High Lift Garage Doors - 12 Ft. Ceilings

[CoolToolGuy]

I'm building a house, and it will have a 2 bay garage with 12 ft. ceilings. The community requires 2 doors. I want both to have high lift tracks, openers, springs, etc. so I can install a Backyard Buddy (or 2) without worrying about the door hitting the car on the lift.

I thought this might be an option from the door company (Overhead Door), but they have a lot more for folks with low ceilings than for me.

Has anyone been through this, or can you point me to someone who has? I have seen threads on garagejournal and DIYGarage Repair, but they mostly talk about conversions and what you have to replace. I'm hoping to have the builder order all the right stuff from the git-go and get it installed right the first time.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Have Fun,
Rick

[trentmw]

I got my garage doors from Cristar http://www.cristargaragedoor.com/ They had a 32" radius track that should put your door pretty high and still work with a 12' ceiling. My ceiling is 18' so I ended up going with a vertical track.

[CoolToolGuy]

The doors are 8 ft. I don't know who normally installs the doors for my builder - if his folks do it he may have to call in the pros for this one.

Have Fun,
Rick

[CoolToolGuy]

Great ideas.

I'm going for a look with arched doorways and coach house doors, and I usually don't have a lot on the roof, so the 8 ft. doors should be plenty.

The two-post lift is an interesting possibility - I've tended to do less of my own maintenance work, since the new cars (all you need a wrench for is to take off the cover to get to the computer ) take most of the fun out of it. However, whatever gets parked on the lift is likely to be more old school - plus it would make seasonal tire changes easier.

That said, it might be too late for changes - they started excavation on Saturday, and the first thing fully dug out was the garage slab. We'll see how it goes.

Have Fun,
Rick

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

I can't imagine owning a vehicle that can't get through an 8' door. The cost is awfully high for the benefit of not having to take bicycles off of a roof rack (which is literally the only issue I could see having, given that I can pull the race car on a trailer through an 8' door.

I mean, hell, I could lift my truck over a foot and a half and still fit under an 8' door.

[mcoupemindy]

I can't imagine owning a vehicle that can't get through an 8' door. The cost is awfully high for the benefit of not having to take bicycles off of a roof rack (which is literally the only issue I could see having, given that I can pull the race car on a trailer through an 8' door.

I mean, hell, I could lift my truck over a foot and a half and still fit under an 8' door.

He wants to install a lift and doesn't want interference with the low tracks of the garage door ...

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

He wants to install a lift and doesn't want interference with the low tracks of the garage door ...

And that has what relevance to the size of the door, exactly?

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Great ideas.

I'm going for a look with arched doorways and coach house doors, and I usually don't have a lot on the roof, so the 8 ft. doors should be plenty.

The two-post lift is an interesting possibility - I've tended to do less of my own maintenance work, since the new cars (all you need a wrench for is to take off the cover to get to the computer ) take most of the fun out of it. However, whatever gets parked on the lift is likely to be more old school - plus it would make seasonal tire changes easier.

That said, it might be too late for changes - they started excavation on Saturday, and the first thing fully dug out was the garage slab. We'll see how it goes.

Have Fun,
Rick

It's never too late. Most lift installs end up jackhammering out a section of the garage slab to put footers in. If they haven't even poured a new one, you can get them to take care of it now.

[mcoupemindy]

And that has what relevance to the size of the door, exactly?

I assume he needs the door rails to run ABOVE the lift posts and most doors don't do a vertical lift above the top section.

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

I assume he needs the door rails to run ABOVE the lift posts and most doors don't do a vertical lift above the top section.

That still has absolutely nothing to do with the size of the door.

[trentmw]

The doors are 8 ft. I don't know who normally installs the doors for my builder - if his folks do it he may have to call in the pros for this one.

Have Fun,
Rick

Ask your builder if he can install 32" radius tracks and it will put your 8' door at just under 11'. You could also use a jack shaft opener on the wall to give you some extra space. Check out the specs on 2 post lifts to see how high they lift off the floor, then add the height of your car/truck from the jack point and see if the door will clear with the car on the lift.

Also Check with your county on the footers for your lift. Fairfax wanted me to run a 2'x2' footer across the entire width of my garage, as was said earlier better to do it now than having to jackhammer and dig one later.

[CoolToolGuy]

I'm good with the 8 ft. doors. No need to go higher. The only reason I can see would be to be able to load/unload the minivan (with the roof rack) in the garage for vacation (if it's raining) - and I might still be able to do it with the 8 ft. doors.

As mentioned, I want the doors to not interfere with whatever is on whichever type of lift I get - so they should go up more than the normal installation, which normally goes horizontal just above the height of the doors, and then go horizontal. That will also give them a shorter run over the ceiling given the 2-3 feet extra vertical travel. It looks like the Liftmaster 3800 is a jack shaft operator designed for home use, so unless there is a newer one on the market that works better, I'll recommend that.

The last thing I want to be is a meddling homeowner changing plans in the middle of the process - that is an invitation to screwing up a lot of things - perhaps beyond the garage. I'm still thinking of the 4-post lift (the Backyard Buddy has a provision to lift the chassis/wheels off of the lift.) If I find myself compelled to get a 2-post that requires more concrete I'll bite the bullet then.

In the meantime I'm like a kid watching a new house go up - except its mine, and I can't hang around the site all day watching it grow out of the ground. Morning stops with coffee and donuts once or twice a week might encourage them to make this one of their best jobs. . .

Have Fun,
Rick