Both sides now

[LoTec]

My "new" 24'x32' shop addition is added on to the "old" shop-- a 12'x16' granary.

The door between the old and new shops was a pretty funky old sliding door that you could throw a cat through. I removed the door last summer while working on the new section (poured a slab floor, rearranged work benches, etc). It was my intent to install a better, more weather tight door between the two spaces, as sometimes I heat the old space with a small wood stove.

I was planning to install a regular hinged door; I have a used one I figured I could adapt. But I have since discerned some complications. The existing door opening is about 4" shorter than the 80" tall door. I could try to cut down the door, but I'm not sure what I'll run into inside the door. I could try to make the opening taller, but the header above the door is only a (doubled) 2x4 and it supports a ceiling joist. I am considering mounting the door flush to the outside of the wall, so the bottom extends down past the floor.

A problem with having any hinged door is that the floor level in the old shop is 3 steps higher than the new shop, so I build a 3'x3' landing in front of the door. The way the door needs to swing would be toward me as I am climbing the steps. There's not a lot of room to swing open a hinged door while standing on the landing.

So that made me think maybe I should go back to a sliding door. That would eliminate the swinging clearance problem, and when open, the door would be against the wall, out of the way.

Hopefully I could build a tighter sliding door than the one I removed. But I am looking for ideas on how to make it seal tightly while closed.

I have read some other threads on sliding doors on this forum, and a popular solution is to use the cam action latching levers sold for pole barn sliding doors. Those work well, but… they only work from one side. I think the assumption is that you are closing and latching the big sliding door that the tractor drives through, then you walk in and out through the hinged "people door."

This door is the only door between the two halves of the shop, and the only door on the old shop. I want to be able to latch and unlatch it from either side. I don't want to be in the old shop with the door latched, have a heart attack, and have my wife unable to open the door from the outside.

Any thoughts on what kind of latch would be operable from either side of a sliding door, not get in the way of the door sliding, and still pull the door tightly against the frame to achieve a weathertight seal?

 

[The Eye Of The Crider]

My "new" 24'x32' shop addition is added on to the "old" shop-- a 12'x16' granary.



The door between the old and new shops was a pretty funky old sliding door that you could throw a cat through. I removed the door last summer while working on the new section (poured a slab floor, rearranged work benches, etc). It was my intent to install a better, more weather tight door between the two spaces, as sometimes I heat the old space with a small wood stove.



I was planning to install a regular hinged door; I have a used one I figured I could adapt. But I have since discerned some complications. The existing door opening is about 4" shorter than the 80" tall door. I could try to cut down the door, but I'm not sure what I'll run into inside the door. I could try to make the opening taller, but the header above the door is only a (doubled) 2x4 and it supports a ceiling joist. I am considering mounting the door flush to the outside of the wall, so the bottom extends down past the floor.



A problem with having any hinged door is that the floor level in the old shop is 3 steps higher than the new shop, so I build a 3'x3' landing in front of the door. The way the door needs to swing would be toward me as I am climbing the steps. There's not a lot of room to swing open a hinged door while standing on the landing.



So that made me think maybe I should go back to a sliding door. That would eliminate the swinging clearance problem, and when open, the door would be against the wall, out of the way.



Hopefully I could build a tighter sliding door than the one I removed. But I am looking for ideas on how to make it seal tightly while closed.



I have read some other threads on sliding doors on this forum, and a popular solution is to use the cam action latching levers sold for pole barn sliding doors. Those work well, but… they only work from one side. I think the assumption is that you are closing and latching the big sliding door that the tractor drives through, then you walk in and out through the hinged "people door."



This door is the only door between the two halves of the shop, and the only door on the old shop. I want to be able to latch and unlatch it from either side. I don't want to be in the old shop with the door latched, have a heart attack, and have my wife unable to open the door from the outside.



Any thoughts on what kind of latch would be operable from either side of a sliding door, not get in the way of the door sliding, and still pull the door tightly against the frame to achieve a weathertight seal?

Could you modify the barn door style levered type latch mechanism and use one on either side with a shaft connecting the two? That way when you move one side the opposing side moves as well. Maybe welding a key stock on one side and square tubing on the other so as you slide the two mechanisms together they make a lot of contact for a strong slip joint. Just an idea!

 

[CraigStu]

In our last house we added a 3rd bay to the side of the 2 car garage. We pulled two studs out of the original wall so had an opening about 3.5 ft wide and 3 steps down into the addition constructed like one would for a deck. I kept thinking about doors like you through the summer for same reason-heat the new bay. Never came up w/ anything. In October I thought hanging plastic like you see in warehouses. I went to a fabric store and bought enough of their heaviest clear plastic so I had about 15 inches wider than the opening and cut it into 4 strips. I stapled them to the header as a trial. I overlapped the strips by about 2.5 inches and chose which way the overlap was according to how I'd go through the door 90% of the time. They also overlapped the side of the opening about 2.5 inches. After a week or so trial, I got piece of 1x2 and screwed it to the header so it captured the plastic where I had stapled it. It took the plastic a week or two for the folds to smooth out and hang completely flat. I had thought maybe I'd need some small weights at the bottom to help it stay in position but never needed them. It sealed in heat or cool from my little window AC and I simply walked though it. Walked through it myself or carrying stuff. It just moved out of my way. No need to have room for a moving door, no need to wonder if it was going to slam into something on the other side when opened. We lived there for another 5 years and this 'door' was the best thing I ever did.

 

[LoTec]

Thanks, CraigStu. Interesting suggestion... although winter in Wisconsin may be a bit more thermally challenging than in VA. But I guess some businesses use strip doors on freezers, etc.

I just looked up strip doors on Grainger.com, and a wide variety of products are commercially available, although a bit pricey IMHO. To test the concept, I may just repurpose the used clear plastic shower curtain we have sitting around here somewhere.