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| Author |
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rcurl
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The Garage Item
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Oct 20 19:19 UTC 1997 |
Garages: past, present, future and sales.
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| 50 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 50:
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Oct 20 19:24 UTC 1997 |
A family member backed out of our garage yesterday - with the door not
fully risen. Crunch. I don't think it is repairable (wood lower jamb is
broken, panels pulled out, and lower metal frame bent). The guides may
still be OK. Who are the recommended overhead garage door merchants,
and what should we know about replacement materials (wood, vinyl, metal)
and other issues?
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blh
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response 2 of 50:
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Oct 20 23:11 UTC 1997 |
If memory serves me right, crawford Doors in Ypsilantiis the place we used
whenever we needed help (now don't have a garage). Overhead garage doors is
one of the few things I don't mess with, but call the experts. They have been
around a long time. Their prices were fair, they seemed to be honest, and
the problem was always solved. Good luck!
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rcurl
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response 3 of 50:
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Oct 21 05:31 UTC 1997 |
I called Ann Arbor Door Systems; they came out today, and gave a quote
on the spot, which I thought was reasonable - complete replacement with
insulated metal door that resembles the old wood one. They even mentioned
that our insurance should pay for part of it...never occurred to me (after
all, *we* made the mess....). However I think the door should be
equipped with a not-yet-fully-open beeper, after this!
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e4808mc
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response 4 of 50:
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Oct 21 16:10 UTC 1997 |
We used to use Ann Arbor Door Systems, but switched to Crawford Doors. You
might want to get a 2nd bid on the repair work.
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rcurl
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response 5 of 50:
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Oct 21 17:50 UTC 1997 |
Do you drive out through your garage door a lot? :)
Our insurance agent requires only one bid, and pays all except a deductible.
Was there a problem you had with Ann Arbor Door Systems? They seem very
responsive and helpful, to me.
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e4808mc
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response 6 of 50:
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Oct 21 22:29 UTC 1997 |
No damage to the doors, just some wear and tear on the lifting mechanism.
As far as I remember there wasnt a problem. I think it was the property
management company that used Crawford while we were gone.
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rcurl
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response 7 of 50:
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Oct 22 04:46 UTC 1997 |
Apparently our new garage door will have seals - or some kinds of gaskets -
all around, preventing drafts. That's a new idea - I've only known drafty
garages! I wonder if the garage door opener will work through a steel door,
since the antenna is at the drive....
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scg
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response 8 of 50:
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Oct 23 06:19 UTC 1997 |
Since the rest of the garage isn't steel, I assume, the opener should work
fine. My parents' garage has a steel door and seals and all that, and the
opener works fine.
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n8nxf
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response 9 of 50:
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Oct 24 17:20 UTC 1997 |
Of course you may want to tie all the metal parts together with braid as
metal rubbing metal can cause RF noise. Anyone who does anything with RC
models knows that all linkages that move are metal to plastic. Otherwise
your servos do weird things. It would be a bad day if you hit the door-UP
button and had the door generate a door DOWN command just as you were
driving in ;-) Of course, I've never owned a garage door opening system
as mine is attached to my shoulder. This may not be a real-world problem.
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scg
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response 10 of 50:
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Oct 25 04:52 UTC 1997 |
My parents have had a garage door opener for about eight years now, and
there's never been a problem of that sort with it. I don't think it's a real
world problem. The garage door opener signals are pretty specific.
There was a problem when our garage door opener and the neighbor's garage door
opener were responding to the same signals, but that was fixed by flipping
some switches to change what signal it would respond to.
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rcurl
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response 11 of 50:
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Oct 26 16:28 UTC 1997 |
More particularly, the opener/closer signals are digital, not likely to
be generated by 'static'. Still, I'll listen in on 2-m, just to see if
there is any RF power.
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n8nxf
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response 12 of 50:
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Oct 27 20:31 UTC 1997 |
What do garage door openers send out these days? The early ones just
sent a specific tone. Then they sent an 8 bit digital RF word. Do they
still do that or has it gotten more complex?
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rcurl
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response 13 of 50:
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Oct 27 21:38 UTC 1997 |
MIne dates from 1982 and uses that 8 bit word.
