Garage Thread

[Belgian951]

Unfortunately the house lies in flood zone. The brook is a couple meters in front of the house, so we are worried about flooding. What's the max slope for a garage if you want to install a 2 post lift? Thanks for all the tips!

[Tom]

Unfortunately the house lies in flood zone. The brook is a couple meters in front of the house, so we are worried about flooding. What's the max slope for a garage if you want to install a 2 post lift? Thanks for all the tips!

Bendpak's installation instructions say a 3% slope is the max. 3% is actually pretty darn steep. The code where I live says a garage floor needs to have 1/8 to 1/4" slope per foot, which is roughly a 1 to 2% grade. Mine is about 1.75%. To me it seems like if you need more than 1% grade, then something else is wrong... (e.g., no where for the water to go; water gets in too easy, etc.), but I'm no structural engineer so could be missing the point. In my case, the issue manifests itself by preventing the rear of the lift from sitting flat on the floor. The runners need to be level (to keep cars from rolling off), so the rear ends up sitting off the floor a bit when lowered. My authorized installer said that's normal and not a problem. They make shims to raise the rear posts, so the runners can be level without losing any height up top, but it's kind of splitting hairs in my opinion.

front-lift.jpg (1.08 MiB) Viewed 7381 times

rear-lift.jpg (979.54 KiB) Viewed 7381 times

[lsturbointeg]

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[Tom]

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[Leader]

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[dr bob]

I don't recall this being mentioned in this thread, but... For regular sectional garage doors, be sure to use a shaft-drive opener rather than the conventional chain, screw, or belt drive types. The initial cost is a little more, but they are quieter, can have easy battery backup included. Most important, there's no open drive occupying critical space over the car. Openers are a visual blight in a finished garage space, so having the opener on the wall at the end of the cross shaft is a solution.

My garage has a vaulted ceiling on the front (nearest the door) section, and the doors follow the sloped part up so the garage door can be open while the car is up on the lift. If you have a flat ceiling, work with the door installer to get the door up as close as possible to the ceiling. I got to do my own door installation at our previous home, when the door installer just couldn't get his head around putting the tracks up that high. I invited them back after it was all installed, and he still struggled. Called the business owner out and they all scratched their heads. It worked perfectly, just differently than they could comprehend even when it was there in front of (or above) them. Don't be afraid to get creative.

Just looked for some pictures from the last garage ceiling and door, will have to explore some backups/archives from a decade or two ago. I'll add them back here when I find them.

[Tom]

I don't recall this being mentioned in this thread, but... For regular sectional garage doors, be sure to use a shaft-drive opener rather than the conventional chain, screw, or belt drive types. The initial cost is a little more, but they are quieter, can have easy battery backup included. Most important, there's no open drive occupying critical space over the car. Openers are a visual blight in a finished garage space, so having the opener on the wall at the end of the cross shaft is a solution.

My garage has a vaulted ceiling on the front (nearest the door) section, and the doors follow the sloped part up so the garage door can be open while the car is up on the lift. If you have a flat ceiling, work with the door installer to get the door up as close as possible to the ceiling. I got to do my own door installation at our previous home, when the door installer just couldn't get his head around putting the tracks up that high. I invited them back after it was all installed, and he still struggled. Called the business owner out and they all scratched their heads. It worked perfectly, just differently than they could comprehend even when it was there in front of (or above) them. Don't be afraid to get creative.

Just looked for some pictures from the last garage ceiling and door, will have to explore some backups/archives from a decade or two ago. I'll add them back here when I find them.

All great advice. I looked at virtually every door opening system out there, determined to preserve overhead space for a lift -- screw drives, roll-up doors, folding doors, side-winding doors, etc. -- and they were all too industrial (roll-ups) or took up space somewhere in the garage I didn't want to give up. That's how I ended up with these....

[Rich_911]

I'm curious as to how these doors perform on windy days? Is there a "maximum wind speed restriction" stated by the manufacturer?