High Lift Garage Doors in Richmond

A custom high lift from Lion Garage Door typically costs $350 – $500. This does not include an operator; with an operator the cost is $900 – $1100. In addition to the kit cost, expect shipping costs of $50 – $150. Sometimes the shipping cost may be more if the kit is pre-assembled or includes extra hardware.

Our custom high lift program designs each high lift assembly with the shaft mounted four inches away from the ceiling and jamb. This is to allow sufficient space for the standard high lift cable drum which has an outer diameter of almost 6″. This will place your horizontal tracks 7.75″ – 8.75″ away from the ceiling. On assemblies with more than 54″ of high lift, the horizontal tracks will be closer to 10″ away from the ceiling because they require even larger drums. In reality, the tracks can usually extend another inch or two without any problem.

When the door is in the open position on a standard lift setup, almost 100% of the door weight is sitting in the horizontal tracks. This allows the springs to be almost fully unwound. There is about ½ turn on the springs just to hold tension on the cables. Once a high lift kit is installed, and the tracks are modified, the door will be still only open to just past the opening. Instead of sitting fully horizontal, a portion of the door will be held in a vertical position. Therefore, a percentage of the door weight still needs to be held by the springs. The new larger springs, requiring additional turns, hold this extra weight. Depending on the amount of high lift installed, it could be as much as 2-4 extra full turns. This is also a reason that the previous springs cannot be reused

A common point of confusion for high lift customers is the fact that the track they are adding to the vertical (track extension) does not seem to reach the ceiling. In reality, there are two dimensions, the length of the track extension, and the inches of high lift. The “inches of high lift” (see photo above) is the distance between the top of the closed door and the centerline of the horizontal track, as a flat plane. Therefore, even standard lift systems technically have a few “inches of high lift.” The vertical track extension just adds to this dimension, placing the tracks as close as possible to the ceiling. The track extension simply adds to the inches of high lift; it is not equal to it.

The appropriate answer is, “Which one do you need?” While high lift doors rise a given distance vertically before entering the horizontal tracks, vertical lift doors rise vertically for their entire travel. These doors do not require horizontal tracks because they rest above the door opening and “parallel” to the jamb. A vertical lift is typically the better option when there is sufficient ceiling height within the garage. The minimum ceiling height for a vertical lift is double the door height, i.e. 14′ ceiling for a 7′ tall door, etc. If the space is available, a vertical lift is a good long-term option to allow maximum space for lighting, workshop equipment, or storage.