Featured List

Make Your Own Sliding Barn Door - For Cheap!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

If you're on Pinterest as much as I am, then you know sliding barn doors are, like, design crack right now. They seem to work with just about every style, from ultra modern to shabby chic to vintage industrial, and they SLIDE OPEN. C'mon. That's just awesome.

So naturally, I wanted a barn door for our laundry room makeover, if only because I can't find anywhere else in the house to fit one. John and I looked for sliding barn door hardware online, and the cheapest price we could find was about four hundred dollars - and that's just for the hardware!

You guys already know what happened next: John thoughtfully examined the hardware and announced, "I can TOTALLY make that."

And so he did:


The total cost for this door - wood and hardware combined - was less than $100. LESS THAN $100, YOU GUYS.

Here's the breakdown:

Wood - $40
Wheels - $30
Metal rails & tubing - $25

If you already have the door, then that's only $55 for the hardware - $55 versus $400. It doesn't require nearly as many power tools as you might think, either: just a strong drill and an angle grinder with a steel cutting disk to cut the metal rails. (If you're making the door, you'll also need a circular saw - or a hand saw and a whole bunch of patience. :D)

So...you ready for this?! Then let's get to it.

There are several ways to make a simple plank door. We used exterior tongue-and-groove board normally used for house siding:

 (The opposite side is a classic bead board.)

Stick the boards together with plenty of wood glue, and then secure them with ratcheting straps for a tight fit while the glue dries. The three skinny boards you see on top there aren't attached; they're just there to act as a brace for the straps and to make sure the door doesn't bend:
 
Lock those straps down tight!

Once the glue has dried the next day, attach cross-boards to the door, if you like. (You don't have to, but they do add extra support & visual interest.) Here I've also distressed my door by banging it up with a hammer and screw:



Now stain or paint the door to your preference:

I stained mine to match the cabinet doors we just made.

Now, on to the hardware!

You'll need two 2.5 inch pulleys that look like this:

Lowe's and Home Depot didn't have them, but John finally tracked some down at Ace Hardware.  (I also found some here on Amazon for about $13 each.) The only part of the pulley you need is the center wheel, though, so pull the center pin and pop that out:


Now take a bar of 1.5 inch solid steel (available at any hardware store), and stick one end of it in a table vise:


Bend it down as you see John doing here. (This really doesn't require a lot of strength; the leverage of the bar does all the work for you.) The hook you've just made is what's going to hold your wheel.

You need to clean up the hook shape, though, so next remove it from the vise and bang the bend flat with a hammer:

You want to get a nice, sharp bend, so go ahead and hammer the point all the way down if you have to.

Odds are you'll have to flatten it a bit too far, so now pry the hook back up a bit:


...and then slip the pulley casing in to get the distance right:


Go ahead and hammer on the steel with the casing inside; you won't be needing the case for anything, so it doesn't matter if it gets banged up.

Now test the fit with your wheel; it should fit perfectly, with just the right amount of wiggle room on either side of the wheel:

 John is holding the wheel in place with his thumb; it should *not* be a tight fit.

That's one bracket done! Now cut your bar to whatever length your door requires:

 Spaaaarky.

And repeat the whole process for bracket number two.  (You can see here that John bent both hooks on either side of the bar and then just cut it in half.) You may also want to grind down your cut edges, in case they're too sharp.

When you have both brackets ready, it's time to attach the wheels. Drill a hole straight through each hook, piercing both layers of steel:

Your wheel will be supported by a pin placed through these holes. The original pulley pin will probably be just a hair too short, so you may need to get a slightly longer bolt with a nut to hold it in place.

Also drill holes lower down on your bar where you want the screws to go - the ones that will attach the bracket to your door.

Right. If you plan to paint your hardware, now's the time to do it!


We used a flat black metal primer. (I plan to age it with a little sanding later.)

Attach your bar brackets to your door. I didn't grab a photo before we hung the door, but here's a close-up of the hardware:


Now all that's left is the rolly bar!

This bar is the same 1.5 inch solid steel as the door brackets, so just cut it to the length you'll need for over your doorway, and then drill holes spaced roughly 2 feet apart down the length of it. Make sure you drill these holes in the lower third of your bar, not directly in the middle.

Now my lovely hand model will demonstrate how this bar will attach to your wall:


Ok, so here you've got a honkin' (technical term) concrete anchor in John's right hand. That goes in the wall. That long screw sticking out goes in the anchor. Between the steel bar and the anchor is a half-inch steel tube, cut to about two inches in length. The tube acts as your spacer - very important. Each of the holes you drilled in your bar will have this same set up.

When it's installed, your bar should look something like this:

Note again that the bolts are located on the lower third of the bar, not the middle. This is important because you want your door's wheels to be able to roll over the bolts without hitting them.

