Vertical rise garage doors

[383 240z]

I'm not talking about roll up doors here. My new shop will have 16' side walls with 8' doors. I would rather not have the traditional doors that go up and turn 90* and block out a bunch of my overhead lights. I'd like them to run fairly vertically and be operated by an electric opener.
Does anybody here have this style of door? Is it all I think it is? any issues with it?

My thoughts are that is a standard door with different tracks. The door spring will need to be stronger since the door will not be stored in a horizontal position. I would most likely use a mechanical locking device to keep the door from crashing down when I'm keeping the door open all day while working in the summer months.

If the door is substantially different, what are the differences? I'd call a local door shop, but I fear they would try to over sell me once they hear that I'm building a brand new dream shop.

 

[Coach Greg]

Why not use a roll-up? We use them in my shops and they sound like what you're looking for. Not as "aesthetically pleasing" but work great.
Disregard everything I said... You're not looking for Roll-ups. Reading comprehension not my strong suit!

 

[YukonXL04]

I'm not talking about roll up doors here. My new shop will have 16' side walls with 8' doors. I would rather not have the traditional doors that go up and turn 90* and block out a bunch of my overhead lights. I'd like them to run fairly vertically and be operated by an electric opener.
Does anybody here have this style of door? Is it all I think it is? any issues with it?

My thoughts are that is a standard door with different tracks. The door spring will need to be stronger since the door will not be stored in a horizontal position. I would most likely use a mechanical locking device to keep the door from crashing down when I'm keeping the door open all day while working in the summer months.

If the door is substantially different, what are the differences? I'd call a local door shop, but I fear they would try to over sell me once they hear that I'm building a brand new dream shop.

The doors are the same, but the tracks and springs are called hi lift. So when calling and asking make sure to mention that.

 

[383 240z]

The doors are the same, but the tracks and springs are called hi lift. So when calling and asking make sure to mention that.

When I look at the Hi lift doors, I'm seeing the ones that go horizontal, just about 12-18" higher than a traditional door, or am I searching for the wrong thing?

 

[383 240z]

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

Hmmm. this shows promise!

 

[firebirdparts]

Coincidentally, I was just looking at an old thread on another forum where a guy used a cable drum style door, and he hung a counterweight from a third cable drum. I thought that was pretty clever. It would only work right on a 16 foot wall with an 8 foot high door, and that's what he had. Tracks just went straight up.

From that link above, you can see how very large variation in drum diameter is required to deal with extra vertical movement of the door. that is how you can keep the cable tension constant as the spring unwinds. I've not seen an application where somebody did that for full 8 feet of vertical movement, and I don't really think anybody would be willing to makes drums for that. I could be wrong.

 

[Tim Kennedy]

Probably not applicable but -- how about aircraft hanger doors -- that fold?

 

[gnpenning]

What you are looking for is called a full vertical lift. With a electric opener there should be no need for a slide lock. This type of door is why jackshaft openers were invented.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Your concern for safety in the open position is valid. With new parts, failure is not likely. But whatever you do be certain it includes an interlock between the opener and whatever device you use to secure the doors in the open position. The shaft drive opener works by turning the shaft, so if the door travel is blocked, the shaft will continue turning, the cables will slip off the drums and it will be a mess to fix.

 

[n8n]

A previous comment gave me an idea... rather than have a spring hold the door open, why not just a pulley and counterweight on each side, like an old wooden sash window? Seems safer; you could even enclose the area where the weight rides up and down to keep it from smacking someone on the noggin when the door goes up. Maybe allow the door's top panel (only) to turn in at the top and use a very light spring to allow it to stay up but also close and stay down without being latched. Of course if you are using an opener, simply having it perfectly balanced will likely be sufficient.

 

[kbs2244]

do some research on "hanger doors"
the airplane guys have some intresting solutions to door problems

 

[JbTech]

I'm half way through a build with 10' x 8' doors.
12' side walls and ceilings.

Having hi lift track put in. I'll have to see how it turns out, but it should avoid dead space above the door.

 

[pmiranda]

I've seen it done but I don't know exactly how they did it.
Pulleys and counterweights seems brilliant, and that's exactly how elevators work, but you need the same safety device they have: a brake in the track that engages when there is no cable tension.

 

[gnpenning]

There's reasons the opener manufacturers don't put down locks on all there openers. If you feel the need to be sure to put a electric lock out on it.

I don't think you will find any functioning or cost advantages going with a weights and pulleys.

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Your pulley and weights can work but there is little financial advantage. Your door will require all the normal hardware as if you were using torsion springs, just delete the springs. Then you have to find a way to keep the weight fully engaged with the torsion tube. Another drum and a thicker cable or chain and sprockets. Also consider that your weight will have to be equal to the weight of the door and that can be hundreds of pounds. So how big is this weight box going to be? Over the course of my career I repaired older carriage house doors and some of the one piece doors had a similar weight box. In the early 1900’s, they would sell you the hardware kit and you build the door with local materials. One of the doors I remember had a box about 1’ x 2‘ wide by 2’ high full of concrete. A little TLC and that door is still working to this day.

