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three barn door questions

rieferman

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Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,586
Location
Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
1)
At the top of the steps to the 2nd story, there's about a 10 foot long x 4 foot wide opening that I would like to enclose because heat from my workshop chases up the steps (and I'd rather keep that heat near me!). The door that's there isn't very sturdy, so I want to re-do it properly. It'll end up being a trap door style.

My question: The door will be heavy once finished, so I'd like to use a weights and pulley system to assist in opening the door. Any suggestions or experiences with a system like that?

2)
From my shop to garage bay, I have an 8 foot wide opening to allow air and light through in good weather. But I want to be able to close the space to keep heat in when it's cold out. I'm interested in doing sliding doors. They will be constructed from barn siding hopefully.

My questions: How would you construct a sliding door so that it has some insulating properties to it? Any suggestions/experiences with hanging this sort of door so that it seals nicely when shut? (100% efficiency isn't critical, just trying to stop gushing cold air)

3)
Old dutch barn door that leads from my shop to my finished office space is leaking air like crazy allowing colder shop to cool down a space I don't want to be cooler. But I like the look of the old door. It's made of 1 inch thick old barn siding.

My question: Similar to question 2 possibly.. Any ideas for insulating/sealing that style door to reduce the leakage while also keeping some of the character? Maybe good enough to just seal the edges, or is adding some R-Value to the entire surface critical? (office gets 3 hours use per day)
 
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JoelS

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Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
9
I built a door for my second floor entrance by pocket screwing and gluing some laminated beams together and then making some trim pieces out of white plastic trim material, let me find the thread here on GJ, there are some pics
 

bimmer1980

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Feb 5, 2009
Messages
2,104
Location
York, PA
#1 --Make a frame with 1x or 2 lumber and then sheath the one side with 1/2 or 1/4 plywood. then fill with celluous insulation and cover with another layer of 1/2 or 1/4" wood. Or make a sandwich of 2" polystryrene and add a layer of plywood or structure wood for the hinges. depending on the overall weight, you could also think about using a couple of shocks from a hatchback trunk.

#2--Here I would make a sandwich of polystryrene and plywood with a 2x perimeter. Then mount your hardware and barn sheathing and call it a day....

#3--sounds like the majority of your heat loss is simply thru air moving thru the cracks. I would get some soft weather stripping with an adhesive back and just layer it up on the mating surface until it seals. you can buy 3/16" by 1" weather stripping at various places. you can also check at a body shop for weatherstripping is the big box stores don't have it.
 
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rieferman

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May 18, 2009
Messages
2,586
Location
Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
nice, that's what I'm talking about! That gives me something to think about.

regarding #1, interesting idea about the hatchback trunk option

regarding #2, do you happen to have a favorite, reasonable source for the sliding barn door hardware?

regarding# 3, I agree.. I feel like that in a room that is not in constant use, having a door's worth of low R-Value (considering the rest of that room is R19 with good double paned windows) doesn't really kill you. Seal up the air leaks and call it a day.
 
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RPH

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Dec 17, 2006
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Location
Michigan Thumb
Use a pulley with counter weight to help open trap door. Play around with the weight until you get the feel you like.
 
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rieferman

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May 18, 2009
Messages
2,586
Location
Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
Joel - wow man, we need to see a build thread from you! nice looking barn!

RPH - yeah, I think for the trap door a pulley into the roof rafter with a nice weight is as easy as it gets.

thanks chaingang! I'll check those out for sure
 

rsanter

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Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,523
Location
visalia ca
for the sliding door I would build it like a section of a wall with rigid foam insulation on the inside of the sandwich.
the inner layer can be thin plywood and the outer layer can be the barnwood

for the dutch door you need a rubber sealing flap to bridge the gap

bob
 
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