Ok, so get this: YOU'RE DONE! All you have to do is lift your door into place on the track, and get to sliding!

WHEEEE!!


I can't even tell you how much cleaner-looking this is, guys, so I'll just show you:


That's all the stuff it's covering up: pretty much our entire pantry. The door does overlap the edge by about four inches when it's open (the wall wasn't quite big enough for it to slide back further), but that's not an issue for us. Finally - no more clutter, and no more dusty cereal boxes!

Oh, nearly forgot: you'll also want to install some kind of a door stop, so your door doesn't go banging into the corner wall or flying off the track. Our stop is a simple L bracket padded with black rubber on the lower part of the wall by those two pipes. You can also install a stop on the rolly bar itself, though. Totally up to you.

I've outlined the basics here, but if you want a much more detailed barn door tutorial (complete with diagrams and precise measurements), head over to this post by Jill of Baby Rabies. There may be some slight differences, but overall it's the same techniques we used. (And I found it - where else? - on Pinterest. Ha!)

Well, hope you guys liked seeing the next stage of our laundry room makeover! We're still not done, of course; next I'll show you our plumber's pipe shelving and the super fun and steampunky way we've devised to hide our water heater. That bit's not quite finished yet, though, so believe me when I say I'm probably WAY more excited to see this than you guys are. ;)

Posted by Jen at 2:00 PM Labels: , ,

35 comments:

  2. Simply GORGEOUS! I am completely and totally jealous of this door, and the first thing I did was make a mental picture of my house to see if I could fit this in anywhere. Sadly, it seems I will have to go barn door-less for now

    ReplyDelete

  3. Wow, this looks so fantastic! It is beautiful! I have wanted one of these in my laundry room for ages.

    For those of us without a handy guy (sob), there is a cheaper alternative to the majority of wall-mounted door hardware. It is not pretty out of the box, but with a little iron-look spray paint, you can make it look pretty good. It is rated for much lighter doors than the majority of barn hardware, so I'm guessing that's part of the cost savings. Who needs a 400lb door in their laundry room, though?

    http://www.jhusa.net/2610F.aspx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Thanks for this link! We don't have a John at our house, but we can assemble a kit! Need a double door to close my living room off from the rest of my house, but the room opens into the front hall, so no space for regular swing doors.

      Delete

  4. I love this so much! Thank you...I really want to put a sliding door in the apartment I'm creating in a loft, but didn't think it would fit in my budget. Totally will, now! I'm going for more of an industrial vibe so will hopefully be able to attach scrap metal (cut from old car doors??) to plywood vs using nice wood. *happy dance*

    ReplyDelete

  5. The tutorial is awesome! I would so love to have a barn door somewhere in my house. Not sure where I would put it though. :/

    And... completely random... but I have that Cake or Death shirt too! Cake or Death? I'll take cake! (As long as the cake isn't a lie!)

    ReplyDelete

  6. I have loved being able to watch you redo your laundry room. you two are awesome. I wish I had half the talent you did. Thanks for the great ideas.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Great Job Jen & John! It looks fabulous! I am making pipe shelving in my house right now too, can't wait to see your tutorial on it. Thanks for sharing, I am always glad to see what you have been up to.

    Jen, just remember that cooking is just DIY with food. You can do it! Be-friend your body and make it tasty, good stuff. (I try to treat my body like it was one of my good friends, really is a great piece of advice.) It really is fun and food that turns out wonky is just another adventure. Good luck!

    Hugs,
    ~yet another Jenn
    (although in Forest Grove)

    ReplyDelete

  8. Finally an affordable tutorial for the barn door that we can do. LOVE IT!!! We are definitely using this for our bedroom.

    ReplyDelete

  9. You and John are nifty.

    ReplyDelete

  10. John is my hero! A Handy Hero! Love that door, I cannot wait to see the whole room.

    ReplyDelete

  11. Do you need to worry about the door falling off the rail? Or the bottom half swinging away from the wall? I've had terrible luck with pocket doors, and this seems like the same pitfalls could occur.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. The wheels on the door are riding inside the groove between the wall-mounted iron bar and the wall, so there's really no way *that's* jumping out. (You'd have to lift the door up and over the rail to get it off.) Now, the door *can* swing out a bit on the bottom as you slide it, so you can add bottom guide rails to keep it rolling snug against the wall. If you check the Baby Rabies tutorial, you can see the ones they added. (They have young kids, and didn't want the kids pulling on the door. For us, though, I don't think the bottom guides are necessary.)

      Delete

  12. Wow! Seriously you two need your own DIY tv show. You're amazingly talented.

    ReplyDelete

  13. This is so great! I've been wanting to do this on an actual barn I converted my garage into, but the hardware was prohibitively expensive! Now I can start planning and my goats will be so much cozier! Thanks!

    As to the question about the door swinging away from the wall, you could either use the things made for closet doors, or another L-bracket on the floor.

