Wall-Mounted Garage Door Openers: What to Know About the Minimum Garage Ceiling Height

This full-view garage door is in the California, 18' x 8', Black aluminum frame, Clear glass.

Here is a modern glass garage door that has quite a bit to love about it. The lines are clean and simple, and it provides you with ample opportunities to watch your pets or the kids out back playing. You’ll also appreciate that the garage tracks are hidden behind wooden planks. This ensures the tracks don’t take away from the aesthetic value. What do you think of this California full-view garage door shown here in 18' x 8' with a black aluminum frame and clear glass?

Have you been contemplating the renovation of your garage? Perhaps you’re putting up a new garage. Regardless, you have quite a bit you’ll have to think about when it comes to getting the garage of your dreams.

Of course, this means you’re likely starting to learn about things you’ve never had an interest in before. You’re hearing terms you might not understand. It can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to. Garage door professionals can provide you with all the help you need from start to finish.

Where do a lot of people have confusion? It’s often around the garage door clearances and dimensions. They aren’t sure what headroom is and they don’t know why it might affect the garage door opener that’s installed. Fortunately, we can help.

We’re going to talk about some of the most commonly asked questions surrounding this topic. We’ll try to answer those questions as best we can. Of course, if you have other questions or concerns, you should always make it a point of getting in touch with our professionals.

Here’s what we want: we want to ensure you know what garage door opener options you have and what garage door headroom means.

Q1 > Headroom… what’s it about? Why do you need to keep it in mind when choosing an overhead garage door?

A helpful illustration to see where are all of the locations to look at when measuring a garage door.

Keep the information in this picture handy. It will help you understand the measurements you have to have when getting a new garage door.

The term headroom simply refers to the amount of clearance from the ceiling and the top of the door. You need to know the garage door size and the door movement to ensure nothing gets in the way.

Q2 > What is a low headroom garage door? Can I use low clearance overhead doors?

When there’s not enough space for a standard lift, it means you need to think about your low headroom options.

If you don’t have at least 8.5 inches of space for extension springs, it’s low headroom. The same is true if you have less than 10 inches for a torsion spring.

Some of the times you will find this issue include:

  • When you have an older property. A lot of times, they had low ceilings in the home and the garage.
  • Some new constructions might have low garage ceilings. You will want to make sure the builder has plenty of space over the garage door.
  • When you have obstructions on the ceiling. This might be a ventilation system, for example.
  • When dealing with underground parking with concrete-based construction.

Here's a technical drawing of a low headroom garage door.

Here's an illustration that can give you a better idea of how low front headroom appears. You will note there is not much space between the garage door tracks and the ceiling.

Front and rear low headroom: How they are different

The difference is the location of the spring and drums. If you have low rear headroom, it means rear-mounted springs and vice versa.

Notice the difference between low headroom front vs rear garage door

With this image, you can see the difference between rear low headroom and front low headroom. Note that the drums are in different positions.

Low-headroom garage doors can be installed if you have the right hardware.

It’s aptly called low headroom hardware, although it also goes by other names—double- or dual-track systems. They are made to work with low headroom garage doors. They feature two tracks, like in the image above. The tracks are on top of one another.

The top section of the garage door uses the upper track, while the three other sections use the lower track. Having two tracks will require less space and it will help the top section make the turn faster.

Q3 > How do you install a garage door with low clearance?

The basics of installing a low headroom garage door will be the same as any other overhead garage door. The difference will be where the springs and the garage door opener are installed. You will also need all of the proper pieces of hardware. This includes the top roller brackets, bottom brackets, and horizontal tracks.

These garage doors are in the Village Collection, A Design, Plank base, 9' x 7', Cherry, windows with Cascade Inserts.

Do you have concrete walls on your garage as this property in the image does? This can be costly, and sometimes, people will try to lower the height of the garage to help save money. However, you have to keep in mind that overall height and garage door headroom are intertwined. This is the Village Collection A Design. Here, you will find a plank base, 9' x 7', in cherry, with windows with Cascade Inserts. You will love the embossed pattern.

