Barn Door Track question

[Doug1]

I am putting a couple of doors on the front of my garage / shed to allow light in while I am in there. The opening is 8'x10'. Currently it has an insulated roll up door and I want to not feel so closed in when I am working in there.

I took a pair of 15 light wooden French doors that I removed from an interior room when remodeling and had a cabinet maker join wood to them so they are now each 5.5 ft wide and 8.5 ft tall. I'm hanging them from a track since they are very heavy and could use some advice on how much clearance to leave underneath them. I also want to have some sort of mild weatherproof seal since I will be running AC during the summer and heat during the winter when I am working in there.

The doors are primarily for keeping the climate control in, while giving me a much better view. The roll up door will still be in place to provide security when I lockup.

 

[Thruxton]

If your track mounting is secure, there should be almost no sagging of those doors once hung (I'm assuming you've looked at total door weight and load capacity of the hardware you are using). That means you can get by with pretty minimal clearance, so that weatherproofing is fairly easy. The only downside to minimal clearance is the doors snag on any detritus from the driveway etc. Post a pic when you're done, this sounds interesting!

 

[jbs]

That sounds awesome. Please post pics when you are done.

I agree with Thruxton. The barn door tracks won't sag since the doors are supported from the top anywhere along their length of travel. I think for clearance you would just need to account for any irregularities in the floor.

I think a brush seal would work well.

 

[Okie Pete]

I have 2 doors 10'x15' made of 1 1/4" sq tubing covered with barn tin. Hanging off barn track with no problems . You just have to find rollers that will handle the weight of your doors.
You could put a turnbuckle fixed on the wall that you could hook to the doors when they are closed . To pull them tight to the face of the garage opening for a better seal .

 

[AndyL]

Just a suggestion... go to your supplier and order a kit

Seriously, they have kits with full dimensioned drawings - you buy them buil the door to suit - drop the hardware in as layed out in the drawing... theres nothing to figure out. The weatherstrip (usually a 2nd optional package) same thing - if you layed out the door as directed; its just mounting the weatherstrip to the door / jamb.

 

[Doug1]

After looking at it, I am going to go get a couple of 2x6s to run the width of the building to which I will attach the tracks. It will also give me something to mount a valance to in order to cover the track.

 

[RickP]

That sounds like it will work great. I'd love to have a couple doors like that for my garage.

 

[captaindiode]

You can get a preformed valance/flashing to cover the track from a supplier that sells metal siding.

 

[AndyL]

The supplier I use - includes that flashing, when you buy the weatherstrip package... but I think it needs a 2x10 for mounting...

 

[Doug1]

Here is a pic of the doors at the cabinet makers after he added some wood to them.

I may need to make these thicker with some 1x4 trim.

 

[Doug1]

Got them mounted for trial fitting...

Going to really look good at night once it is all done