 

[XS29L9B]

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

Hmmm. this shows promise!

THIS is EXACTLY what you need.

 

[Gotcha640]

What is the max angle for the standard lift master 8500 whatever? My friend has one at about 60 degrees from horizontal to match the slope of the ceiling, I always assumed you could go straight up.

Maybe have to select lighter material, not sure how wide your door is, but maybe over thinking it?

As far as trying to oversell you, I would assume you want the factory authorized, insured guys with warranty, rather than Chucks Overhead Doors and Meat Processing. It doesn't usually cost anything to get a quote, and they might have other ideas.

Not knowing you I might be wrong, but you probably don't have the fanciest house they've ever done. This friend has 7 garage doors, 2 more over outdoor kitchen, and 3 on the shop. Work gets quoted, parts get bought, install happens.

 

[aggie113]

I have an insulated door on a vertical track. The door opener is off to the side and was at the top of the door's travel. I was expecting the opener to be at the height of the door when closed, so the box my electrician put in required an extension cable for the opener.

 

[mitchellc]

This sounds like a vertical dock door at a warehouse. I’ve used some really fast doors... would be really cool to have one at home but I imagine they they’re speedy.

Example towards of the bottom of this page: https://www.andersenmaterialhandling.com/products/warehouse-equipment/dock-door/

 

[Crazyhorse]

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

Hmmm. this shows promise!

I worked with this company to retrofit the back door of my shop. They were super helpful, with good instructions and provided a turnkey package. Mine still turns and travels horizontal a little bit, My door is 7' tall, and it is on a 12' tall wall.

 

[383 240z]

I worked with this company to retrofit the back door of my shop. They were super helpful, with good instructions and provided a turnkey package. Mine still turns and travels horizontal a little bit, My door is 7' tall, and it is on a 12' tall wall.

Thank you for the feedback. I've decided to leave the standard doors on the shop for now and add the vertical lift parts after.

 

[Zmann]

I see true vertical doors in warehouses often
https://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/vertical-high-lift-garage-doors.php

 

[eastbaysubaru]

I see true vertical doors in warehouses often
https://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/vertical-high-lift-garage-doors.php

We just put a large sectional wood garage door in the same configuration in barn we recently completed. It looks exactly like that. FWIW, the rear doors are all roll up. They just don't look nice enough to face the street.

-Brian

 

[Zmann]

for that style I pictured you could go as fancy as your wallet can handle
or more with a credit card lol

The warehouse users like this style because they don't need special sprinkler attention (some places make you place a head underneath the door for coverage when it is open and horizontal .)
Forklifts can't smack it and it does not block lighting

 

[383 240z]

I see true vertical doors in warehouses often
https://ddmgaragedoors.com/springs/vertical-high-lift-garage-doors.php

This is exactly what I want!! I need to find time to get a quote to change my doors into this. My contractor says that Wayne Dalton doesn't supply them this way.

 

[Zmann]

clopay offers this system
https://www.clopaydoor.com/residential/buyingguide/garage-door-track-options

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Wayne Dalton makes them. Some installers shy away because of the working height of the spring assembly. You really need a man lift for those. Ladders don’t offer a stable platform and all those heavy parts have to get up there somehow.

 

[19Vert64]

One of my two doors is a full vertical lift, 0 issues and running a lift master 8500 with it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[loganb]

Find out who in your area sells and services the factory and warehouse doors and call them. As mentioned its a standard item for dock doors in factories but is more expensive and rarely used in residential so you will likely need a commercial door company

Sent from The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[aggie113]

Don't see why you think it'd need a commercial door setup. It's just a regular garage door without a curved track and the opener on the side.

 

[south_paw]

There is no reason why you can't do a vertical lift with lift master 8500. Heck you dont even need that. Set the torsion springs right and the door will lift and close as expected manually.

 

[loganb]

There is no reason why you can't do a vertical lift with lift master 8500. Heck you dont even need that. Set the torsion springs right and the door will lift and close as expected manually.

Except for the fact it isn't designed for it. Review their documentation, vertical lift garage doors have different forces on the opener than the standard residential application where the door goes horizontal reducing the load on the opener.

The 8900W is the lightest duty Liftmaster opener designed for vertical lift. The 8500 may work, but if it fails its an unsupported installation and there won't be warranty support

https://www.liftmaster.com/light-duty-commercial-dock-door-operator/p/DDO8900W

Sent from The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[930dreamer]

I want to replace these two 16'x16' sliding doors.