I want to put one in. The previous homeowner told me NOT to put one in because the ceiling is vaulted, the doors open upward towards a slant, and he said if I put in an automatic garage door opener, the door will fall off and crush my children.

I had an installer come in, and he told e it wouldn't be a problem, and that he can put a motor in next to the entrance way door. He said he would put in a Liftmaster 8500 jackshaft and the door would open and close fine.

I'm still nervous. I've attached a couple of pictures. Maybe you experts can help me out.

Is it safe to put in an automatic garage door opener??

The previous homeowner is nuts!

You already have your door set up like a highlift. I'm sure it's "balanced" and the springs are correct size because you're able to lift it manually.

Check out this website, you'll find articles and instructions on setting up a door like yours...

http://ddmgaragedoors.com/diy-instructions/garage-door-high-lift-conversion.php


BTW, I ordered my highlift parts from these folks for my door.

 

[upndown]

Been done many times! As long as the door is functioning properly, should be no problem. You can use either a drawbar or jack shaft opener. A drawbar will simply follow the same angle as the horizontal track.

 

[lonestarky]

Almost all industrial doors go straight up. Just remember, they have nothing keeping them from falling in the event of a spring failure. That's why there is usually a man door next to them to walk through. No problem, that is the only risk, and it is remote.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[scooz14]

the door already opens and closes right? the opener wont change anything besides manual labor on your end

 

[Big Daddy Chop Shop]

Perhaps the concern he had was this: with the style opener you are going to use, if a cable breaks, the thought may have been the door is free to drop. I suppose this would be a possibility, if both cables failed simultaneously, and to be honest, I am unsure what happens if one fails (door binds obviously) but I bet there are safeties to prevent complete door destruction.

I have not researched these a lot, but most commercial overhead doors use a similar set up, power or manual.

My next question is, why on earth would anyone allow their kids under the door while it is in motion?? it is perhaps the heaviest moving thing in your home.

 

[maxpower_hd]

The torsion spring is what is currently keeping the door from crashing down. Does the door crash down now? If not it is no more or less likely to crash down with an opener. If anything it may be less likely because you have the friction of the opener helping hold it in place. Generally the torsion spring should be adjusted so it is easy to open and close but will stay in whatever position you stop at.

Where you have to worry about child safety is if the opener does not stop closing while a child is under it. They typically have electric eyes that will make the door go up if you cross the plane of the door. There should also be a kick back in it in the event the eyes fail. Mine for example will go back up if you hit the bottom of it even with the eyes rendered inoperable.

 

[pmiranda]

I agree an opener would actually help safety since it might resist the door falling if a spring or cable broke. Still, with that style door I'd want to keep it closed whenever it doesn't have to be open. A normal door that's open won't do anything when the spring breaks. I know... I had a spring pop at our old house. Luckily there wasn't a person standing there tugging on the door to get hit by it (old style straight spring with no safety wire in the middle!)