Question:
I have a tall garage yet the rails are that standard height, a few
inches above doors which are around 7 feet or so. I have probably a
good 4 feet of space above the rails to the ceiling. My question is,
can the rails and motor be raised to close ceiling height? or is this
some requirement that rails be a couple inches above the door?
The rails that the garage door's wheels ride on can go higher, but I
suspect that the reason they are in the position they are in is due to
the home type electric garage door opener's door connector having to be
close to the opener's chain/screw actuater rail. I don't install garage
doors, so I don't know if there are other door openers that can be
mounted further up on the wall. Perhaps a commercial unit?
Answer:
High Lift doors are available. They will probably be considered
Commercial when purchasing and will likely cost more. I can't remember
if there was a price difference or not, but nowadays I'd expect one.
The door is essentially the same, however the tracks will go higher
before truning back. A lot of commercial doors go virtually straight
up and do not turn back at all. definitely can be done though.
In order to change to a taller track, you'll find that other things
will need to be changed also, such as the torsion springs, and if I
remember correctly, the rollers are different too.
You would have to extend your vertical track, replace your drums with
high-lift drums, change your springs and replace your cables. These items
would be reconfigured depending upon the amount of extra lift you are going
to have. If your door is currently motor operated, you will have to get rid
of your existing "draw bar" operator and replace it with a "jackshaft"
operator. The rest of your hardware will not be changed.
I could tell you the length of the cable and drums you will need and your
springs new specs. Email me the specs of your existing springs, the weight
of your door and the amount of high lift you are going to add.
