Adventures in Door-Making

Our new condo is what we've heard termed as a "soft loft". The main bedroom is completely enclosed, but the second bedroom is not. It is more enclosed than most we saw - the walls go all the way to the ceiling. However, the doorway gap is open all the way to the ceiling. There was no door. The previous owners had a tension rod and a curtain in place of one. Since we planned on renting our room out for a short period of time, we knew we needed a more solid solution.

This is when I got super excited. One of the big fads going around the internet and Pinterest is sliding barn doors. People are making them on their own and they look fabulous. I showed them to A and he agreed we could construct one on our own. Buying a pre-made door and the hardware would have cost at a minimum around $700. We ended up building ours for under $250. Win!

Here's the final product:

Keep reading to see how we made it!

The way we decided to hang the door is with what is called a trolley rail. It's a metal rail which allows sets of wheels to slide back and forth. You attach the wheel part to door itself. Since we have the doorway gap where the rail wouldn't be attached to anything, we decided to install a beam across the doorway. Then we attached the trolley rail to the beam.

We started out with some diagrams trying to figure out what design we wanted on the door and how much materials we needed and in what length. We made a few drawings just to be certain.

We ordered the trolley rail, hanging wheels, and brackets from Grainger. We went with an 8-foot rail and decided to spray paint it a dark brown color. If you're interested, the ones we ordered are:

Trolley rail > http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/BATTALION-Box-Track-4PE53

Hanging hardware > http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/BATTALION-Door-Hanger-Bracket-Kit-4PE60?Pid=search

I first used a spray primer and then used the brown. Since our balcony isn't that big and we didn't want to risk getting paint on the side of the building, I lugged the rail downstairs to the alley to do the painting. Thankfully I had A Storm of Swords to keep me company while I waited for it to dry.

(Cell phone pic)

(Cell phone pic)

(Cell phone pic)

I also spray painted all the hardware to match. (This is it just primed.)

(Cell phone pic)

Once we had all the hardware, we purchased the wood to make the door itself. Since we were doing a tricky design, we wanted to keep the door as light as possible. We chose to use pine paneling as the slats and then used 1-inch thick pine for the supporting horizontal boards. We had the man at Lowe's cut the support boards, but he wouldn't cut the paneling because of how thin it is. Instead we added to A's tool collection and bought a hand saw.

We also bought a 2x8 beam. This was our solution to hanging the trolley rail across the doorway gap. 

(Cell phone pic)

(Cell phone pic)

The next step was for me to paint the beam to match the hallway wall color. Thankfully the previous owners had leftover paint they kept in the storage unit. Then A drilled holes to put in screws. We used a combination of toggle bolts and very heavy duty mollys. We also pre-drilled all the holes for attaching the trolley rail to the beam.

Then came the scary part - hanging the beam from the wall. We didn't know what to expect as far as studs go since we discovered earlier in the month we have thin metal studs in the ceiling (as opposed to the standard wood studs). They make it more difficult to hang heavy things. Hence the toggle bolts. But to use the toggle bolts you have to first drill a 1/2" hole. Which required a 1/2" drill bit. This was the best we could find. A was wary at first.

A close-up so you can see how long the drill bit is. Insane!

We were originally going to hang the beam, then attach the trolley rail to the beam. However, we decided it would be easier to attach the trolley rail first, then screw the entire thing to the wall. Mostly because the trolley rail is heavy and we were working almost 8 feet up.

To do this, we loosely screwed in one end of the beam. Then we swung the beam up and used a level to get it straight. At that point I took a wooden skewer, dipped it in primer and stuck it through all the pre-drilled holes in the beam to mark where the holes needed to go in the wall for the toggle bolts and the mollys. 

This worked pretty well except we ended up accidentally working the leftmost toggle bolt loose enough to drop into the wall. We used a bracket to support that end of the beam. (There is also a molly close to that end.) The bracket also serves as a door stop to keep the door from sliding off the beam. We put in a single straight brace on the other end as well for the same purpose.

Once the beam was hung, we worked on constructing the door itself. Before gluing the planks together we pre-drilled holes for attaching the support beams. 

Then we worked our way down the beams. First gluing one plank to the next and then securing it with a screw in each support board.

Next we tackled another first for us: staining the wooden door.

(Cell phone pic)

After the door was dry and the stain set on both sides, we attached the hanging hardware along with the handles. Then it was time to hang it and cross our fingers it didn't fall off the wall!

This is the backside - the side facing the bedroom. (Since we have a tenant, we also installed a locking mechanism for their peace of mind. It stops the door from sliding open.)

It stayed up! Success!

A look at the back from inside the second bedroom.

The view down the hallway.

We're very happy with the end result. It slides back and forth pretty seamlessly, allows for privacy in the spare bedroom, and added some pizzazz to the long hallway.