High Lift Garage Doors: Everything You Need To Know

When it comes to your garage door, you want to make sure it's working well and looking good. You also want to make sure that it is safe, secure, and durable.

If you're in the market for a new garage door and you have a high lift garage door, you might be wondering what exactly that means. Here's everything you need to know about high lift garage doors.

What Are High Lift Garage Doors?

High lift garage doors are a type of door that can be opened to a greater height than standard garage doors. They are ideal for garages with high ceilings and add an element of style to your home’s exterior. The average high lift garage door has a height of around seven feet, but some models can reach up to 10 feet.

If you have a large garage, it's likely that you use it to store many things. It's also likely that you have plenty of storage space in the ceiling of your garage. However, if you have a high lift garage door, this is where the high lift comes into play. A high lift garage door gets the door closer to the ceiling of your garage, making it ideal if you have plenty of room in your garage ceiling. This is also great if you already have built-in storage in your garage ceilings. It can either be built above the built-in storage or below it.

The Difference Between a High Lift and Standard Lift Garage Door

A high lift garage door system is an alternative to the traditional garage door, which lifts closer to the ceiling than a typical system. This design leaves more headroom in your garage, making it easier to get in and out of your vehicle.

The purpose of a high lift garage door system is to provide more clearance space between the top part of the door and its frame so that vehicles can enter without having to duck under any part of it (except maybe right at the very top). This allows for easier access into or out of your garage without having to worry about hitting your head on something while driving in or out.

Residential and Commercial Use for High Lift Garage Doors

Why would you want a high lift garage door? With residential high lift garage doors, you can have a home gym, yoga studio, art studio, additional storage space, and auto workshop. For commercial garages, you can maximize space for inventory, increase storage, more space for larger vehicles like trucks, and reduce employee accidents. Most importantly these doors provide security for your belongings as well as protection against theft and fire hazards.

Garage Door Opener for High Lift Garage Doors

Garage door openers are essential for many homes. They help keep your garage door safe and secure, and they make it much easier to get into and out of your garage. However, if you have a high lift garage door, then a standard opener will not work efficiently.

A standard opener will not work efficiently for a high lift garage door instead install a jack-shaft opener.

A jack-shaft opener is installed next to the garage door, which runs along tracks on the wall. The springs lift and lower the door by turning a torsion bar that is mounted inside of it.

This is usually more expensive than a standard opener but will work better for high lift doors. We recommend the LiftMaster 8500 Elite Series 8500 Jackshaft Operator as it is the best one in the market today.

How Do You Maintain a High Lift Garage Door?

When it comes to maintaining your high lift garage door, you can do all of the same things that you would with a standard garage door.

That means lubricating the spring, cleaning out the tracks from debris, replacing rollers as needed, and so on. You'll just need to make sure that you have the right tools for the job.

Most parts of your high lift garage door are best left to professionals. That includes replacing torsion springs, replacing panels on the door itself, and repairing openers in case they break down during use—any repairs like these will take a lot more time than most homeowners want to spend on maintenance tasks.

What's the Difference Between a High Lift and Vertical Lift Garage Door?

Both of these types of garage doors are different from a standard lift garage door but the main difference is the tracks and cable drums.

The Tracks

You may have noticed that different types of garage doors can be found in residential neighborhoods, commercial buildings, and industrial warehouses. One type of garage door you might see is the high lift garage door, which has a curved track but is situated near the ceiling, providing more headroom in residential garages. The vertical lift garage door does not have a curved track but opens straight up and is used mainly in warehouses for commercial use.

The Cable Drums

As the vertical lift garage door opens, its cable drum gradually unwinds. In contrast, the high-lift garage door's cables move closer to their drums as they are being pulled, a mixture of standard and vertically lifting cables wraps around each shaft. After a certain point, the cable wraps around the drum at an approximately constant distance from its axis.

The Different Types of Garage Door Lifts

Garage door lifts are a great way to open your garage door without having to manually use the pull rope. There are many different types of garage door lifts, and it is important that you choose one that will work with your particular garage door as well as fit into your budget.

Standard Garage Door Lift

The Standard Garage Door Lift is one of the most common types of lifts, and it is used mostly in residential homes. It requires 8 ½ inches of vertical headroom to be installed over the two horizontal tracks, but if you're using torsion springs instead of extension springs, you'll need 12 inches of vertical headroom over the garage door header.

High Lift Garage Door Lift

If you have a transom (window) above your garage door opening, or if maximizing height space inside your garage is important to you, then high lift garage doors are for you. The high lift option allows for the maximum amount of clearance in these situations.

Low Front Headroom Garage Door Lift

The Low Front Headroom Garage Door Lift is designed to be used in situations where there isn't enough space for a standard lift. This lift is ideal for use in homes or businesses with low headroom in the garage area.

Inclined Track Garage Door Lift

If your garage door system must follow the slope of your roof, an inclined-track garage door lift may be right for you. This type of lift is used when a standard garage door would be too high or too low to open properly.

An inclined track garage door lift is installed on a flat surface and can be customized to fit any slope. The wheel or wheels that allow the door to move up and down are installed on a track that runs along the length of the lift and allows the wheel or wheels to move freely as they're raised or lowered.

Vertical Lift Garage Door Lift

Vertical lift garage doors are used in commercial applications where the door opens vertically along the wall above it. They are often used in loading dock applications, where a large amount of headroom is required for vehicles to enter and exit. In this case, the required headroom is the same as the height of the door, making vertical lift garage doors a frequent choice for commercial projects.

Low Headroom Rear Garage Door Lift

The Low Headroom Rear Garage Door Lift is the perfect solution if you have a space over your garage door that isn't quite enough to accommodate a standard garage door lift. This is especially true for torsion spring applications when there aren't at least 8 inches of space between the top of the door and the ceiling.

This type of garage door lift is called "low headroom" because it only lifts up to 22 inches (or less) above the ground. The benefit of this type of lift is that it allows you to get into your garage without worrying about hitting your head on anything.

In Need of a New Garage Door?

Even the best garage doors will eventually need repairs or even replacement. When that time comes, you can count on Mojo Garage Door to meet all of your needs. We have been servicing the greater San Antonio area for over ten years and have experience with every type of garage door repair and installation challenge. Most importantly, Mojo Garage Door is committed to providing excellent customer service. So if you find yourself in need of a new garage door or repairs to your existing one, give us a call. We would be happy to help you out!