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Old 10-26-2013, 01:51 PM   #1
mrtexas
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Default high lift garage door kit

When I built the new house this year I specified an 8 foot garage door with 12 foot ceilings for the garage in anticipation of buying a 4 post storage lift. I also made the garage 27 feet wide for a 2 car, about 7 feet wider than usual, paying $50/ft2 for the extra width. The garage door sub wanted $600 parts/labor and several weeks delay to install the door as a "high lift." I couldn't understand what would be so expensive. So I did it myself. Door is now less than a foot from the ceiling leaving me 11 feet for storage. I cut 40inches off the horizontal track and added it to the vertical track. I bought the kit for $195 including shipping which included two new springs, new cable drums, new cables and a couple brackets. Here is the result after about a day of labor:



Here is the new drum on the top. The screw part is for lifting the door straight up:


I still don't think it would have been any more labor to install the door high lift vs not.

My door is 8 feet high with a 12 foot ceiling. I'm not using a garage door opener as I park the everyday cars in a portico in front of the garage and single doors are very easy to open by hand. One brand of side mount opener is LiftMaster. I have one at my old house, cost only $300 on ebay. I installed a high mounted electric plug to add a LiftMaster in case I change my mind. 11 feet of clearance in a 12 foot ceiling is about as much as you can get. My lift drum is only 2 inches from the ceiling.
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Old 10-26-2013, 02:18 PM   #2
Ross6860
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

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Originally Posted by mrtexas View Post
When I built the new house this year I specified an 8 foot garage door with 12 foot ceilings for the garage in anticipation of buying a 4 post storage lift. I also made the garage 27 feet wide for a 2 car, about 7 feet wider than usual, paying $50/ft2 for the extra width. The garage door sub wanted $600 parts/labor and several weeks delay to install the door as a "high lift." I couldn't understand what would be so expensive. So I did it myself. Door is now less than a foot from the ceiling leaving me 11 feet for storage. I cut 40inches off the horizontal track and added it to the vertical track. I bought the kit for $195 including shipping which included two new springs, new cable drums, new cables and a couple brackets. Here is the result after about a day of labor:



Here is the new drum on the top. The screw part is for lifting the door straight up:


I still don't think it would have been any more labor to install the door high lift vs not.

My door is 8 feet high with a 12 foot ceiling. I'm not using a garage door opener as I park the everyday cars in a portico in front of the garage and single doors are very easy to open by hand. One brand of side mount opener is LiftMaster. I have one at my old house, cost only $300 on ebay. I installed a high mounted electric plug to add a LiftMaster in case I change my mind. 11 feet of clearance in a 12 foot ceiling is about as much as you can get. My lift drum is only 2 inches from the ceiling.
Anything out of the ordinary throws everyone for a loop.

We were designing a house and I wanted a breaker box on the second floor, and a breaker box in the garage. You would have thought I was asking for a space ship...
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Old 10-26-2013, 02:20 PM   #3
PeteVS
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

Got pictures?
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Old 10-27-2013, 08:00 AM   #4
31chevy
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

Something that you may already know is that a door opener does not need to be in the center of door. It can be mountedoff to one side or the other. I needed to do this in my garage & it works very well.
Gary.
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Old 10-27-2013, 05:14 PM   #5
Cool Hand Lurker
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

I am installing three new doors on my shop. Instead of having the opener mounted overhead on the ceiling and taking up room I could otherwise use for clearance, I have thought of hooking up one of the used openers that I have directly to the torsion spring shaft with a chain and sprockets so it opens the door by turning the shaft. The sprocket on the shaft would have to be about the diameter of the cable drum. That way the opener would lift the door from the bottom with the cables instead of dragging it inward from the top.
Anybody see a problem with this setup?
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Old 10-27-2013, 06:23 PM   #6
mrtexas
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

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Originally Posted by Cool Hand Lurker View Post
I am installing three new doors on my shop. Instead of having the opener mounted overhead on the ceiling and taking up room I could otherwise use for clearance, I have thought of hooking up one of the used openers that I have directly to the torsion spring shaft with a chain and sprockets so it opens the door by turning the shaft. The sprocket on the shaft would have to be about the diameter of the cable drum. That way the opener would lift the door from the bottom with the cables instead of dragging it inward from the top.
Anybody see a problem with this setup?
Get a LiftMaster door opener. It mounts to the shaft on the end.
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Old 10-27-2013, 06:39 PM   #7
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Default Re: high lift garage door kit

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Get a LiftMaster door opener. It mounts to the shaft on the end.
You mean buy it N-n-n-new? Man, I don't know if I can do that. I mean, I have two old ones. If I buy new, my wife won't even know who I am!
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