Barn Sliding Doors - Inside???

[Bill VA]

Anyone have their barn sliding doors mounted on the inside of the barn vs outside? If so, how do you like that arrangement and any wind issues when closed? Any pics would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Bill

 

[sammydwm]

We have them on our filter building at work. There is a track on the floor that kinda keeps them in line but if you have them half open the wind can move them around. Big issue is that rain and snow roll down the front of the door and into the building.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I built a hay barn 30 years ago wit track doors on the inside. Track doors and wind don’t mix, inside or out side. The track doors mounted inside are difficult to keep fastened tight because the wind pressing against them . Best I found to secure a door 12-16 feet wide is to dig a hole in the floor and put a 5 gallon pail in the hole, and fill it with concrete with a section of pipe in the wet concrete. All several inches below the door itself, so the door can travel over the anchor. The pipe must line up with the inside of the closed door. With a very simple bracket mounted on the door, you can drop a length of pipe or bar through the door bracket into the pipe in the concrete anchor. You can put these at both ends of the door and one or two in the middle depending on the size of the door to relieve the stress of the wind pushing against the middle of the door. This method also takes the load off of the vertical post in the doorway itself, because all of the load is placed on the anchors in the floor.
Sliding doors inside are not bothered by snow, ice or grass building up along the outside walls of the shed, but in the case of a hay barn, care must be taken to maintain clear space for the door to travel. These are just my experience, Bruce

 

[sms]

A place I worked 40 years ago had them on their shop. Worked well. Had turnbuckles to close them tight and sealed against foam as it was a heated shop.

 

[Hay maker2]

I built a 60x64 barn five years ago and I have a 14 x 22 opening with two sliding doors on the inside. This was done as I live in the snow belt and did not want to contend with opening / closing the doors while battling snow.

On the bottom of the wall there are a coupe of rollers that door slides into this, keeps them from getting blown in. In the middle where the doors meet I placed a 6x6 in the ground and a metal bracket that the bottom of the door slides into when closed. I made the bracket so I can drive over it with tires and not have to worry.
I have not had an issue with anything and would highly recommend it.

 

[farmerjohn]

I’ve never done it but think it would work as long as they were designed to be secured when closed and that any rain blown against them outside would not run into the building.

 

[Stroby]

Interesting.....all overhead doors are "inside" the building, so why not. Holding the door closed at the sides would be a challenge, but inovation should solve that I'd think.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Never had any doors on the inside and would require forethought in keeping space for them to slide when full. We put a plank along the bottom of the dorrs to keep the snow,rain,and wind out when closed for the winter. During regular use we just close them. With about 4 inches clearance they move pretty good even if there is some snow there. Or it can be cleaned out from under them so they do move decent. We also oil the door tracks occasionally to keep them moving freely. Just squirt some used oil in the track groove and run the door back and forth a few times makes them roll very well. Got to do both grooves on the track though. Knew a guy that buried a tire on both inside and out side of a shed door to hold them from wind and could just drive over them with equipment. He liked them. Not sure what size tires car,pickup or bigger for that.

 

[AL Moyer]

Bill, Have 45' x 56' pole barn hanger for my airplanes & a few tractors, It has rolling doors that have the box track + radius corner track, but now the radius track is no longer available. How ever, there's a company in upstate NY, called FoldTite Systems, www.FoldTite.com that now make the inside rolling doors. As a matter of fact, just ordered one for a customer, expect a call any day now for it to be shipped, & yes they ship any place in the country. No way would I have a roller/slider door on the outside of a building if I had the walls clear on the inside ! Alan in Pa.

