Roll-Up garage doors

The look of the coiling overhead doors is not good for a home IMHO. If you have the headroom, get a standard panelled door and get vertical tracks to give you the headroom you need, or a high rise track that gets very close to the ceiling if you can spare about 12". The cost is better for the panelled doors also, even with non standard tracking (here anyways).

BT

 

Funny you should bring this up as I'm in need of more overhead space (1960 house) and the well-seasoned firewood, er, garage framing is crowding any chance of a lift in the garage along with the current doors (one side has an opener). The lowest point (as measured from the bottom of the open 'ceiling') on the rails is 15"; the lowest point of the automatic opener is 16". A roll-up door would fit perfectly on the garage door header and thus give me that extra height, enought to squeeze in a 308GT4 and 914

I'd be willing to "sacrifice" the cosmetic, outside view of the house for the increased capacity -- hey, over a foot of height IS significant! No plans on selling the house anytime soon, that's for sure. The side that wouldn't have the lift could use the over-head storage space that normally goes unused

The only real stuff I've seen is from Britain or Austrailia Not much in the USA...but I haven't searched really hard.

 

QMI is a US company that makes all kind of roll up doors. They are located in Metro Chicago and make a great product.

http://www.qmiusa.com/

I have a high lift conventional door with a jack shaft opener (Liftmaster 3800). When opened the door is only 1" from the ceiling. I posted some photos, you can find them with a search.

 

I have roll up doors on my house in Santa Fe NM......Look cool and techy but the insulation really sucks (and I have the insulated doors), the wind causes them to flex a little making a creaking noise, they don't seal well at the bottom corner edges or vertical guides, bugs,dust, etc. can get in. The take up roll housing at the top takes a lot of space, if you're not careful the chain can jump the sprocket and is a pain to get back on also if you don't hold on to the chain firmly when letting the door down it can slam to the ground very hard and heavy. There are no safety measures whatsoever.Maybe if you want to store your tractor in a prefab shed it would be o.k. but anything you really care about, forget it.
If I had it to do over again.........no way!
I have 16' doors and 24' ceilings so space is not an issue though.

 

Look at the I-drive system for standard doors from Wayne Dalton, too. The motor is directly above the door, and the tracks can be mounted essentially flush to the ceiling. When the door is down, there is no obstruction where the lift goes, and when the door is open there is only a few inches.

Plus, it's a better system than the standard opener, so it's a win-win.

http://www.wayne-dalton.com/DirectDrive.asp

 

We're buying a cottage that's much smaller than our current house, and adding a new 2-car garage. I want to do a 4-post lift that will accommodate my 330 and a Mini Cooper or similar. This looks perfect & they are readily available in Dallas according to the website...thanks for posting.

How high are your garage door and garage ceiling, & what type of lift do you have?

 

Someone mentioned earlier, just have the door follow the contour of the interior ceiling. You only lose the thickness of the opener track. Here is a picture of mine, note the tracks follow the vaulted roof.
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Try searching in this forum, many experiences for the same question.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

 

Another alternative to a roll up or traditional overhead roller is a BiFold door. See: http://www.bifold.com/
They can be very large if you want (Hanger size) or standard residential size and can be finished in a variety of ways. Can be aluminum or steel and the neatest part is that when open they provide shade or rain protection.

 

Excellent links on the other types of doors! I kinda like the bi-fold but in the single form for added driveway coverage (Oregon is a wet state ).

Yes, keep us updated on what you end up with