Barn Door In or Out?

[HHStang]

My 35 x 70 garage project has made a ton of progress the past few weeks and this week is exterior siding and trim time.

I have another question about my doors for my 10' x 16' door opening.

I am planning to build two carriage or barn type sliding 8 x 10 doors. Most of the barn doors I see slide on the outside of the building. I'm considering doing mine to slide inside. I would hang the track under the header.

Will this work, what issues will I have and what might I be missing?

Also, any suggestion on a lighter wood that won't warp? Any other build suggestions?

Mike

 

[Worsedog]

I'm thinking your reason for putting them inside is for a neater exterior appearance, and I'm sure that it would be asthetically pleasing. The downside that I see is that the walls the doors would slide against would have to be kept clear.

 

[Northstar9126]

That is one fantastic building that you are putting up!

 

[wrigh003]

I was watching New Yankee Workshop yesterday and noted Norm's workshop door. It's a sliding door like you describe. I noticed, though, that he built a soffit/cover for the track. Looked like it was flashed up under the siding to help shed water. Looked pretty neat, and if it's good enough for Norm...

 

[KELLHAMMER]

Placing them on the inside is fine. You definetly want the mounts to bolt into solid framing that loads onto the header and wall studs. If you are concerned about keeping the area keep consider building an interior wall to create a pocket. Most barn track hardware allows the door to be removed without disassembling the trolley from the track. Having the second interior wall will also allow to mount elec. switches to have close by the opening. Both Stanley and National Hardware make good barn track.

 

[kbs2244]

This used to be a real arguing point in the old days.
They “hang on the outside” guys claimed the wind blowing against the door would blow it tighter to the wall. Not away from the wall and let the cols air in.

The “hang them inside” guys said they looked better and the didn’t have to build any kind of roof over the track to keep the snow and ice out of it. (Of course, now days, you can buy outside tracks that have the cover built in.)

For a while I had both. Side by side doors with one sliding inside and on the outside. The inside one did let in more breeze, even little snow drifts. But the out side one was a pain to keep the little path it needed free from snow.

 

[Worsedog]

This used to be a real arguing point in the old days.
They “hang on the outside” guys claimed the wind blowing against the door would blow it tighter to the wall. Not away from the wall and let the cols air in.

The “hang them inside” guys said they looked better and the didn’t have to build any kind of roof over the track to keep the snow and ice out of it. (Of course, now days, you can buy outside tracks that have the cover built in.)

For a while I had both. Side by side doors with one sliding inside and on the outside. The inside one did let in more breeze, even little snow drifts. But the out side one was a pain to keep the little path it needed free from snow.

Hadn't thought about the snow........we don't get much here in central Florida.

 

[rsanter]

I would think that it would be easier to make the door more secure if you have them on the inside. you could also fir out the wall to make it like a 'pocket door' if you wanted to put things against that wall. or you could put a shelf there with it spaced away for room for the door.
I think it would be a good idea

bob

 

[FunfDreisig]

I was watching New Yankee Workshop yesterday and noted Norm's workshop door. It's a sliding door like you describe. I noticed, though, that he built a soffit/cover for the track. Looked like it was flashed up under the siding to help shed water. Looked pretty neat, and if it's good enough for Norm...

That's how I'll be doing mine Interior floor and wall space is at a premium. Besides, the sliding doors and the soffit/cover for the tracks are key design elements in my 42'x25' garage with 14 - 4' wide barn doors covering 56' of openings

Funf Dreisig

 

[jay50]

My 35 x 70 garage project has made a ton of progress the past few weeks and this week is exterior siding and trim time.

I have another question about my doors for my 10' x 16' door opening.

I am planning to build two carriage or barn type sliding 8 x 10 doors. Most of the barn doors I see slide on the outside of the building. I'm considering doing mine to slide inside. I would hang the track under the header.

Will this work, what issues will I have and what might I be missing?

Also, any suggestion on a lighter wood that won't warp? Any other build suggestions?

Mike

One heck of a man-cave....

 

[Crusty Nut]

Outside is easier to keep wind and wind driven rain out.

 

[HHStang]

Thanks all!

