Garage Door Opener

[huntnfish]

I am looking for some suggestions for an opener for an 18 foot door. I am planning on getting a 3/4 horse but other than that I have no idea what to look for. Any suggestions would be great.

Also, if anyone has some tips for storage for a new garage I'm all ears. It is a three stall with one 18 foot door and one nine foot. There will be a pickup and a car in the big door and a couple ATV's in the smaller side. It is 28x34 so I am hoping to have some space leftover for storage when I get all that stuff in there.I would like to have some storage on the walls and I also have a couple flip over houses that I want to hoist to the ceiling to save floor space. If anyone has some ideas on what to do or what not to do it would be appreciated. Thanks.

[BoxMN]

hf,

I too have 18x8 door and 10x8 door. I have Chamberlain openers, and they have been good for about 6 years so far. Get one with Security+ or maybe they have a better system now. My garage is 36x28, so about the same as yours.

I put shelves around the top edge of much of the garage, and it works great. Built from 2x frame, with masonite "floor". Very beefy, but easy and cheap, and looks decent, especially if a guy would trim it out a bit, or hang little camo fabric in front of it I also built a closet under one of those shelves, and it turned out great. Again, just used 2x frame, and kept the bottom up so back was resting on block, so it is about 12" off the floor. Batteries etc. can fit under it, but the nice thing is that with that space under it, it looks cleaner and keeps the space looking "bigger". I used 1 4x8 sheet of beadboard plywood for one door, and half a sheet for the other door. The remaining half I used on the side of it to close in the end. The other end was in a corner. Perfect for hanging hunting clothes, etc. Put in one of those plastic shelving units and it works great. The shelf at top was the top part of the frame, so it was pretty cheap and easy to do.

I made my top shelves just the right size to fit coolers or plastic bins. 2x deep by about 28" high. Doing it again, I would go about 32 or 36 inches high at least on a couple. I keep my Otter on a shelf in the off season, but it is too low to keep my bench seat on when it is up there. I didn't have that when I built the shelves.

The nice thing is that if you can keep stuff up off the floor, it keeps the garage feeling cleaner and bigger. I would also suggest insulating wtih R13 and then poly, even if you don't plan to heat the garage, as it will really retain the heat. I have my old home furnace out there, and it kicks butt. Can heat it up in short amount of time, or can also keep it at about 36 degrees on those below zero days for wife or for weekends or weeknights when I plan to be out there a bunch.

While I don't store too much in the attic, I do have attic stairs and it is worth putting it in. I basically keep my decoys up there in summer. I wired a light switch so I can turn attic lights on/off from the garage floor.

Have fun with your new "toy"

[Shack]

I drive wall mount opener from Menards!

I had heard some issues with them, but I got an updated model and I have had great luck with them. Very easy to install, takes a couple of hours and it comes with a topn of neat elec. gadgets and saftey features. Been good to me!

It is nice and I have had to adjust door once in the last two years (springs get a little weaker over time). Besides that it was the only option I had for and opener on my car hoist side stall. Plus you do not have the opener hanging out over stall (for your hoisting reason's).

Good luck!

Also very, very quiet and faster than any other chain or belt opener I have owned!

[luckey]

BoxMN,

I just completed building a 28X36 garage. I went with 11 foot high 2X6 walls and storage trusses (bottom cord is 2X6). I plan to insulate but not this fall. I put a floor on the trusses but haven't decided on steps/ladder access. (maybe a winter project?".) When I built it I left out one truss (ajacent ones have 2X6 top and bottom cords) so now I have a 4 foot wide access. I have not started with shelving/storage/benches/cabinets planning. I am looking for any suggestions on what worked for you. For the doors I went with two 10X9's. I am using LiftMaster (LM 3575) Estate series 3/4 HP chain drive openers. I programmed the three button remote to open both of these doors and one of the doors on my existing garage. No problems so far, however, it's only been a few months.

[BoxMN]

Luckey, you did it right. I wish I would have gone higher walls, I have slightly over 9'6" walls. Also wish I would have done 2x6 walls and sotrage trusses. Oh well. It still is great size and good construction. Other than what I mentoned above, I put in some pre-fab cabinets from Menards, the white ones that they have a whole selection of. They are okay for stuff that isn't too heavy, and when on sale they are pretty cheap. I kept looking for some old kitchen cabinets on craigslist etc, but this looks nicer, and the cost isn't that much.

For fishing rods, I screw wide bicycle hooks into two 2x3s and then just screw the 2x3s onto the cieling above the boat. Holds them all safely out of the way, and they are easy to put up and take down, and it is cheap

If you put any shelves up around the garage, up high, make sure to leave some room for tall objects like ladders, etc. I have a couple 10' duck boats, and if my ceiling was only 6 or 7 inches higher, I could stand them on end in off season... oh well.

[bigbucks]

I believe my 18' door has a 1/2 hp chain drive Lift master opener. It's 7 1/2 years old. I just finished putting in the repair kit last night, for some reason the sprocket on top that drives it snapped off about 10 days ago. In the middle of hunting season is not the best time for these things to happen, although when is? The fan went out on the refridgerator the week before...

I have a 9' door in the back, my garage is 24' X 48', it's huge, I love it, but it's still not big enough. Are they ever? I built about a 3' X 4' shelving unit in one corner with a standup rod rack the same size right next to it. The top is all one & stops about 2' from the ceiling. The bow, the decoy, archery targets, etc. go up there. It works well for me. We do have a Big Bertha tube still inflated hooked to the handles with bike hooks above our car. It's been there since the summer of '06. Kids didn't like tubing quite as much as my wife thought they would...