Note: This tutorial shows how to build a barn door from scratch using salvaged wood and does not detail making or hanging the track hardware.
UPDATE: As I continue to grow and learn from my successes and mistakes, I've come to better understand how wood moves. Unfortunately, because of the movement of wood, my barn door has some splits in it. I now know that using pocket holes was not a good approach for joining the barn door wood together. Rather, a loose tenon joint probably would have been the best option, or even just glue without the screws. Oh well, it's always good to learn better ways of doing things!
I'm thrilled to finally be finished with my barn door project! I removed the old door, put up and painted new casing and installed the hanging hardware months ago, but I kept running up against a mental and creative block when it came to the door itself. I wanted something unique and a little bit gritty, so I searched through tons of salvage shops but nothing was just right - wrong look, wrong size, not to mention fairly expensive (character pieces often are in shops like these). So, I decided, to get what I want - character without breaking the bank - I'll just have to make the door myself.
Last fall I spent hours clearing out a once-beautiful (I imagine) but seriously overgrown garden that came with our house when we bought it. I waged battle with the thorns - wild blackberries, roses, and who knows what else - and came out the victor with only minor cuts as my battle wounds! The cleared space now offers us a beautiful view of mountains and sea that was previously obscured. And bonus - this job was a brilliant excuse for me to buy the insanely useful and much coveted Sawzall, something that has been on my wish list for years!
The right photo shows the garden about halfway through the battle. Believe it or not, buried way beneath my thorny adversary, were several raised garden beds. The wood surrounding them was still in decent shape and had reached a beautiful gray patina stage. Plus, it had tons of character knots and holes, perfect for my barn door!
Even after collecting enough wood for the project, I was still stalled. My muse had left me and the wood sat in the yard...then in the garage for months. But as spring was starting to emerge, and with it warmer weather, I found myself itching to create.
While walking on the beach "shopping" (as my husband calls it), I found the most perfect piece of driftwood to use as my barn door handle - the pièce de résistance!
And NOW I'm motivated to get started, because this beauty was made to be displayed on my barn door. It's as if Poseidon himself gently washed this gorgeous, perfectly shaped treasure onto the beach so that I could find it and put it proudly on display!
With this beauty in hand, it's now time to think through my design so I can finally get this door hung. Since I planned to leave the wood as-is (no staining, just a simple sand), I needed a design that didn't utilize tons of screw holes that would later needed to be covered. Both sides of my door need to be presentable and work with my hanging hardware, so I opted for a simple, nothing-but-vertical-boards on one side and my awesome driftwood handle and support boards on the other side. Here's how it all came together along with instructions and tips on how to create your own barn door. I recommend reading through the entire post to determine the materials and tools needed as each project will be different based on your specific door.
GETTING STARTED
[1] Gather your supplies & tools
Barn door hardware (make sure the bolts fit - see [6] notes below)
Salvaged wood that will add up to the size you need (see [3] below)
Vertical panels (size varies)
Horizontal panels (size varies)
Door handle
1.25" decorative screws
Wood glue
Sand paper (see [4] notes below for grit recommendations)
Tools
Saw (I used a miter, jig and table saw for various purposes)
Sander
Drill, screw head & bits (standard, forstner or spade depending on size needed)
48" clamps (or an alternate)
Straight edge
[2] Hang your track hardware
Select track hardware that is more than double the door opening you're planning to fill. I recommend hanging your track hardware before you make the door so you know exactly what size your door needs to be. Follow manufacturer instructions. If you'd like to make your own hardware, there are a number of tutorials available online. Since I knew I wanted an oil rubbed bronze track and hardware, and because I have found that spray paint does not hold well for items that see friction, I sucked it up and bought a $200 track kit through Lowes. It was money well spent and easy to justify given that my wood and handle were FREE. The track is solid and beautiful and one I can recommend.
