Double Barn Doors – What You Need To Know

STEP 1 - Choose The Barn Door

The first thing I had to do was decide which wood barn doors I wanted. Since I decided to go with two sets of double barn doors, I wanted to find something that wasn’t crazy expensive! We decided it would be way more cost-effective to purchase unfinished barn doors that could be stained or painted.

After looking around, we landed on a Knotty Pine Barn Door from Menards. We managed to find them on special buy for only $99 a piece. (FYI....they are way pricier now!) They fit in with our rustic industrial farmhouse look we were going for. Amazon also has this very similar one now if you don’t have a Menards near you.

STEP 2 - STAIN BARN DOOR

You can choose to either paint or stain your barn doors. I wanted more of a rustic look which I could achieve better with stain. This process was time-consuming but fairly easy.

The barn doors we choose were pretty much ready to be stained. I wiped them down and had to quickly sand a few areas but other than that they were ready to go.

We went with Kona Stain which is a darker brown.

STEP 2 - Barn Door Hardware

If you intend to hang double barn doors like we did you will need two sets of hardware. We got these ones from Menards, but I don’t see them there anymore.

This kit from Amazon is almost identical. One small issue we ran into was that the rail was a bit too long because of the soffit. All we had to do was cut the metal down slightly to make it fit.

STEP 4 - INSTALL

Make Sure Everything Fits

Take the time to measure what size doors you will need for the opening you have. Because we were installing these barn doors in the basement, we had the challenge of dealing with lower ceilings. We did need to trim the bottom of the door slightly in order for us to get the correct fit.

Next, you want to make sure that you have plenty of empty space so that the door fits when you slide it open. This means paying attention to light switches, thermostats, etc that might get in the way when you want to open and close the door. (Or in our case that darn soffit!).

When you measure, remember that you want the barn door to cover about 2-3 inches beyond the opening on each side. You will also want about an inch above the opening.

Have Someone Help You Install Barn Doors

I would highly recommend that you do not try to tackle this project by yourself! It definitely takes more than one person. I consider myself a pretty novice DIYer but I let my husband and our buddy handle this one on their own. (Hey- I did my part by staining them, right?!)

Decide If You Need A Backer Board

Sometimes it is necessary to install a backer board for the track to attach to so you may need one. (You need space between the wall and track). The metal track kit that we purchased for our basement barn doors included wall spacers so it wasn’t necessary for us to install a backer board.

Follow Install Instructions

Most likely, the barn door hardware kit you purchase will come with directions to install. Take the time to look it over and if you follow the instructions.

Tools Required – Double Barn Door Installation

• Barn Doors
• Hardware Kit (Metal Track)
• Barn Door Pulls / Handles (Optional)
• Barn Door Lock (Optional)
• Level
• Phillips Screw Driver
• Combination Wrench
• Measuring Tape
• Pencil
• Hex Wrench
• Drill

Basement Barn Door Handles

There are so many options for barn door handles out there it really is a personal preference. For us, we wanted to tie in our industrial elements. I wanted our basement barn doors to have larger handles and was not having much luck online. I even went as far as looking for shed handles!

Finally, I found these ones at Hobby Lobby! I always forget that they have a pretty decent selection of hardware. They also have similar ones on Amazon too.

I'm so glad we decided to go with these barn doors! If you have a little time & patience you can install some as well :)

Feel free to check out our Entire Finished Basement!