How can I make a barn door?

[Pat]

Frank, Those are called "BYPASS" doors and if you don't need full width access you would do fine with them. Besides unless you do the header thing you have a central obstrution anyway so nothing to gain from all the structure required to make doors that butt neatly in the center as you still can't put anything over 1/2 the width through there.

My tractor shed on the side of my garage/shop is 21X48 arranged as 4 bays of 12 ft width each. It is all open on one side except for the red iron columns between each bay and at both ends. If/when I put doors on the open side I will probably use two overhead tracks and 4 doors (again the bypass door arrangement.) This will allow simultaneous access to any two of the bays. Good enough for me.

If you don't put the "cars", wheeled roller supports, at the ends of the top of the doors but instead bring them in a ways the door will open wider without having to extend the overhead track. You wouldn't need to move both cars in, just the one that would be to the outside. Even 10-20% will open up the door way clearance dimension nicely. To take full advantage of this you would want to incorporate a header and move the center pole off to one side by the ammount the door can "over travel" with its car offset.

Brief recap: Both doors have one car brought in toward the center of its door by a few feet. If this were say the north side, it would be the north side car for both doors so they would both be slid the same way when opening for max passage width. The central post needs to be relocated the same distance to one side (toward the north in this example) and modifications to the structure (most likely a header but not the only way) to allow the offset post to take the load properly)

This gives you a significantly wider than 1/2 the opening for max width in the door clearance. and doesn't require any additional construction to support longer tracks. You do have to move the center post to one side and do al little extra work to transfer the loading.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Pat, if you do the "offset car" trick on that door, can you also cantilever the track and avoid a standing post? [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Dave, I'm sorry, I had intended to make that clear in my description. Yes, both tracks are out in front of the central post so they miss it. That is why it is so beneficial, in my opinion, to move the "central" post off to one side a bit. Then when both doors are pushed to the max in the same direction (toward the side the post is moved to) you get greater than 50% opening to admit larger items with greater ease.

It seems to me that is the greatest convenience and utility for the least modification effort.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[frank29]

Pat, maybe I'm just obtuse: it seems like equal width doors would maxmize access (which would be equal on both sides). I think we are talking about two doors that take up the entire width of the barn....IF you agree with this, it seems like unequal width doors would hinder access and equal width door would maximize access.

[Pat]

Frank, I think either you missed my intent or I didn't explain myself clearly. I don't think I mentioned anything about unequal sized doors. Still, that is yet another way to increase the max width of a "vehicle" or whatever that would be ab le to pass through.

I did recommend offsetting the central post to one side which Creates unequal sized paths of entry. This is cheaper and eaiser than removing the central post in favor of a large header system (largest possible entry port.). The MOST RESTRICTIVE approach is to have a central post dividing the opening into two equal width passages. It IS NOT as you state the maximum access width but instead is the minimum.

Considering the case where the post is offset to one side a few feet. This makes one path 1/2 the total width + Plus) the offset (minus 1/2 the pole diameter.) The other path is 1/2 the total width - (minus) the offset (minus 1/2 the pole diameter.

It is a zero sum game where the total width is equal to the sum of the two portions plus the pole diameter.

There are other considerations not yet mentioned. With the overhead roller cars attached in a ways from the edge of the door, the door, when open, will stick out past the side of the barn. There is a potential for a clash between the overhang of the gable end and the door when open past the side of the barn.

Unequal width paths increases the max width item that can be taken in and out of the barn. Every inch given up from the narrower of the two paths is added to the wider path.

Slightly more complicated and requiring additional sets of hinges is another candidate solution. A multi-fold door. Like a bi-fold closet door in a house but potentially with more sections than just two. This avoids any conflict between overtravel of a door with the gable end roof overhang. It takes up some space when folded but when open and folded it is positioned where it partially blocks the narrower side of the entry (assumes an offset post.) You get a wide ingress/egress path and there is no clash with roof overhang and the door doesn't open out past the side of the barn. You do have to potentially increase the number of overhead support cars as you need one for each folding section. You can economize a bit by making the first section (farthest from the center in the direction of the smaller opening) larger thus saving a car or two. That larger section still needs to be shorter than the narrow side opening so that the first section (larger one) and all the rest of the door when folded dose not stick out past the offset pole and restrict the size of the larger opening.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[lbrown59]

Another variation to consider in the case of the removed center post is unequal sized doors. Make one smaller and thus easy to open and close and make the other larger to compensate. You retain the full width opening but only have to wrestle with a small door when not needing a large opening.
Pat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to build a door for a 9' opening of a bay I'm enclosing.
The plan is a 4 foot wide door and a 5 foot wide door rather than 2 4.5' doors. This way a 4' wide panel will cover the 4' door thus simplifying the building of the frame for that door.

[lbrown59]

I've made 2 4' doors for a carport 8' opening using quarter '' paneling and or 1/4'' OSB and 1x3s and 1x2s for the frames.
I built the frames and covered them with the Paneling/OSB all in one step.
After 10 years the OSB 1/4'' doors I put on a car port I enclosed are still in pretty good shape. Have stained them with Ceder colored stain a couple of times.These particular doors don't even have a frame on them.

[Pat]

lbrown, Just a thought but anyway you divide it up, it won't come out an even fit all the way round regarding sheet goods so why not make the "little" door 3ft; lighter and easier to use for multiple in and out operations, less air exchange (winter consideration) due to quicker passage and smaller size.

The upstairs of our shop which is above my shop is accessed from second floor of house. We have lots of twin doors in the new house but the doors to the upstairs shop are "fraternal" twins. It is a 1-0 and a 3-0 door with the 3-0 being the normal door and the one foot wide door acts as the "fixed" door. This gives a 4 ft opening when we need it but a 3-0 door for normal ingress/egress. I set 3-0 as the standard for the new house and only deviated under very limited circumstances for certain closets.

I have 4 each 12 ft wide bays separated by steel columns under a 3:12 shed roof sloping from about 12 ft ceiling to about 8 ft. I am considering sliding doors for the bays. Probably would use overhead track for sliding doors and alternate the doors as to which of two tracks they were on so the doors could be arranged to open up any single bay or any two bays at a time. I need to do a little research to find some sort of seals to put on the sides of the doors to reduce weather infiltration which is the reason for considering adding the doors. When I built the structure I knew I'd get some rain, snow, and blowing dirt but intended to wait and see how bad it was before deciding on whether or not to go for the doors. It isn't too bad for implement storage and tractor parkinig but now that I see how crowded the workshop is getting, I'm thinkiing of taking over part of this adjoining shed as an anex to the shop.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[dieselkelly]

Our sliding doors are 2x4 frames with 2 sections of metal siding on the outside (the same thing our barn is covered with) I just built a new one today. We did have the rolling hardware from old doors, so, no cost there. If I covered the new door with wood as I wanted to, it would be too heavy. They don't roll they just hang down.
I understand that your doors would overlap, if one was open- thats our garage doors, only one can be used at a time. After two severe Canadian winters it's not a problem.
Make the sliding doors wide enough and they won't leak rain/cold air. We secure ours with turnbuckles to make them tight.
I love the look of traditional "Dutch doors" but they are dangerous for livestock, especially horses and expensive to build.

[dieselkelly]

To clarify, our sliding doors hang from a rolling track but don't roll along the ground on wheels, there is a bracket for the bottom of the door to keep the wind from grabbing it. It's just another piece of the hardware you would buy.