TIP: I hung my hardware immediately above the door casing but should have hung it an inch or two higher. Because while my door works just fine, you can see a slight gap between the top of the door and the casing. Learn from my mistake!
[3] Measure your space & size your door
Measure the width of the gap your door will cover. Add at least 1" on each side so it will cover the casing. This is the minimum width your door can be.
Next measure the amount of space you have from the door frame to the last location where your door stop can be placed on your track. This is the maximum width your door can be.
Measure the distance from the floor to the bottom of the track. Now subtract about a 1/2" so that there is room between the floor and bottom of the door as well as from the top of the door to the bottom of the track.
Now that you have your min and max width as well as your ideal height, it's time to determine the overall dimensions of your new door. The size of your door may vary from mine based on the size of your wood boards and your door opening. But for reference, here are my measurements:
Door opening (width) 36" + 2" = 38" min width
Door casing to end of usable track 50" = max width
Floor to bottom of track opening (height) 80" - 1/2" = 79.5"*
My selected door size = 38.25" W x 79.5"H
Vertical board sizes = (6) boards 5.5" wide + (1) board 5.25" wide; all are .75" thick I could have used all 5.5" boards as they would have fit just fine, but there was a 5.25" board that had a nice natural hole in it that I wanted to use as a handle on the back side. I would have had room to add one or even two more boards if I had chosen.
Horizontal board sizes = (4) boards 5.5" H x 38.25" W x .75" D
Since my hanging hardware is longer than 5.5" (the height of my horizontal board), I had to add a narrow strip of board below my top one, making it approximately 7.5" high. Place your hanging hardware on your board and determine where you'll place your holes in order to see if you need a taller board for your top piece.
NOTE* As a reminder, I recommend raising the track an inch or two above the casing. If I had done this, I would have had a door height of 81.5" or so.
[4] Cut & sand your boards
Remove any old nails or screws, then cut your vertical boards. I used a miter saw to cut all of my boards (7 total) to 79.5" long but any saw will do. I recommend trimming one end first to make sure your board is square, then cut the other end to get the length you want.
Now you'll want to sand your boards to get off a layer of grime (salvaged boards are notorious for being a bit funky as you can see in the image of raw wood above!) and smooth out the cut edges. I chose to use an 80 grit sandpaper and went over my boards very quickly, thus allowing me to slough off the grime but retain the gray patina and somewhat rough texture. If you want to stain your boards, you'll want to do a more thorough sanding job, starting with a medium grit (80) and following up with a fine (120+), depending on your desired aesthetic.
Wipe your boards clean.
Go ahead and cut/sand your horizontal boards now, but cut them slightly larger than you will need (about 1/2" longer). Since we're using salvaged wood that is somewhat irregular, it's best to trim the horizontal boards after your vertical panels are assembled in order to get an exact fit. Depending on your boards, it's possible that your top horizontal board is a completely different length than your bottom one. That's why we wait to get an exact cut at the end. Note: Don't forget to trim one end and then cut the other to make sure your board is as square as possible.
[5] Layout & glue
Lay out your vertical boards on a large, level surface. I used my totally awesome, couldn't live without modular workshop carts. You could use the floor or any level surface, though the total process will definitely be easier on a raised surface as you'll want to work from both sides of the door in the end.
Arrange your boards the way you want them. In my case, I wanted my end board to be the one with the hole located at the perfect height to be a handle on the back side of the door.
NOTE: When I made this door previously I used pocket holes and glue to attach. However, I now know that this is NOT the best way to attach vertical boards as it doesn't properly allow the wood to move and will lead to cracks and gaps (which it did). Instead, I could have adhered the vertical boards using glue (without screws) and then clamping together. Or better yet would have been a loose tenon joint, I think.
Make sure your ends are lined up. Clamp the boards together so that they are snug but not so tight that they bow. A good description of gluing and clamping can be found at Queen Bee of Honey Dos.
Allow to dry for approximately 24 hours.