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scg
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response 14 of 50:
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Oct 29 07:22 UTC 1997 |
I believe my parents' opener uses an 8 bit word, but it dates from '88 or so.
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rcurl
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response 15 of 50:
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Oct 29 16:59 UTC 1997 |
Our new steel garage door is installed. It took one man about four hours -
with the right tools (and knowhow - and me not kibitzing). The
installation manual has big safety warnings on every page - that spring,
especially, can be a killer (yes, the manual warns of "serious injury or
death" from it). The sensitivity to the remote is much reduced with the
door closed, compared to the old wood door - it does act as a shield for
the radio signal. I have to take the remote out of the compartment in my
car dash, where I used to just push the button. Now, I think I will
install a microswitch and a flashing red LED, which switches to green when
the door is fully open.....
The installer, incidentally, made some rude comments about the Stanley
garage door opener (which I installed in 1982), and he did not know which
way to adjust the "sensitivity" control to make it less sensitive.
Our homeowners insurance paid for most of this. I'm always surprised
that they pay even though we did the damage ourselves. I guess it is
"no fault" insurance.
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i
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response 16 of 50:
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Oct 17 02:59 UTC 1999 |
Wandering past the set of 4 new $$$ condos on Williams near the RR tracks
downtown today, i noticed that they had *very* deep garages in their
ground floors. The builder's little billboard advertised "2-car garage"
as a feature (along with 2 bedrooms, loft, 3.5 baths, etc. in what
certainly look like 4-story-tall small-footprint townhouses). Has any
ever seen a 2-car garage that 2 cars DEEP, and one car wide? I can imagine
some potential problems....
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scg
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response 17 of 50:
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Oct 17 03:10 UTC 1999 |
I've seen such a garage in a place I looked at renting a few years ago. In
my case, since I've got one vehicle I drive frequently and one vehicle I drive
very rarely, it wouldn't be a problem (or at least no more of a problem than
my one car wide two car deep outdoor parking situation now).
Those townhouses look quite neat. Very Londinish. Apparrently somebody's
planning many more somewhat like those for the big empty piece of land a block
or two away from there.
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keesan
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response 18 of 50:
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Oct 18 03:06 UTC 1999 |
What on earth does someone want with 2 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms? I thought
I had read the sign wrong at first and got it backwards.
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scg
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response 19 of 50:
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Oct 18 06:14 UTC 1999 |
I haven't looked at the sign that carefully. I'm kind of surprised that those
places would have only two bedrooms, but I'm guessing there's a simple answer
to the bathroom question. Those houses are quite tall and narrow, four
floors, if I'm remembering correctly. My guess is that they thought people
shouldn't have to be running up and down stairs whenever they want to go to
the bathroom.
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i
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response 20 of 50:
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Oct 18 11:00 UTC 1999 |
Yep, 2 & 3.5. I think it's nuts, too. Why would you buy one unless you
loved going up & down stairs? All those baths cost floor space and money
and upkeep and someone gonna have to clean 'em....
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scott
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response 21 of 50:
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Oct 18 11:31 UTC 1999 |
Probably those places have 1 or even 2 "office" rooms, etc.
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n8nxf
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response 22 of 50:
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Oct 18 11:47 UTC 1999 |
Our neighbors are building a house with a 4 car garage two cars wide and two
cars deep. The cars will be closest to the garage doors. One of the two
forward spots will be used to store their camper, canoes and kayak while
the 4th spot will be used for their bicycles.
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keesan
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response 23 of 50:
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Oct 18 16:23 UTC 1999 |
I could understand 2 full and 2 half baths, but 3 full baths? Do they expect
a couple with one child, who all have to shower at the same time? Wouldn't
two showers in the same bathroom be cheaper?
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scg
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response 24 of 50:
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Oct 18 20:37 UTC 1999 |
My parents rented a townhouse in London where almost every room was on a
different floor, but it only had two bathrooms for the five floors. It was
rather exhausting for the first week or so of my 2.5 week trip there, but by
the end of the time I was there I was running up and down the stairs without
thinking about them (and feeling great). I got back to my stair free life
in Ann Arbor, and started feeling intense stair withdrawl.
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