    ReplyDelete

  14. LOVE this!! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete

  15. If you cloned your hubby and sold the copies, you'd make billions.

    ReplyDelete

  16. Love how you break it down so simply, I'm roaming my house to find an excuse to make one for us!!

    ReplyDelete

  17. Your pantry is in your laundry room?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I think lots of people (myself included) have, or have had at some point, combination pantries/laundry rooms. Space-wise, there is sometimes no other option.

      KW

      Delete

    2. Yep, we have a very small house! The room is located at the end of our galley kitchen. It's been quite the challenge redoing it, what with the washer & dryer, pantry, water heater, and cat box in there. 0.o We have a TON more storage space now, though. You'll see!

      Delete

  18. Best laundry room ever! And there is more you say? Can't wait.

    ReplyDelete

  19. Wow, that door is beautiful and inspirational. I want to make everything now.

    No one has yet mentioned how much fun it is to see what's in your pantries? (I kept checking to make sure I didn't forget the "r" in that last word.)

    I'm really looking forward to seeing the final results of your laundry room project. Maybe you'll motivate my lazy butt to finish up the kitchen renovations I started last summer.

    You guys are awesome, and I'd like John to know that he is especially sexy in welder's mask and operating a spark-spewing grinder. Meeee-YOW! Can you give us an update on his recovery from Mountain Dew addiction? Has he managed to stay clean?

    Thanks for CakeWrecks and Epbot and for all your hard work. I strive to become as ambitious and hardworking as you one day.

    KW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I wrote "panties" at least once in one of these posts - thankfully I caught it before publishing. Ha! And I just read your comment to John, who got all flustered and cute. :D

      Thanks for the reminder to do a 'Dew update; I've been meaning to write one for ages! It's going on the list right now. (And yes, John's still clean! He tells me he now has a better understanding of what true addiction must be like, though; it's been a real struggle, and he STILL fights the craving.)

      Delete

  20. You and John both need to come to my house. YOU'D HAVE SO MUCH FUN.

    I think I'm going to put a slidey door for my half bath. It opens up (get this) INTO THE DINING ROOM. Who needs THAT? But if I put a slidey door it would be much less invasive. Hmm...

    ReplyDelete

  21. While I love the door, and the whole room make over, really, I must confess I sort of sped through this post because I have absolutely no chance of making this with my current skill set. I did, however, slow down and back up when I read "...now cut your bra to whatever length your door requires...". WHAT? Oh. BAR. Cut your bar.

    Andrea

    ReplyDelete

  22. P.S. I also love John(thoJ)'s T-shirt.

    Andrea

    ReplyDelete

  24. How I love this! The best part is, you can build the door to fit the size of your space. I have a couple of oddly-sized spaces in my house that I'd love to cover up with sliding doors. The only problem is, I wouldn't be able to run a bar along a wall and slide the door to cover a recessed space like your pantry. For example, my laundry area is along one wall in my kitchen (small houses are weird). I'd love to just hang a track from the ceiling somehow (complicated because we have a sunken ceiling) and hang two sliding doors. I'm not sure how to do it, but now that I've seen this, I must find a way.

    ReplyDelete

  25. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/video/0,,20559587,00.html

    Another similar take on the sliding barn door by contractor Tom Silva. you will want to skip to scene 6 for just the door. Great doors, love the website, been following you for a year.

    Cheers!
    msw

    ReplyDelete

  26. Gosh Darn It ! Where were you when I spent the $400 ??? Well, one thing's for sure - I won't spend another $400. Thank you !!!!

    ReplyDelete

  27. What a fabulous tutorial! I'll have to keep this in mind for when *I* get a house.

    On another note, I'm surprised you haven't tried your hand at bookbinding yet -- it seems like something that would be right up your alley. I hear coptic stitching works great, but it's not like I have any experience (yet,) so I can't judge for myself.

    Lookin' forward to tomorrow's "Cake Wrecks" post!

    ReplyDelete

  28. Wow, I'm so impressed with this tutorial. I'm a handy woman and build everything myself and I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself, as barn door hardware is absurdly expensive! I'm building a small barn for goats and wanted a sliding door. Thank you so much for this well-thought-out tutorial!

    ReplyDelete

  29. Love this. Thanks so much for the clarity and the photos. Wonder if I can actually bend and cut that steel, though! Actually, I don't even have a vise, hmmm...

    ReplyDelete

  30. thank you, thank you, have been trying to figure out where to buy the pulley wheels from, some are wood, some metal, have old turn of the century doors that I wanted to mount. thanks again

    ReplyDelete

All comments are moderated, so please allow a few hours for yours to be posted. Also, including a link? Then use your html cheat sheet: <a href="LINK ADDRESS">YOUR TEXT</a>

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts with Thumbnails