Q4 > Understanding wall-mounted garage door openers

A wall-mounted opener for the garage door is another option. This is also called a jackshaft, and it will be installed on either of the sides of the garage door. These are used with a range of options including high-lift clearance ceilings, as well as cathedral and sloped ceilings.

The garage door opener doesn’t use the rail track to open and close the garage door. Instead, it uses the door’s torsion bar.

These are popular because they can be used with any types of lift. Whether you have a standard lift, high lift, low front headroom, or inclined track, this can work.

Typically, these are used for commercial buildings. However, many homeowners are now considering them for their residential garages. Keep in mind that the front low headroom configuration is not the most ideal setup. You will want to talk with the pros to get the right solution for your space.

A picture of the LiftMaster 5500W wall-mounted door opener with all the accessories it's coming with

You want to have a quality, powerful wall-mounted garage door opener like the LiftMaster 8500W model. This helps to ensure you have more overhead garage space, and it makes use of myQ technology, so you can control the garage door from anywhere.

Get more overhead space

When you need some more overhead garage space, you will find that jackshafts are a good solution.

You can then use different sorts of items for storage. Some various products to hang your items from the ceiling come from Family Handyman and include

  • Cargo nets
  • Lifts for boxes/outdoor furniture
  • Coated garage hooks
  • Ceiling-mounted racks

You will also appreciate wall-mounted garage door openers if you want to have your garage operate as a functional room.

Just imagine some of the things you could do with the garage by converting it into another type of room, such as a bedroom or a reading room.

Turn your garage into a brand-new space.

A beautiful garage conversion into a light-filled living space.

Whether you have a symmetrical or asymmetrical space, you can change your garage into a functional and fun place to be. Take this lounge, for example. Check out some other options on HGTV’s website.

What are you going to do in your space? Budget Dumpster has some fun garage conversion ideas:

  • Create a game room or playroom.
  • Create an extra bedroom.
  • Create a full studio apartment
  • Create a suite for the in-laws
  • Create a hobby room
  • Create an art studio
  • Create your own office
  • Create another family room

Maybe you would like to turn your garage into the best pub in your neighborhood. Have a beer with your friends, enjoy some time watching the game, and just unwind.

You will love how simple and aesthetically pleasing the wall-mounted garage door opener can be.

Q5 > Headroom and wall-mounted garage door openers: What do you need?

There isn’t a specific amount of headroom needed for a wall-mounted opener when you use alternative mounting kits.

Most of the time, you’ll need to have at least two inches about the garage door to install a garage door opener. However, you don’t have to worry when you have a wall-mounted garage door opener.

These wall-mounted openers can work with low headroom and standard setups. Using the alternate mounting kit, the garage door opened can be lowered and mounted below the torsion bar.

Alternate mounting kit if your wall-mounted garage door opener cannot be installed to the torsion bar.

You will find two gear systems on the alternate mounting kit in this picture. The shaft can be installed on the top and the garage door opener on the bottom.

However, you will need to have a minimum of 8.5 inches of space on the side of the door where you want to mount it.

So Many Overhead Door Options

Now, you get to find the perfect garage door color and design. A wonderful garage door will help elevate the look of your entire property.

We at Portes Ram Doors provide 3 garage door styles. These include Traditional, Carriage House, and Contemporary. Explore the wide range of garage doors. Everyone will find options they love. Some of the color options include black, deep browns, beige, white, and more.

This garage door is in the Princeton P-11 design, 9' x 8', Ice White doors and overlays, 8 lite Panoramic windows.

These traditional garage doors are seen here in white with discreet overlays and hinges. It’s a nice, traditional look. Keep in mind that our doors are custom-made for our customers, including the size of the garage door to the window designs. This is the Princeton P-11 design, 9’ x 8', with ice white doors and overlays, along with 8 lite Panoramic windows.

See Your Garage Door Before You Buy

When you use the Design Centre you have a lot of creating control when it comes to garage door designs and colors. Consider adding windows and decorative hardware to the garage door, and then use your finished door image and place it on a photo of your home to see how it all looks.

Are you ready?

If you need an overhead garage door and garage door opener installation, please call 613-749-2138 today!

Our specialists are standing by to help with your garage door. We can help you figure out what you need, handle installations, repairs, and more.

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