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RE: 4posts and garage doors

To: "'Eric J Petrevich/LRM'" <inch@megageek.com>,
Subject: RE: 4posts and garage doors
From: Keith Kaplan <keithka@Exchange.Microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 18:26:05 -0800
I have a roll up door on one side of my garage.  Actually it's not on the
lift side -- I have a sliding barn door on the lift side -- but I wanted to
plan ahead for a second lift and also I like how I can open the door without
blocking the light from my ceiling-mounted fluorescents.  (Plan B is to get
a door with windows in it, then position your lights so they can shine
through the windows when the door is open.)  Yes, the opener is attached to
the wall right next to where the door rolls up around itself.

The price was about double the price of an ordinary door of the same size.
Still, I'm very glad I didn't settle for an ordinary door.  There are a
bunch of quality (and price) grades of these doors, the big differences are
how many open/close cycles per day they're rated for (the ones at Jiffy Lube
that have to open 30-40 times a day are much beefier than mine) and what
kind of wind load they can handle.  The heavy duty door/opener at Jiffy Lube
would cost about 4-5 times more than I spent on mine.

If you happen to live in the Seattle area, I can privately mail you the name
of someone who is positively NOT qualified to install such a door.  Took
them 5, count them 5, trips to my house to get it in and working, and that's
not even counting the time they delivered the wrong door to the wrong
driveway without calling first to warn me they were going to attempt to
deliver it.  (First serious sign of trouble -- on visit 1 the installer saw
that I had three way switches so I could turn on my shop lights from either
door.  He said he was impressed that I had done that because he tried to
wire a three way switch once and "couldn't get it to work".  If I had any
common sense I'd have sent him on his way right then and there.  I must be
some kind of masochist.)  And these rocket scientists were the only people
who I could get to even quote me a price.  I'd like to replace the barn door
someday, but I don't want to repeat the last ordeal right away.  I have
better things to use my vacation days for.

keithka
PCR 125 shifter kart (a much better thing to use a vacation day for)
Elva Formula Junior (ditto)
Lista shelving coming next week (hopefully)

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