 

[tomstractorsandtoys]

I have the doors on the inside on both my machine sheds and here where we get lots of blowing drifting snow I would not have them any other way. You go to the shed open the doors and start plowing snow. Neighbor has to first shovel his snow away so he can open his doors. Other than snow I see no big advantage to having them inside. I have concrete aprons with small sloped metal brackets with a slot in the middle to hold the doors from blowing and there is also a metal track on the bottom of the doors behind the door opening. Tom

 

[JK-NY]

I have mine on the outside. I have to clean snow away once in a while for the door to slide but that’s the only disadvantage. Inside track door requires you keep the wall area clear in the area the door slides when open. I don’t like the idea of loosing barn/ wall space although it really wouldn’t be that much. If you have a two section door you need to secure it at the bottom when closed or the wind will give you problems. A one section door on the inside can easily be secured to the poles .

 

[Keith Molden]

I have inside sliding doors on my shop. I've never had snow problems with them. I have a steel bracket that I fabricated for them to go into on 1 end and they don't move any at all. I do loose space on each end that would probably be stacked along the end walls so I leave a space for the door to move. If I were ever to build another it would have inside doors on it too.

 

[DoubleR]

I have 5 sliding doors, all on the outside, a couple of them for over 30 years. Never had any problem that I can think of as I hang them to run about 3-4 inches from the ground. We get snow where I live in mid Mi. and I usually will shovel in away if we get 6-7 inches or more which is not too often. As others have said you lose the space on the inside wall running the door inside.

 

[Janicholson]

Why not build a box for them on the outside. all the advantages (now they are "inside") and the wall space is still there. Jim

 

[Fordy20]

Well, this may be a reason to keep them outside. The barn is old and I just decided this year to install the overhead door. My intention was to leave the sliding doors but maybe a couple months after the overhead door was in I found this on the ground. Sure would have hurt if I'd been standing there when it decided to fall!

 

[farmerjohn]

Another thought, if you had them inside build a false wall and make them “pocket doors” and you can use your wall space without interfering with any door, only lose a few inches of space.

 

[fixerupper]

I have an old bus barn that has three bays with a single rolling door for each bay. They are facing south. The two doors on the left are outside doors and the third door which is the right hand door is an inside door. In the winter after it snows I rarely use the outside doors because of the snow and ice. The inside door usually is OK unless we have a strong with that blows snow through the crack between the door and door sill. This building is used for cold storage.

 

[teddy52food]

I would build the false wall on the inside. Don't lose storage space that way.

 

[Mike M]

This is the first I have ever heard of inside sliding doors. From the amount of replies I guess several have them.
I have no use for sliding doors. I hate them. Give me an overhead door anytime.

 

[BillinCentralMO]

Our big shed had one door on outside and one slides inside. Otherwise they would hit each other.

 

[Hay hay hay]

I had a removable metal channel made to hold the bottom of my sliding doors solid against the wind. There is a hole in the floor concrete and a pipe welded like a "T" on the bottom of the channel drops into the hole, making the channel solid. The channel is only about a foot long (6" on each door). In the summer when we are using the doors a lot, we just remove the channel. When the doors are going to be shut for a long while we put the channel in place. Really simple, cheap and it works.

 

[flying belgian]

I've got one inside and two outside. I like the inside one better. As one poster wrote--slide the door open and come out plowing snow.
All those forks and shovels you can't lean against the inside wall, you need to put the hooks and hang them on the door itself. I solved that problem. That's what I do. I'm a problem solver.

 

[SweetFeet]

We have one sliding door inside, and one sliding door on the outside.

To keep the inside door in place...

There is a thick, bent, steel bar that the door slides into when closed.

At the other end of the door, my husband planted a roller on a post to hold it in place while rolling it open.

There are locks in strategic spots - to lock it shut, and also to lock it in place when it is fully open (so it is protected from the wind blowing against it).

Some open space was intentionally left at the bottom to help keep it from binding up with ice/snow buildup... as it is primarily just an unheated parking shed.

 

[caterpillar guy]

If I was going to build a new shed I'd go with bifold doors no snow problem and no loas space on the inside either. Also if working in the doorway like changing shovels on tillage equipment or such it would shade you some or keep the rain off from part of it while open.