Carriage door track

[HHStang]

I'm getting ready to pour the concrete on my 35 x 70 garage tomorrow and the contractor asked me a question I'm stuck on.

I plan on having carriage doors made for the end (35' side) that are 10' x 16'. My garage will look very much like a barn in trim and architecture.

The cement guy wants to know what kind of track I want him to leave for the doors to slide in on the floor. I haven't even really thought about the doors yet, but I need to do this now or never.

Any ideas what I should do regarding the track to not slow things down?

Mike

 

[37hotrod]

Don't carriage doors just hinge on the sides like regular doors? Are you referring to large sliding doors? I thought that they usually hung from above, with rollers on a track.

 

[FunfDreisig]

If you are talking about sliding barn doors which hang from a track....

I'd plan to have a "blade" extend from the bottom of the door into a "slot" in the floor. This keeps the doors from swinging in/out in a stiff breeze AND it help seal the bottom of the door. I've done this before by simply installing a 1x1" 1/8" aluminum angle stock to the bottom of sliding doors and ripping a 1/8+" grove in a wood threshold. It works well if you make sure to install the aluminum angle so that it does not bind in the groove I'd router out the bottom of the door so that the angle stock is flush with the door.

FWIW the 42x24' garage that I'll be building this spring will have 6 - 4' wide sliding doors. The wood threshold will be a 1x6" (cedar) set in a recessed channel in the slab. I'll drain this channel with frequent weep grooves to the outside. In my case, this area will not see much water since it will be under 12' roof extension/car port that will shade the south side. I also use this technique, with much small stock, to interlock the sides of the doors.

Funf Dreisig

 

[HHStang]

The sliding doors are exactly what I'm talking about and thank you. I'd assume then that the channel is only as wide as the door opening if its part of the slab?? Maybe I'll just have him recess a 2x4 creating a 4" channel to put a cedar piece in later, when the doors are built.

 

[PAToyota]

Do you mean like this?

http://www.betterbarns.com/Hardware.asp

 

[FunfDreisig]

The sliding doors are exactly what I'm talking about and thank you. I'd assume then that the channel is only as wide as the door opening if its part of the slab?? Maybe I'll just have him recess a 2x4 creating a 4" channel to put a cedar piece in later, when the doors are built.

Remember a 2x4 is actually 1.5x3.5".

Think of the piece of cedar as a threshold like in a regular door way only recessed. It can be any width you like as long as is is wide/strong enough to stay intact when you router/rib the grove in it for the blade. It can be completely concealed when the doors are closed and flush with the slab. Or it can be wider and raised a bit like a "normal" threshold.

FWIW the ones I used on our cabin look like "normal" raised thresholds with a groove in them. But the ones I'll build into the slab of the new garage will be flush with the slab. These thresholds need to be very firmly held in place or they will bind the blade on the bottom of the door. I consider the ones for the garage 'replaceable'. So I plan to rip a larger piece of cedar to the exact dimension of the recess in the slab. That way I don't have to fasten them to the slab and can pull them up if they get too wet or damaged.

Funf Dreisig

 

[kbs2244]

Normally "barn style" sliding doors do not have a bottom track. They just hang from the top rail and, if doubled doors, are locked in place when closed with a drop rod going into a small hole. A single door will slide into a holder at the closed end.
They problem is the fit to the floor. It is hard to get them to slide free with less then a 1/2 inch gap between the floor and the bottom of the door.
This was no problem in the barn days, but we have come to expect house like weather sealing in our shops and garages nowdays.
If you make a channel, either recessed into the slab or bolted to the surface, plan on sweeping it a lot. It will fill with all kinds of dirt, sand, leaves, whatever.
You could go with an inverted angle iron threshold. It wuld be stronger then just a "blade" sticking up. The do make caster wheels with a groove in them to follow such a track.
Or you could use the broom like weather strips alon the bottom edge.

 

[FunfDreisig]

Here is a simple drawing of my plans for the sliding "barn doors" on my new garage. I will be building 6 - 4x9' doors. Smaller doors are moved more easily and allow more flexibility of opening size and location.

FWIW I know this design works. Our cabin has 8 4x8' exterior barn doors which open up 1/3rd of the total wall area. During the 18 months we've been living in our cabin, we have had ice storms, holing winds w/ driving rain, baking hot sun etc. The doors rattle a little in heavy wind. But we feel very secure in this cabin. Yes the grooves do collect a few small leaves, dust etc. but they require no more cleaning than the floor right next to the door. We use a shop vac for both.

Funf Dreisig

 

[HHStang]

Simple? Simple to me is a crayon on a sheet of paper. Very nice and thanks! Concrete is down and I have a channel.

 

[FunfDreisig]

Simple? Simple to me is a crayon on a sheet of paper. Very nice and thanks! Concrete is down and I have a channel.

Congratulations. I wish I could post that my slab was already poured

Funf Dreisig

 

[bigdav160]

I like Funf's drawing but I'd invert it. Put the channel in the bottom of the door and the blade on the ground.

 

[FunfDreisig]

I like Funf's drawing but I'd invert it. Put the channel in the bottom of the door and the blade on the ground.

I designed my doors this way because I didn't want to step on a 1/8" wide piece of metal sticking up 1"

Seriously, the way upward facing blades are usually done is to recess them into a wider groove so they don't stick up "above grade". But this leads the problem mentioned previously of dirt, leaf, etc. collection in this wider groove. And of course the door ends up slightly recessed into this wider groove which has the chance of collecting water on exterior doors.

BTW our cabin also has 6 - 4x8' sliding doors hung on three 24' tracks as a flexible room divider. With my design I have 3 - 1/8+" wide grooves in the floor about 2" apart. You hardly notice them

Funf Dreisig

 

[bigdav160]

I designed my doors this way because I didn't want to step on a 1/8" wide piece of metal sticking up 1"

I don't think you'd have to run it across the opening.

 

[FunfDreisig]

I don't think you'd have to run it across the opening.

Of course not.

But if the blade does run the full width of the doors (and hence the opening) it solves two basic flaws in hanging exterior doors which are only secured by pinch rollers or up facing blades near the edges of the opening...

1 - the inner ends of the doors must be "secured" by some other means to keep them from wobbling in and out. This is usually done with a pin for the "fixed" door and something to secure the "opening" door to the fixed door. And doors that are less than 1/2 the size of the opening require evenmore stabilization.

2 - it is very difficult to seal the under side of the door. This produces the same effect as leaving a regular garage door partially open. We all know this creates the opportunity for lots of wind blown stuff the enter the garage: leaves, dirt, water, etc.

Of course everyone has their own design parameters. So what I consider a flaw might be considered a feature by others (e.g. lack of bottom seal produces better ventilation).

Funf Dreisig