This will be trimmed out to look like a barn with carriage doors, etc. My house sits about 70 feet away and it'll match the house, a repro old farm house looking thing. That's why the steep (8/12) roof.

There is a wall dividing the three car garage side from a shop on the end. There's actually another garage door inside seperating the two sides so I can run a couple cars in that way in front of the cars parked nose in on the garage side.

I have a second level over the garage side with 700 or so sq ft that I haven't figured what to do with it yet other than storage. It'll be a while before I have money to do anything there, so I'm just not thinking about it.

The shop side is vaulted with super high ceilings. It'll be nice for natural light from sky lights and for the car lift. I used pre-engineered trusses throughout.

This is my 2nd attempt at the perfect garage. My first was great, but I have grander expectations for this one.

Any suggestions on lumber, or how the doors should be built? These'll be some big doors to move.

Mike

 

[rsanter]

I would use a steel frame work with the wood covering it
this will be more secure and less likly to warp

bob

 

[Sundowner]

8x10 is a BIG door. even for a hanging frame. You will almost surely need a serious header framed into the barn to hold that kind of weight. Tight grained doug Fir is a very popular choice for millwork in the PAc Norwest. You see it a lot on carraige doors in San Fran and Seattle. A lot of people don't like poplar, but if you pick well, it makes a nice trim wood, but don't use it for structural framing in the doors. coat the door liberally in a good protectant. There's a spar poly/ tung oil mix out there that's used for wooden boats. the name escapes me right now.

 

[Kevin54]

Why not use a roll-up that looks like the carriage style doors? That way the door is sealed when closed. The only objective I can see to that though is you would have tracks for the door on the inside.

 

[tdkkart]

I have a question/observation.
With the side by side configuration of your doors, how are you going to make the doors slide past each other in either the inside or outside configuration??

The only solution I see is to either mount the outer ones on the inside and the middle on the inside or vice-versa??

 

[FunfDreisig]

I have a question/observation.
With the side by side configuration of your doors, how are you going to make the doors slide past each other in either the inside or outside configuration??

The only solution I see is to either mount the outer ones on the inside and the middle on the inside or vice-versa??

If I understood the OP. He is using 2 - 8' wide doors to cover a 16" wide opening on the end of his garage. The usual configuration for this is a single 32' long track that extends 8' on either side of the opening. So there is no "by-pass", the left door goes left and the right door goes right regardless of whether they are mounted inside or outside.

Funf Dreisig

 

[HHStang]

The header over the big door is huge. Basically a tree gave its life to be that header. I'd extend the header 8 feet on each side to hang two tracks, 16 feet wide inside the trimmed header.

Make sense?

I like the idea of the metal frames. I'll play with that idea this weekend.

New pics!

 

[FunfDreisig]

The header over the big door is huge. Basically a tree gave its life to be that header. I'd extend the header 8 feet on each side to hang two tracks, 16 feet wide inside the trimmed header.

Make sense?..

You probably don't need to extend the "header". In fact it is kind of difficult to do so once the wall has been framed. Most walls are strong enough too carry the additional weight. You probably just need add blocking, etc on which to attach the track hangers.

Funf Dreisig

 

[HHStang]

That's basically what I meant. I'm not super versed in all the construction lingo. Thank you!

 

[d110pickup]

I like the idea of the metal frames. I'll play with that idea this weekend.

New pics!

Mike,
National Hardware makes two steel sliding door systems (Tab-Loc & Easy Frame). I'll be using it on my shop build. They also have all of the hangers tracks, etc, you'll need.
Mike

 

[kbs2244]

I made my 8x10 sliders from lap jointed 2x6's making a frame that looked like a four pane window and then paneling the frame with 1/2 plywood.
I was lucky enough to have some 4x10 sheets of plywood from an old bill board that blew down. The sign guys like the extra 2 feet and it had a special kind of almost leather like facing for the paint to stick to nice and smooth.
They were heavy, but the National Hardware tracks and trolleys worked fine. Two four wheel trolleys per door.

 

[HHStang]

Didn't someone on here make doors like this out of steel frames? Anyone remember the thread?