Garage door/opener and car lift questions

So I'm about to go get a used 4 post lift this Sunday. My garage is a 3 car garage with 3 single doors. Lift is going into my center bay where I have 13.5' floor to ceiling height.

The lift will go up to a maximum of 75". I need to change over my garage door opener to a wall mounted one, then have the door open higher.

My dilemma is that the tallest I can get the door to go is 11.5' unless I switch over to an 8' door, then it can go up 12.5'. However the cost involved in gaining that extra foot of clearance is quite a bit.

Question is, is it worth it? Both my cars will fit on the lift at maximum height with my current 7' door. My wife's SUV won't fit on the lift at maximum height even with the 8' door.

What does everyone think?

I wouldn't spend the money until it was determined that I NEEDED to spend the money. If you find yourself using the lift and constantly complaining that you get get it high enough, then it's time to upgrade the door.

Doesn't sound like much bang for the buck since 2/3 of your cars will go full height either way, and 1/3 of them won't go full height either way.
The obvious answer, the one that I can't believe you didn't figure out and accomplish? Sell the SUV and replace it with a miata.

I'll have to measure my doors, but I have a similar problem...

The first real problem- if you are going to use the lift as a tool, the first question is- do you need to have the door open when you work on it? My answer- I concluded that I did not have to have the door open- as it will not open all the way when I have the car up most of the way. It can be partially up....

Second problem- if you use the lift as a storage device, can you open the door enuogh that when the upper car is in place, will the door open enough that you can move a car into the lower spot? For my cars- the hoods are low enough that I can get enough height the the door can open enough and I can move a car underneath. My situation is different than yours- I have a double door so not only does it need to open enough to move in a car, it has to open enough to be useful. With a single door, the garage door just has to open enough to move a car in.

On a side note- I have to park my upper car backwards for good storage.

The final question that is more specific to you- do you have enough space between the door rails that the hoist is useful. I'm pretty sure that it's a yes for that.

I really love having a lift- and since I was paying off site rent for storage, the lift has paid for it self a few times even though I have still not used it as a tool. Once I sell my GTV race car, I will use it as a tool.

alfadriver, Those are good points.

No, I don't need to have the door open to work on the cars, although when the weather is nice, I'll want to. They let in a lot of light.

Yes, I can get the door open all the way even with a car on it for storage.

Yes, plenty of space between the door rails that I can use the hoist properly.

I've posted this question on garage journal as well. I'm still a little unclear as to why my current door can only be raised 4.5' if I use a wall mounted opener. You'd think you can add as much vertical tracking as you have space for at that point.

If you make the choice to keep the door, make sure to add stops to limit the lift height.

It would be easy to try to raise the car a bit and forget it's Mama's SUV.

One of these?:

I have 10.5 foot ceilings. Last year, I added a high lift conversion, wall mounted opener and a MaxJax.

I love the raised door and I think that it was well worth it. One measurement that you need to consider is the height to the top of an opened hood, which is generally higher than your car's roof. I usually lift my cars with the hood open. And remember that there is often a second position for the hood prop rod that lifts the hood nearly vertical to allow for engine removal.

docwyte wrote: I'm still a little unclear as to why my current door can only be raised 4.5' if I use a wall mounted opener. You'd think you can add as much vertical tracking as you have space for at that point.

It's probably the size of the cable reel, or something.

Find a more creative installer.

There is always another solution.

It's also worth noting that as you move the opened door closer to the ceiling, it no longer tracks as far back into your garage bay. It's not a huge difference, but if you're working hood-in, it may give you a little extra room.

My roll-up garage door gives infinite space for my lift.

docwyte wrote: alfadriver, Those are good points. No, I don't need to have the door open to work on the cars, although when the weather is nice, I'll want to. They let in a lot of light. Yes, I can get the door open all the way even with a car on it for storage. Yes, plenty of space between the door rails that I can use the hoist properly. I've posted this question on garage journal as well. I'm still a little unclear as to why my current door can only be raised 4.5' if I use a wall mounted opener. You'd think you can add as much vertical tracking as you have space for at that point.

So the answer is pretty obvious- get the lift- it will be worth it.

Just see if you can find better answers to other questions. If I were starting fresh on my garage, I'd get a mechanism that hugged the roof surface quite closely.

Having one rocks, and I stil haven't really used it.

I'm definitely getting the lift, picking it up tomorrow.

I'm not worried about hood clearance, with the car on the lift nose in, the open hood won't be anywhere near the garage door.

I called another garage door opener company, they're coming out on Monday to look at my garage and give me a quote.

I only have 8.5' ceilings, or something like that. With the 944 on the lift (or any other car, don't know about a station wagon) the garage door will open with no problem. When I positioned my lift, I made sure that the hood, when open, will pop up between rafters. I also moved one light fixture.
Adding a lift was a HUGE deal to me. The only tool in my garage that is more valuable to me is the compressor. I don't want to do anything more intense than changing a wiper blade without at least one of those tools. I mean, even for under-hood work its nice to be able to get the car 10' off the ground quick and easy.

What about a pair of hinged doors that open out???

SVreX wrote:

docwyte wrote: I'm still a little unclear as to why my current door can only be raised 4.5' if I use a wall mounted opener. You'd think you can add as much vertical tracking as you have space for at that point.

It's probably the size of the cable reel, or something. Find a more creative installer. There is always another solution.

That's how I built my garage and doors. I bought the regular tracks, cut and welded, and added "full vertical lift" cable hardware. If you do fab your own tracks, avoid my mistake and leave a bit of a curve in the track to pull the door away from the wall immediately, or the paint on the outside of the door will scuff on the weatherstrip.

You might be able to cut and weld using the track you have, and just wind in a bit more spring tension to hold the door all the way up.

Got the lift in yesterday. Unfortunately had a hydraulic hose fitting break, so I can't run it up and down and see if my current house electrics can handle the load.

I'll get the hose fixed today and I'm having another garage door company come out to give me a quote on a high lift door today.

Nice garage!

High lift door tracks, not a big deal.

Looks like the same lift I got! You can see it with the high lift tracks and wall mounted opener in this picture.

docwyte wrote: Got the lift in yesterday. Unfortunately had a hydraulic hose fitting break, so I can't run it up and down and see if my current house electrics can handle the load. I'll get the hose fixed today and I'm having another garage door company come out to give me a quote on a high lift door today.

In this picture it looks like there's enough wall height above the door to do a simple vertical lift if you use one of the drivers that mount on the end of the cable shaft. OR, do a vertical lift as far as possible and just turn a panel or two horizontal up at the roof.

Scroll down this page to see all the possible variations available. http://huijunxin.en.alibaba.com/product/839624341-218413805/Industrial_vertical_lift_door.html

Got the hose replaced this morning. Happy to report my friends and I put the lift together properly and it works! Ran it up a bit so I could gain access to the safety lock barrel nuts and attach the safety release lever.

At least with the lift empty my house electrics had no issues running the lift. I'll try it with my Audi and see if I pop a breaker. It'd be great to not have to wire in an electrical sub panel right away, that'd save huge dollars.

Yep, plenty of room to run the door straight up, with a slight turn at the top. Had another garage door guy look at it this afternoon, he thought it'd be no problem at all to raise the door as close to the ceiling as possible.

Now that I have the lift in place I'll take some more pics of the garage and enter the contest here.