barn door

[jim mills]

Anyone have experience with these. I have a request to fab & install one in lieu of a pocket door , but have no experience. My concern is how close (or how far away) from the opening they hang. Notice in the attached pic, there is no base shoe . In my situation, there is base shoe and door casing, which means the door has to sit farther away from the opening. Maybe not an issue, but just looking for thoughts...thanks

[Mel Fulks]

Can't help much,but I think client might be thinking about industrial fire door look .Is it for a loft space? If so ,a metal or other smooth surface with a lot of bolt heads would be better than the wood boards.

[Tom Ewell]

Check out the hardware specs, should give standoff measurements and perhaps options available for your situation.
Did similar using Johnson Hardware's wall mounted tracks, cleared casing and base but no shoe on my installation, don't recall if there would have been enough clearance for shoe.
If the shoe is small, consider keeping the door above it or cove a small channel on the door if it's a problem.

[jim mills]

Good idea coving the door. Remember, there's a groove in the bottom of the door to accept a guide, but it would simply have to be taller than the cove.


Check out the hardware specs, should give standoff measurements and perhaps options available for your situation.
Did similar using Johnson Hardware's wall mounted tracks, cleared casing and base but no shoe on my installation, don't recall if there would have been enough clearance for shoe.
If the shoe is small, consider keeping the door above it or cove a small channel on the door if it's a problem.

[Jamie Buxton]

There's no accounting for tastes, so feel free to ignore this thought, but...

Rolling barn doors make sense to me when the door is very wide -- like on a barn. Trying to hang a twelve-foot-wide door on hinges from one jamb would be difficult. However, when the door is only 30"-36" wide, as is shown in the pic, the rolling approach loses its advantage. You can hang a 36"-wide door with hinges on the jamb. It can swing open, and stand flat to the wall just like the rolling door. And actually, the swinging door is narrower than the rolling door, because the rolling one needs to overlap the door opening. So the hinged door is more compact, it closes more tightly, it opens and closes more easily, and the hardware is less expensive. Just sayin'...

[Jerome Stanek]

Mos of the hardware has adjustment for that. I made a lot for barns and a couple for indoor rooms.

[jim mills]

Jamie, your opinion is appreciated. I haven't committed to the barn door yet. The issue is the door leads into a master bath remodel. Problem is an in-swing door interferes with the floor plan. A pocket door would be a real challenge due to plumbing & hvac interferences, and an out-swing door well, just seems backwards. Maybe I should rethink that.

[Tom Ewell]

There's no accounting for tastes, ... Just sayin'...

All one can do for a customer is to get a bead on their preferences, make a few suggestions and go with the flow. Make sure they get what they like/want and do it best you can. They're the ones who live with it after you're done, paid and gone.

[tim morris]

Jim I've done a couple of these. One was 12' to close off a theatre in a lower level. Several considerations, you can design the door high enough to clear your shoe molding, the track can be mounted standing off the wall with the correct track hangers. My installation had 1" thick casing and base and it worked perfect. Get your hardware in hand before you design the door or the opening and make sure there is plenty of backing behind the drywall for the track hangers as this type of door can get heavy really quick. The ease of operation argument is out as they work great if everything is designed and adjusted properly. Mine was regularly used by younger kids. Hope this helps.

[jim mills]

Agreed...the issue is the door is the only obstacle in the way of a master bath remodel. The barn door is one way to deal with that obstacle. :confused:


All one can do for a customer is to get a bead on their preferences, make a few suggestions and go with the flow. Make sure they get what they like/want and do it best you can. They're the ones who live with it after you're done, paid and gone.

[Jamie Buxton]

..an out-swing door well, just seems backwards...

Hmm.. the barn door will be outside the bathroom, right? It will likely spend most of its life standing open. If you use an outswing hinged door like you say, it would be standing open exactly where the open barn door will stand. However, it will be smaller, easier to move, cost less, etc.

[Mel Fulks]

If the bath was accessesed by a hall the door direction would be more important .Private to bedroom the out swing door might be better. I would not introduce a barn look or the industrial loft look just over that issue.

[Joe Kieve]

Check out these folks. They may have what you need. http://www.johnsonhardware.com/2610fb.htm

We have a small bedroom off the living room that SWIMBO uses as an office. Swinging door interferred with her file cabinet. She wanted bi-fold doors and I refused because I didn't think they would look good there. Ended up buying a 6 panel, hollow core door at the borg and sliding door hardware from the above folks. Now mama's happy!
"If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

BTW...I put the hardware on the inside of the bedroom rather than on the living room side.

[Jerome Stanek]

Take a look at accordion doors

[Tom Ewell]

264605Design wise, the door will still eat up wall space with the surface tracks but at least something could go in front of it at the open position.

The last wall mounts I did were hidden by large crown details that amounted to a pelmet assembly as shown in the picture, just need to visualize a door hanging instead of the drapes. The "antique" doors I used had to be modified to reach the rail, (she couldn't be talked into a lower crown feature over the doors... "all the crown just has to be at the same level", which was cool with me ;))

I considered adding a faux transom or more panels to the top of the doors to reach the tracks, just ended up blocking the upper and lower rails on the door to make up the dif. and it came out fine. A tall door could be ordered/made to accomplish the same.

Wall mounts can be hidden/augmented by any means of "architectural detail" that can add interest to the room

[jim mills]

It's funny how your mind gets set on something and you come up with crazy ideas. Now that you mention it, there are two closet doors in the room already, both are out-swing. Not sure why I thought having the bathroom door out-swing would be wrong.


If the bath was accessesed by a hall the door direction would be more important .Private to bedroom the out swing door might be better. I would not introduce a barn look or the industrial loft look just over that issue.

[Tom Ewell]

Ah, I thought that this was a request by the folks you're doing it for.

I'm guessing that it's more of an "executive decision" rather than a "command decision".

Yeah, outswing doors work, ran across a similar dilemma for a three foot wide by not long enough hallway powder room where an inswing would become a dance partner for the user.

Got the OK from the owner to outswing, they leave it open against the hall wall when not in use, just make sure that it is nice and plumb so it stays put if they leave it open:)

[scott vroom]

Jim, it would be helpful if you could post a couple of pics of your situation.

An out-swing door is an acceptable alternative for a bathroom where there is simply no room for an in-swing and no possibility for a pocket.

IMO, the barn door would work in a western bunkhouse-style home or an industrial-style loft but not in a contemporary design home.

Here's an out-swing WC door we installed on a recent remodel. The original door swung in but was very awkward to close once you were standing inside the small WC/shower room. Pocket was not feasible, owners didn't want bi-fold....out-swing was the best available solution.

[Joe Calhoon]

We have done quite a few of these using Tiger hardware from FFI. See the shoji style door in their ad.
http://www.fenestration.net/tophung_gallery/index.html
They are more expensive to make than a swing door but fit in well in some designs.

Joe