Hello there!
Today’s post is a practical one, and not too exciting, but a great reference. I’ve had a few questions on how to measure for barn doors and barn door hardware – so I thought the easiest way to show this was in picture form!
Here’s my barn door I built a few years ago. At the time, barn door hardware was super pricey – so I made a DIY track out of piping and eye rings. It’s not the smoothest operation, but it works well for our purposes.
How to measure for a sliding barn door:
Do you have the space?
You need to have double the width of the door opening on a blank wall. This is so when the door way is completely open, the barn door can be slid out of the way.
So if you have the space, how do you know what size track and door you need??
Here’s the idea…
For the door width: measure the door opening, add a few inches to this measurement (about 6 inches or so – depending on how much space you have) and this will be the total door width.
To measure the size of the track you need: take the above measurement of your door and double it. This will be the length of track you need (at a minimum).
**You can see in this photo, my track is longer than double the door, and I did that because I had extra space and wanted to clear the light switch.**
For the door height: Figure out where you want the track mounted (I chose to mount it about half way between the ceiling and the top of the doorway). Measure from there to the floor for your door height. You will usually just want the sliding barn door to be just an inch or so bigger than the height of the opening.
Keep in mind when you are designing your barn door, the back of it will give you a totally different look when closed. Depending on how much your door is closed, you may want to add a cross bar, or other decorative piece to the back of the door. If you do this, be sure whatever you add will be able to clear the sliding operation.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, barn door hardware has become MUCH more affordable. Here are a few that I’ve used on custom barn door installations lately, and I wanted to give you a few links to get you started on your search.
The following links are affiliate links from Amazon. Any affiliate sales from these links go to support more fun blog projects 🙂 To see my full disclosure policy, click here.
This is classic black barn door hardware, all you do is select the track length you need.
And here’s a pair of really sharp handles I used recently. They are just perfect for the classic barn door look.
Here’s another example of a fun spin on barn door hardware – stainless steel. I used this in the beachy barn door I built. It moves super smoothly, and although the instructions weren’t fantastic, the install wasn’t too bad.
Here’s a close up of the door hardware, that finishes off the door just perfectly.
So there you have it, how to measure AND my favorite barn door hardware!
Until next time,
Jenni
