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Building a Home

Q for those with sliding interior Barn Doors

10 years ago

I'm considering having a sliding barn-style door for my pantry. We're heading in the craftsman/farmhouse direction, and I think it'd be a nice detail. Plus, there's decent number of decrepit old New England barns in the area, and I suspect I could get something old, authentic, and cheap pretty easily. It's in an area where it's not an issue to keep the wall space free of obstructions. And I only seem to use the pantry once or twice a day, if that, so it's not a high-traffic doorway.

QUESTION: So the top of the door rolls on a track with some hardware. What about the bottom of the door? Is it free, or is in in some guide/track (like closet sliders) as well? If it's free hanging, does pulling outwards on the door cause the bottom to swing out (and the door to pop off the track?) Also, does it matter if it's a cased opening or not?

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Comments (4)

danimal_ky
10 years ago
Here is a picture of the door we pulled off of an old barn for my wife's closet. It has no brackets on the bottom, so it could swing out if pulled. The track is basically a pipe with the wheels inside, so coming off track is not possible.
mushcreek
10 years ago
If you use old hardware, make sure it is the type that can't come off of the track, like the one posted above. I have similar old rollers that I'm going to use. They roll on the outside of the pipe, but they still can't come off. I have childhood memories of a kid who narrowly missed disaster when he managed to knock a huge barn door off of the tracks, and it came crashing down.

Most barn doors have a roller at the bottom which holds the door in line whether opened or closed. My hardware didn't come with one (or the pipe, for that matter), but it's easy enough to rig up something. My barn has modern hardware, and the bottom guide is just a plastic guide wheel. Probably not necessary indoors, unless you have pets or children that might push the door outward. I'm going to try to find a small vintage roller when I install mine.

I'm also trying to figure out a clever way to latch the door, as ours will be on the powder room, and some folks like to be able to secure the door when using the 'facilities'.
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I've been clipping images of barn doors for probably 20 years. Lately I've read they're "trendy." Oh well. I'm at the point in my life where I just get to do what I want. There are SO many things in my new house that not everyone would love, that's just one more. But there's no way to please everyone, so you may as well please yourself. I try really hard when I find myself attracted to something to ask if I like it just because I haven't seen it a lot (yet), or if it's something I've been attracted to for a long time. I have a long list of things I was attracted to at one point for the sake of novelty that I "got over" (pebble tiles, glass tiles, vessel sinks) and other things that I would love in your house, but not mine (extremely distinctive backsplashes, stone with lots of "movement."). Then there's the stuff that I love that I know isn't for everyone, and barn doors and pocket doors are on that list! (along with concrete floors, slab cabinet doors, and I forget what else!)
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"I went to work in an office that had a pocket door that never worked right because someone had driven nails into it at some point and it was never the same after" (palimpsest) Yes. This happened to us when DH nailed the baseboard on the wall between the laundry and kitchen. The door came off track. When we renovate I will replace or remove. However, this was builder grade. On our extension I added three pocket doors. The one I had put in for the powder room is a solid core door, not thinner than most doors, as I wanted as much sound-dampening as possible with such a device. We used Johnson Hardware - not the home depot variety which runs $ 40 or so, but commercial grade. Look at the Johnson site under 1500 Commercial Grade and you will also find non-standard size frames (door max thickness 1 3/4"). Use a good carpenter.
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Please forgive in advance my honesty, but I don't think the sliding barn door is a good use as a bathroom door. The won't seal closed the way a regular door would, and people in bathrooms need that privacy. Also even if it wasn't for a bathroom, that wall doesn't look wide enough. While you may find a door in the sliding barn door style to fit, the style really is for a bigger wall. But the privacy thing is the one to really focus on.
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Yes... well not me... my hubby... but we pick them out together, and we choose which planks go in which order together, and I do all of the finish work like any staining or Waterlox. If we are doing any painting (like we did on the cabinetry, which hubby also built in our garage) then I do any painting if it's done by brush, but hubby does all painting with the spray gun. He's particularly good with the spray gun, but I'm much better with a brush than he is. But yeah... the wood was all joined together and my 7 foot Long Island was sticking out past 10 feet before we held our breath and he pulled the trigger on the saw to make the cuts for the waterfall edge on the island. We had never done anything quite like that before and we'd paid a premium for boards that were long enough for this purpose. We figured if the cut was messed up we would use the edge meant for the waterfall for some other purpose one day and then we'd just end up with a wood top and cabinet panels for both sides instead of just one side. (The side closest to my sink is a cabinetry panel with an electric outlet and a towel bar for dish towels.) He must've measured the thing a gazillion times before he made the cut, LOL! But it came out perfectly and we were very pleased. There are some minor mistakes in other areas of the countertop, but most anybody would be hard pressed to notice them, but that waterfall cut went just perfectly. Whew! LOL!
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illinigirl
10 years ago
we are also having double barn doors opening from my kids playroom to the lower level family/media/bar area. I will have to look into what hardware they are using....but they are planning on having it latchable so the kids don't mess with it.
mtnrdredux_gw
10 years ago
Our MBR was originally a small barn, and I use a barn door to my bathroom's tub area. We also have barn doors as front doors (followed by a vestibule and then weather tight doors).

The door in the MBR has a small metal square (maybe 2" sq?) affixed to the floor, with a metal flange. The bottom of the door is slotted to slide over the flange. It's all invisible.

The front barn doors are large double doors and they are in a recessed track.

All of our hardware is new. We liked the look of old, but could not find the perfect size and smooth operation in antiques.

HTH

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