Locking the barn door?

[HHStang]

So the frame is built, I have it covered and now I'm trying to secure it.

I have two 8' x 10' doors on a 32' track.

I want to lock it from the outside, so I'm planning on using a hasp type of device. How can I lock it from moving from side to side though? I can lock both doors together, but then both doors can be slid open.

Thanks all.

Mike

 

[CraigFL]

Lock it with a hasp on each end to the fixed frame?

 

[HHStang]

Lock it with a hasp on each end to the fixed frame?

??? Not sure what you mean?? Hasp the door to the door frame maybe? I'd only have to do one side I guess. I'm really not sure how else I could do it.

 

[HHStang]

Maybe I could make some sort of center stop on the track? Anyone have an idea on that??

 

[CraigFL]

I'm guessing you have two doors on a single track where both are needed to block the opening. If you block the opening with both and hasp them together at the middle, they just move like one door and your garage could be opened by moving the pair either to the left or right. In order to secure a door, the moving part must be hasped to a fixed part like the door frame. Since you don't have a fixed part in the middle, and you probably don't want it because it block the opening, you need to hasp the door not in toward the center but at the other end. When the door is closed, the other end of the door should be near the fixed door frame so you can do this. The only thing is that you will have two hasps and need to open both in order to get the full opening.

 

[R1chy]

Maybe this picture will help - Within the circled areas are my barn doors secured to the structure (posts) - hasps on the door connected to "eye" bolts on the posts.

I presume you have a single track for both doors. In my case I have seven doors along the one side of my barn, so I have two tracks with the doors staggered on both tracks. This way adjacent doors can bypass each other to open them. No matter, the use if of hasps to lock the doors are the same.

In the left circle is a hasp holding an open door in place (you can see two sliding doors in this part of the picture with the hasp on the door on the outside track). In the right circle is a hasp holding an closed door in place. Note - Like in the picture I secure the doors when open to keep the wind from whipping up behind them and dragging them off the track.

Regret I don't have better pictures, I had to use a set within those on hand and my barn is about an hour away in the Shendoah

Good luck, R1chy

 

[scofo]

There is hardware available to pin one door to the threshold from the inside edge, then hasp both doors together at the center on the outside. It is an oversized bolt that is mounted vertical. Look at the fence and gate hardware at the store.

 

[bahamasair]

Put a bolt through the middle of the track so when the doors are closed they hit it. That way they cant act as one big door when you lock them together.

 

[FunfDreisig]

Maybe I could make some sort of center stop on the track? Anyone have an idea on that??

The cheapest and most common way to do this is to install a drop pin in one of the doors right next to the center opening. This fixes one door and allows the other one to be padlocked to it via a hasp. To open the doors you unlock the hasp and slide open one door (usually the right hand door as you face it from the outside). Most of the time this is all you really need to open. But if you want both doors open, you just reach down and pull up the drop pin on the left door to open it.

The drop pin is 1/2" diameter solid metal bar bent into an upside down L with a tapered point on the long end and little" ears up near the top that allow it to be raised and held up in the bracket attached to the door. The long end fits into a 1/2" hole in the slab or wooden track. You can get these a Home Depot or Lowes. Look in the area where they have gate latches.

Funf Dreisig

 

[scofo]

Excellent idea Bahamasair, cheap and easy.

 

[kbs2244]

The problem with the drop pin into a hole in the floor is that the hole gets full of dirt and you end up not bothering to use it.
I would go with 3 locks.
One in the middle and one at each side of the door.
Or at least pins of some sort at each side.
One of the problems with sliding doors is that it not that hard to pull them away from the building at the bottom enough so that you can wiggle in.
You need some way to stop that.

 

[FunfDreisig]

The problem with the drop pin into a hole in the floor is that the hole gets full of dirt and you end up not bothering to use it.
I would go with 3 locks.
One in the middle and one at each side of the door.
Or at least pins of some sort at each side.
One of the problems with sliding doors is that it not that hard to pull them away from the building at the bottom enough so that you can wiggle in.
You need some way to stop that.

He has 2 8' wide barn doors covering a 16' wide opening on the side of the garage. It is pretty unlikely that he will need to have both doors open a lot. So the drop pin is likely to be in the hole most of the time to keep the dirt out BTW I have four drop pins on the eight barn doors which create two walls of our cabin and have never had trouble with them filling up with dirt, etc.

FWIW I think he installed a slot in the slab that would allow him to put "blades" on the bottom of the doors. This secures the doors from being pulled away and keeps debris from blowing in under the doors.

Funf

 

[HHStang]

Yes-yes and yes.


Thanks all! I'll post updated pictures tomorrow or Monday. Its turning out NICE!

 

[boiler7904]

My friend's machine shed on the farm has a eyebolt lagged into the post at each side of the opening. It also has one on each leaf of the sliding door. They have a turnbuckle with a hook on one end and a loop on the other. Pass the hook through an eyebolt and the door can't move. There is also a metal rod on each door between two framing members where the doors meet in the middle with a small piece of chain that connects the two. Their sliding doors all have a small steel "H" embedded vertically in the concrete at the center of the opening to prevent the doors from sliding too far one way. also helps hold the door in place during wind.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

If the building has a mandoor, you probably should consider securing the sliding doors inside only, pinning to holes in the floor, pinning bolting, turnbuckling, etc, to the end frames, etc. and using the mandoor for primary entry and exit. This will make for a much more secure building.

Charles

 

[Pate]

They make a special strike that prevents dirt build up from the floor. The one I mostly sell is made by Ives Hardware # DP-2.