I had a similar problem. A professional door installer did suggest the side mount solution, a while back. It was very expensive and I did not follow through on it. A year or so later I went back to the same installer and was told that they do not recommend this method anymore as it did not work well in the applications they had done. They also said that the warranty on the opener was void if done this way. If there is a proper side mount opener that works, I would also like to know about it.