Overhead Garage Door - extend vertical rails

Hi all,

I'm installing a lift in my garage and need the overhead door to open as close as possible to the ceiling. The ceiling is 10.5' high and the door is a standard 7' tall door. Looks to me like I'd simply need to extend the vertical tracks another 30-32" and move the horzontal rails up. Sounds simple enough on paper, but my first problem is finding anyone that sells just the rails, or rails in an increment other than for the standard 7' door. But in theory this is all I have to do, correct?

I know I'll have to switch to a torsion bar rather than the overhead springs, which is no problem. My question there is about the work the springs are doing. In the 'normal' arrangement the springs have less and less work to do as the door goes up into the horizontal part of the track (that is, they have less weight to lift as the door goes up). In the new arrangement, there would be 30-32" less door on the horizontal portion of the rails and more needing suspended by the springs. I guess this is handled by tighting up the torsion bar spring? I plan to put an opener on it anyway but I'm wondering how to balance the opened load with the tenion needed to lift the door (i.e., I don't want the door to fly open by itself but I also want it to stay up once opened).

TIA,
Jim

 

You would have a difficult time lifting the door the extra 3 feet just to get it horizontal. The torsion springs may help a little, but they can only be tightened so much. You may have to replace it with a spring set up for a higher door. Is your door fiberglas, wood or insulated vinyl?

 

It's actually a thin steel door (it might be aluminum) door filled with styrofoam panels. It's very light. I'm thinking I don't need to get it horizontal (nor do I want it horizontal because it would hit the car on the lift eventually).

Thanks,
Jim

 

Changing to a roll up style door might address all your concerns.

 

Well....I appreciate the advice but I've decided to let a professional handle it. With a quote of $350 w/ the new rails and torsion bar installed it's hardly worth messing with myself. It gets tricky when you have to balance the portion of the door that will be taken up with the horizontal track and the portion that needs to be suspended by the springs.

I'll be installing a Liftmaster 3800 opener on the torsion bar myself per the garage-door-guy's recommendation. He says it's easy....

Jim

 

I thought I'd follow-up with the results of my project.

I did have a local guy move the rails for the door. I'm glad I did because it did seem pretty complicated. I installed the Liftmaster 3800 opener myself. It's a great arrangement - the opener is very quiet, smooth and opens fast. Virtually no noise is transmitted to the bedroom above.

The door opens very close to the ceiling and does exactly what I needed it to do:



I installed the lift myself. It's pretty straightforward but the pieces are HEAVY making it a physically exhausting effort.




Thanks for all the advice!

Jim

 

Jim: very good job. Sometimes DIY has to be shared with the pros, and it turned out to be a good choice. Congratulations.

 

Thanks. I neglected to mention that the garage door guy installed tapered drums on the torsion bar to change the tension on the cables as the door goes up. This is another thing I'd never have figured out for myself. So yes, some jobs need shared with the pros. The time, effort and risk of bodily injury associated with that torsion bar job made it worth it to outsource it.

Jim