Besides the appearance of your garage door, you will also need to consider the different lifts available. This article is going to discuss high-lift and vertical-lift doors, which operate differently from standard-lift garage doors.
High-lift and vertical-lift doors will both provide you with an excellent service. The way in which each of them operate differs highly. As a business or home owner it is vital to understand the difference, to make the correct choice for your needs and your budget.
What Is The Difference Between High-Lift and Vertical-Lift Doors?
The main differences are in the cable drums and tracks. When a standard lift door is closed the top roller will rest at the bottom of the track, where the curved portion is. With a high-lift, the track has a longer straight portion between the top roller and the curved portion. A vertical-lift doesn’t include a curved portion of the track at all. A vertical-lift door will open straight up, then angle backward slightly, this allows the door to close as a wedge.
You will require different cable drums for your garage door, as high-lift and vertical-lift doors operate differently. Vertical-lift cable drums continually wind closer to the drum shaft while the door opens. High-lift drums are a mix of the flat standard-lift drums and vertical-lift cables. This difference allows the doors to be balanced properly, ensuring correct functionality.
High-Lift Doors
To begin with the high-lift and vertical-lift door cable drums operate in the same way, with the high-lift then beginning to operate more like a standard-lift. The door opens vertically on the onset, which means the cable drums need to decrease the moment arm whilst the springs unwind. With a loss of weight from the door, this is balanced by a loss of spring tension once the weight of the door begins to be supported by the horizontal tracks. As a result of the mechanics of this system, once the top section meets the horizontal track, the cables drums need to be flat.
Vertical-Lift Doors
A vertical-lift door will rest on the floor when closed, this means the door weight must exceed the provided lift of the torsion springs. These decrease the distance from the cable to center shaft by unwinding while the door is being opened. This distance is known as the moment arm.
Just like a door in your home, if you were to push the center, rather than the edge it is much more difficult to close. This is due to the distance between the moment arm being reduced in half. The same theory is in place with a vertical-lift door.
Call Us For Your New Door
It is completely possible to convert from a standard-lift to a high-lift door. You can also convert from a residential door to a high-lift door. At King Garage Door we are here to service your conversion needs. If you have any questions about the differences, your options and what you can achieve give our Garage Door Services in Orlando a try.
