How to install barn door over wall opening?

[henrywr]

Hi everyone,
I've been a longtime reader of the workshop forum and have really enjoyed the positive and constructive community atmosphere, not to mention the numerous projects people have shared here.

I have a spare lounge room with an opening (no door), and I've been thinking about adding a sliding barn door so the room can be used as the occasional guest room.

To install the barn door track, I plan to put in a backer/headboard so I don't have to worry about lining up the track holes with the studs and also to provide clearance from the wall & floor skirting. However, some parts of the headboard will be attached to studs that don't go from floor to ceiling (I'm referring to the section above the wall opening), and I'm unsure if it will be enough to support the weight of the door.


I'm keen to hear from the community, especially if you've attempted something similar. Thanks in advance for your help

[EricL]

Hello @henrywr

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's fabulous to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about hanging your barn door.

I suggest removing the plasterboard in front of the doorway where the unsupported stud is located. Once you see the assembly, I suggest removing the centre support and adding more timber studs to provide you with more mounting points for the header board. This would also provide you with the opportunity to add more screws to the assembly making sure that the studs can hold the weight of the door.

Once you've finished with the modifications, reinstall the plasterboard and repair the joins. You can then paint the panel and once that dries off you now have a solid surface from which to mount the header board.

I've placed a diagram below to give you an idea of what it should look like once you've added more timber to the floating stud assembly. 

Let me call on our experienced members  @TedBear and @JoeAzza for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Jason]

Many thanks for your kind feedback @henrywr. Great to have you join in the discussion and share this exciting project with the community. We are looking forward to seeing it come together. Please don't hesitate to post anytime you need a hand or have something to share. 

Thanks again,

Jason

[TedBear]

Hi @henrywr,

it's really helpful that you have photos taken during construction. That saves guessing what's behind the plaster.

Although those studs that you mention, don't go from floor to ceiling they are well attached to timber-work that does. They look like they will easily support the weight of the door and track given that most of that weight will be taken up by the four other studs within the wall on the right, especially as you are providing a backboard which will distribute the weight over the full length of the track. To cover the doorway the door will be wider than the opening, so the track and backboard will have more attachment to the uprights inside the wall than to that section over the opening. 

From the drawing you provided it looks like the backing board can be screwed to many points along that piece of timber that makes up the bottom of the frame above the doorway, not just that short stud in the middle, so that will make it easier to add as many screws as you think you need.

(Check that none will get in the way of attaching the track.)

[henrywr]

Thanks all for the advice. And thanks TedBear for the tip to ensure the screws on the backing board doesn't interfere with the pre-drilled holes on the track. I feel pretty confident to tackle it now.

I'm planning to go get the materials this weekend. For the backing board, there's 110mm of space between the bottom of cornice and the opening. So I'm considering either the 89x19mm DAR pine or 110x19 DAR Tassie oak. Would that be thick enough you reckon?

Any advice for screws to attach the headboard. I have plenty of these 8G x100mm external timber screws from a garden bed project (https://www.bunnings.com.au/zenith-10-8-x-100mm-galvanised-countersunk-rib-head-timber-screws-50-pac...). Would these be suitable?

[EricL]

Hello @henrywr

It all depends on how big the barn door track is, but I suggest getting the bigger piece of timber 110x19 DAR Tassie oak. It will provide you with more room to position the barn door track. The screws you mentioned should be more than adequate to hold the timber in place. However, because of their length, I strongly advise drilling pilot holes to prevent snapping the heads off. 

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing your barn door installed. 

Eric

[henrywr]

After some delay, and spending a couple of weekends I finally got the barn door installed.

Here's how it looks from the hallway.

Here's how it looks from the inside

 

I made the door out of 17mm ply, a few 140x18mm DAR pine boards and several FJ 18x18 pine for the slats.

I initially had a much simpler plan for the door, but my wife suggested the slats, which I'm glad I did.

[EricL]

Hello @henrywr 

Thank you very much for sharing the materials you used to create the barn door, It looks awesome. Did you use screws or nails to attach the timber pieces to the ply? Did you leave it as just plain timber or did you put a finishing coat on it? Any other extra details you can share about the door assembly would be very much appreciated.

Again, thank you for sharing such a wonderful project.

Eric

[TedBear]

Hi @henrywr 

that design looks excellent from both sides. 

Putting a design element into the front door side of the barn door was a brilliant idea - especially given that your front door isn't plain.

Thanks for letting us see the end product, which looks very professional to me.

[henrywr]

Hi @EricL ,

Sure, I'm happy to share more details about the door assembly.

My initial plan was to make an oversized shaker-style door with plywood as the base and 140x19mm pine boards for the rail and stile. This also gives the door a total thickness of 35mm, which is the minimum thickness for the barn door track kit.

Making the door
The first thing was to cut the plywood to size. In my case, it's 950 x 2400mm. I went with formply over standard plywood because it provides a nice smooth surface, which meant less sanding for the other side. It also meant I needed to shave off the top coating and expose the bare wood in the areas where the pine boards would be. After trial and error with a router, I used an electric planer and the ply off-cut as a guide. The pine rail and stile were glued (using wood glue) and secured in place using brad nails while the glue dried.

Adding slats
Before attaching the slats, I roughed up one side of the ply with 36-grit sandpaper and primed and painted. Once the paint had dried, I began installing the slats. Based on the area for the slats and the width of each slat, the spacing between slats comes up to roughly 18mm. Starting from the outside, I used a wood offcut that was 18mm thick as a spacer and secured each slat using construction adhesive and brad nails. The remaining four slats in the center were then eyeballed to make it look like it had even spacing.

At this stage, I had some leftovers of the 18x18mm pine, so I fashioned some pattern for the other side of the door (the one facing the inside of the room), to minimise waste and also to provide a handle.

Finishing coat
For now, it's plain timber, in part because I wanted to see if the door would fit and also because I haven't decided if I wanted to simply add a clear coat or stain it too.

It's been up for over a week now, and last weekend I tested to see if the door would be effective in keeping lights out (so I can turn on the projector during the day) and keep the cool air from the AC in the room. Performed well on both counts so I'm extremely happy.