Garage Door openers

jhorst · Jan 11, 2015

So I put some high doors and a high ceiling in my garage/shop that I just built. 9' doors and a 14' ceiling. When they put the the doors in, they made it so that they opened and were as close to the ceiling as possible (~ 13'), instead of opening just above the top of the door (at about 9'). I bought the conventional garage door openers, that have the track and pull the door open/closed with a chain or belt. I just realized these wouldn't work since they pull back and my door needs to be pulled vertically for ~ 3' before it reaches the bend in the track and then slides horizontally. Upon some quick research, I only see a few of the "jackshaft openers" available most notably the Liftmaster units, but they are really expensive compared to the others. Just wondering if anyone has this type of opener or any other suggestions...just wanted to see what others have done before I pull the trigger on some $600 openers ($300 a piece).

averageguy · Jan 11, 2015

I have 11ft doors and a 12ft ceiling so I have the same problem. I'm curious why they installed your 9ft door this way with a 14ft ceiling? The research I've done found the same results, Liftmaster openers for about 300-500 bucks. Unfortunately, I helped demo a Chevy dealer and brought home the over head style opener to use not knowing my situation. I could have got the industrial jackshaft type like new just as easy for free. Just my luck.

dodgetruck2 · Jan 11, 2015

Im sure the idea is to maximize your interior space and use your 14ft ceiling to its full advantage, personally building a 14ft ceiling with 9ft door openings is major waste of money not only for building but for heating/cooling too unless there was some reason for the high ceiling. I mean imagine a 14ft ceiling with 5ft of upward wasted space since you hit the door tracks.

When building a shed I feel you need at least one door that is as tall as it can be due to the fact you otherwise limit yourself for what you can bring inside. I grew up on a farm though and we are forever limited due to not having doors tall enough to fit equipment inside, course when these sheds were built our tallest implement was maybe 10ft (12ft door opening) but now even a 14ft door is a close fit.

As for the lift master we have that brand on both our shop doors (12ft x 18ft) however they are the conventional chain/track style since the building is 13ft to the bottom of the rafters. Been pretty happy with them, make sure your door springs are adjusted properly

atticusfaul · Jan 11, 2015

I have one of the lift masters you are referring to and it is AMAZING. I'm going to eventually get one for my other door. First of all they don't take up any space. As they just connect to the end of the rods. Secondly they just look clean! The light has sensors on it so when you walk by the opener it turns in automatically which is awesome for grabbing a beer from the garage fridge. The part that really blows my mind is how quiet they are...really really quiet. Finally, super easy to install. I have no negatives on it. Cheers!

Garage Door openers

jhorst

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averageguy

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dodgetruck2

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atticusfaul

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