How to Build and Install a Barn Door

I’ve (Vicki) been wanting to replace the door to my laundry room because it opens into the room making the space feel and function smaller than it really is. I thought a sliding door would free up the space.
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Before
We started by picking Everbilt sliding door hardware available at Home Depot. We read the instructions and sketched a simple plan of what we wanted the door to look like.


The main structure of the door is a piece of plywood—to achieve the thickness needed for the hangers, we bought 1x3 lumber to make a frame.
Materials:


- Everbilt Sliding Door Hardware (Home Depot)


- Plywood (Home Depot)


- Marker board (Home Depot)


- 1x3 Red Oak (Home Depot)


- 1x4 Poplar (Home Depot)


- Door Handle (Ikea)


- JB Weld (Amazon)


- Construction Adhesive (Home Depot)


- DAP Rapid Fuse (Amazon)


- Kilz Primer and Sealer (Home Depot)


Tools:


- Drill/bits


- Table Saw


- Kreg jig (Amazon)


- Kreg face clamp (Amazon)


- Sander
First we gave the plywood front, back and sides a good sanding. Then we painted the front, back and sides with Kilz primer and sealer.
Next the instructions show the door needs a groove at the bottom for the floor guide to pass through. We made one small cut with a table saw then we moved the table saw guide slightly and did another pass to create the width we needed.
To join the boards together, we used a Kreg jig. A Kreg jig makes pocket holes which makes it easy to screw boards together. After we made all our pocket holes, we put the 1x3 boards in place and screwed them together.


After all four boards were connected, we flipped over our frame so the pocket holes didn’t show.


Then we clamped the frame to the plywood and used wood screws to attach.
We headed back to the table saw to rip the marker board down into 6” slats. It was very helpful to do this as a team and communication and safety are key.


Next we sanded the edges of each slat to give it a little distressed look.


Then we laid all the slats on top of the plywood. We used a caulking gun with heavy duty adhesive attach.
After it dried, we took the door inside and measured and marked the placement for the hanger holes. We pushed the hex bolts through the holes from the back, put the hanger in place and attached the remaining hardware.
By reading the instructions, we found that if the rail did not line up to the wall studs, we needed to install a header board on which we would attach the rail.


We got the placement of the header board and marked the studs. We predrilled the screw holes into the header board.


We finished attaching our header board and then marked and drilled our pilot holes for the rail. Using a ratcheting wrench we screwed the rail into place.
We put the door in place and attached the door stops to each end of the rail. We placed the anti-jump disks to the top of the door. We attached the floor guide at the bottom (check out our website for more details on this).
And done! For more details visit our website!
Mother Daughter Projects
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 8 questions
  • Laurie Kilts Laurie Kilts on Oct 18, 2016
    What size was the plywood - dimensions as there are all thickness of plywood and do the instructions that come with the Everbilt door harware work for only a specific size door?
  • Teri Nelson Teri Nelson on Oct 19, 2016
    How sound resistant are they & can you lock them securely?
  • Jake Fair Jake Fair on Jun 06, 2018

    can you add the materials?


Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 36 comments
  • Terri T Terri T on Jun 30, 2018

    We will try this project.

  • Larrythelogger Larrythelogger on Jan 01, 2019

    I love barn doors and have three in my farmhouse from old doors. I've never made my own door but will be doing so in a barndominium I'm building for my autistic son since old doors are getting to be ridiculously expensive. Speaking of expensive, Amazon carries the same quality of hardware for 1/3 the price. I love Home Depot but am cheap and always looking for less expensive alternatives that are just as good. The HD Everbilt barndoor hardware set in your video looks like the set that costs around 100 dollars. Amazon carries the same quality barndoor hardware for 36.99. If you're a prime member, it's free shipping. I have one set of Everbilt hardware and two from Amazon. Exact same quality and material. Thanks again for your video.

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