[6] Final steps
Unclamp your boards. If you find that the length of your boards is uneven (i.e. they weren't cut exactly the same), now is the time to trim the ends of your door so they're flat all the way across. A circular saw or jigsaw would work well for this.
I previously used horizontal boards to hide my pocket holes but since you aren't using them now, you don't need horizontal boards unless it's for aesthetic reasons. I chose to place one board at the top and bottom and the two middle boards about 7" from the one next to them. This allowed plenty of room for my handle.
If you're using horizontal boards, place them where you want them, lining them up so that one end is flush with the edge of the vertical board below it.
While holding the board in place (I used small clamps for this), use a pencil underneath the board to show how much excess you need to trim. Doing it this way, as opposed to cutting all the boards the same length, ensures that the boards are the correct size and will run exactly to the edge. Do this for each board, keeping in mind which boards goes where as the board lengths might vary slightly.
Secure each horizontal board with glue and screws. I chose to add two screws in four rows (one on each end, two rows near the middle) to secure on each horizontal board except the top board. For the top board, your hanging hardware bolts will help secure the board on the ends, so you'll only need your middle two lines of screws on that panel. I recommend starting with the top and bottom panels so you can ensure that the middle panels are the same distance from the ones next to them.
I used 1.25" bronze pocket hole screws because they were the only ones I could find that matched the look I was going for. Any 1.25" screw will work since each board is .75" thick, which combined equals 1.5" thickness.
TIPS: I recommend drilling pilot holes for your screws, especially if the wood you're using is fragile. Make sure you drill through the first board but only partway through the second board!
Use your straight edge to make sure your screws are lined up across each board.
Now it's time to add your hanging hardware. Align the hardware on the track to see where the height of your door should be (you don't want to place your hardware too high or it won't slide on the track). Mark where the top of the door should go on the hanging hardware (using pencil or tape), then line it up on your top horizontal panel. As I noted above, I needed a taller top horizontal board in order to fully cover both screw holes in my hanging hardware, so I added a thinner horizontal board to go directly below the top one (see photo above).
Slide your door a bit off your work surface so you can reach both sides. Line up your hanging hardware on your top vertical board, aligned in the center of your end vertical boards for maximum support. Drill holes all the way through using whatever bit size fits your bolt. I used a 3/8" spade bit. Then slide your bolt into the hole, top with washers, hanging hardware and nuts, as appropriate. The bolts that came with my track kit were not long enough to accommodate my 1.5" door width, so I went to my local hardware store and purchased longer bolts (3/8-16 x 2.5 socket head cap screws). These bolts were actually a bit grittier than the shiny black ones my kit came with, so I think they actually look better and were worth the $5 (total) I had to spend on them. I only used one washer on each bolt as I didn't have enough space for two.
Make sure your hanging hardware pieces are spaced equidistant from the edge and that they are level. You don't want one higher than the other or your door won't be able to slide fully across your track.
And now to the finale - screwing in your door handle. While all of my screws thus far have been on the front side, I chose to have the screws for my handle to be visible on the back side to best work with the organic nature of my driftwood handle. There was nothing exact about securing the handle. I simply placed it where I wanted it, keeping in mind the ergonomics of a person actually using it, and then drilled holes from the back side into the driftwood in three places (the three places that touched the wood). Then I inserted the screws.
Obviously not everyone will have access to an amazing piece of driftwood like I was able to find, but you can use any number of salvaged items as your door handle. If you want to keep your door handle sleek and simple, just cut a piece of wood from your salvage pile and secure it to your door about an inch or two from the edge. That little lip will be just enough for you to grab onto to open/close the door. Or if your wood has a well placed hole like mine did, feel free to use that as a convenient handle.
Final step: Slip your new, totally groovy door onto the track and stand in awe of the unique piece of art you've created from salvaged materials. While adding character and function to your home, you're also helping reduce waste in the landfill. A win for you and the planet!
