How to DIY a Barn Door

The DIY Playbook
by The DIY Playbook
7 Materials
$250
2 Days
Advanced
Here’s what the plain closet corner looked like before we started this project.

The closet doors are not awful or damaged, I just think a little DIY love (and color) in this corner can make a big difference.

Before we even started the project, I did a lot of research on barn doors and tracks. I thought about buying a barn door and track instead of DIY-ing, but because my closet doors are two doors instead of one, the sizes I needed would require a custom order… with a HUGE price tag.

I did a lot of research and eventually decided to DIY the door and buy a made-to-order track from Amazon ( this one!). I chose to go with an 8 ft. track that was by far the most affordable I could find, and it can hold up to 300 lbs!


The only negative about this made-to-order track system was that the pre-drilled holes on the track did not match up to the studs in my wall. This meant if I hung the track without first hanging a “header” onto the wall to support the track, I would be drilling into drywall and not catching studs. Up to 300 lbs of track + door would never be supported without hitting studs, so I was forced to add a 1 x 8 (painted the same color as the wall) for extra reinforcement.


Rookie Tip: If your track matches up with your studs (or if you want to drill new holes in the track) maybe you can skip this step, but I did not have that option.




So after the piece of wood was cut to size (about 2 inches longer than the 8 ft track), I primed and painted it so it would blend with the existing wall color as much as possible. Then I set out to hang that sucker on the wall by first finding and marking all of the studs in my wall.


Then we drilled pilot holes on the wood and held the wood up, making sure it was level. Once we tripled checked that the board was level and lined up with the studs, we used 2″ stainless steel screws and screwed the board into place. This step took at least two people and some serious muscle to make sure the screws were screwed as far into the studs as possible.


Rookie Tip: If I were to do this step again, I would use lag bolts instead of screws. Not that the screws didn’t do their job, but lag bolts would be even stronger. And in a situation like this, the stronger… the better! 




Once the header was installed, it was time to hang the track top of the header. We held up the track and made sure it was level before marking where each of the screws needed to be placed. Then we put the track back on the floor and drilled pilot holes into the header at those marks.


Rookie Tip: The track NEEDS to be exactly level before moving on because this will ensure the barn door will glide properly and not on its own. There is NO room for error… the track needs to be level, no exceptions! 


To read a detailed tutorial about the remaining items on our Barn Door to-do list, check out this post 
Suggested materials:
  • Barn Door Hardware
  • Stud Finder
  • Level
See all materials
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