Making A Cross Brace Barn Door

1x6 pine boards for the back.

Making a cross brace barn door.

If your barn door doesn t have a groove in it there are roller guides and adjustable roller guides that will work. It must be said that a ledged and braced. If you want a wider opening and a double door gate isn t sufficient do some research into stronger metal brackets. Now you know how to build a diy barn door.

This is going to work as a brace for the door. Compression braces are suitable for doors where the angle between the bottom rail and the brace is greater than 45 make sure both ends of the brace have full contact with the rails put ideally two nails screws through each board into the brace. These could help keep hold your door square but this isn t guaranteed. Fasten the brace boards to each door board with deck screws measuring 1 4 inch less than the combined thickness of the brace board and door boards.

Place one of the cross brace pieces under the frame exactly where you want it using bits of scrap to support the door frame and hold it level on top of the cross piece. The simplest guide is an l shaped metal bracket that mounts to the floor and fits into a groove cut in the bottom of the door. Designed to cover a 30 inch wide opening with 4 inch casing on either side this door measures 38 inches wide by 2 inches thick by 83 inches tall. Choose the guide that works best for your door.

We often make wooden doors that match our wooden gates or garage doors. Cut the boards inch shorter than the height of the opening to allow the door to pass over the floor guide. It requires a slight investment some time patience and elbow grease. Use an impact driver to screw the screws through the 1 6 s in each of the 4 boards which make up the door.

Make the door frame to fit the opening assemble the frame only no batten boards no cross braces.