I am just finishing up a 24x50X14 bus barn that I have wanted to build for 20 years. I am looking for ideas or contacts on barn door hinges that would hold two 12X14 doors or two 6X6X14 bi fold doors. My barn door opening is 14X24. Pictures or plans to weld them up would be great. What have some of you used? Thanks.
Most pole buildings today have sliding doors, thats what I put on mine. Most lumber yards will have all the parts.
Have you considered a bi-fold door like they use on hangars? We built one years ago for our welding shop. It was about 40 foot span by about 18 high - they're dead simple to build. Of course I didn't take a picture of ours but I found this website with an animated graphic of what I am talking about. The graphic should be off to the right at the top of the page.
http://www.hangardoors.com/hangar-door-floor-plans.htm (http://www.hangardoors.com/hangar-door-floor-plans.htm)
Like Paul says, I have four metal buildings and all have sliding doors. More practical and probably the cheapest. They can be run inside or outside, outside is better if you have the side space.
Large doors are bad to sag, death on hinges and in high winds they are unmanageable.
My bus barn is as big as I could make it based on the property lines - 22' x 45' x 13' tall. & it is still too small! ::)
I have to do make a door for mine too. I don't have the overhead height to open the door over head & I can't use a sliding door as there isn't room on either side & I need to have a full access opening.
I will build a bi-fold door similar to a closet door with 4 panels - 2 on each side. There will be a track at the top to take the weight of the door, so the hinges won't have to carry all that weight. The track will also help make the door more manageable when opening / closing.
But I'm gonna wait till summer to build the door & watch for sales on heavy duty hinges until then.
Roller shutter doors are almost universal here for buildings of this sort of size. Smaller versions are becoming quite common on domestic garages as well, and I've even seen them used in water on the front of boathouses.
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollershutter.co.uk%2Ffiles%2Fimage%2F100mm%2520Insulated%2520Lath%2520Roller%2520Shutter%2520Door.JPG&hash=289c93771ba404a0f54c552c12e4c97bcac84d82)
Jeremy
The regular old Barn door hinges (2) I used for years on my barn Wood frame steel covered 12 ft 6 inch wide by 16 ft tall carried the weight just fine I later installed a overhead door. Hope this helps they are tuff. Bob
Rollup doors take up a lot of interior ceiling height. The hangar bi-fold leaves the entire door opening exposed. Its a triangle so sag isn't a problem - the really wide ones need a truss across the hinge but we're talking a lot wider than most busnuts would be contemplating. In the summer our shop door went up every morning at 7:00 and stayed up all day no matter what the wind was. It was still going up and down last summer when we were in Nipawin. The design of them means that the weight of the door holds it in the track - there's no way its going anywhere.
Agree BON if I had your design back then I would jumped on it. But for quick simple 3 to 4 hr build the old fashion door went fast and no track. Might just do that on new door I want to add. Bob of S-Indiana ;D
Bob of The North. What size channel did you use on sides? rollers? Bob
BON where can I get details on this type door? We are going to start our pit in the lean-too bay next week and I have yet to decide on a door and have seen & wondered about these hanger style doors.
;D BK ;D
Bi-folds and rollers are relatively very expensive. Bi-folds are great when they work. Bi-folds usually require some kind of electric power, no power-no doorunless it has a very slow hand crank. A pain to say the least.
I used inside sliding doors for my hangar. The only downside is they use up wall space that could be used for shelves or lockers. However, I can still hang a bunch of stuff between the walls and open doors.