Sliding Barn Doors with DIY Hardware

Directions

• Prep Project

  Decide the size of your doors. I built mine for a hall closet that is 30' wide including the trim. When closed, I want the doors to cover the trim. So, this plan will be for (2) 15" doors to cover a 30" area. This is very easy to modify if your space is different.
  Double the width of your door space, then add a few inches. This is the length you'll need for your 2" steel bar. Mine will be 63". Now is a good time to locate the studs on the wall where you'll be hanging your doors. Hopefully you can space 4 holes evenly along your bar to match up with your studs. Make note of your stud locations. Decide the height of your doors. The top of your track will sit 4" from the top of the doors.
  You'll need 4 straps from the 1" steel bar at 12" each
  

• Cut Steel and Drill Holes

  Use a chop saw to cut your steel.
  Cut the 2" track bar at 63", or whatever you came up with if your space is different.
  Cut 4 strips of 1" steel at 12" each.
  Using a drill press drill a 7/16" hole on each side of your 2" bar at 3/4"-1" from your ends. Hopefully there are studs here. These will also serve as a stop to keep your doors from rolling off when you open them. Drill 2 more holes spaced evenly along your track making sure they are going to hit your studs. Mine were at 18 1/4" from each end.
  On your 1" straps, drill a 7/16" hole on one side at 1" from the end. Then, using a 3/16" bit, drill holes for your wood screws. Start on the opposite end and drill holes at 1 1/2", 3", and 4 1/2" from that end.
  

• Paint Hardware and Assemble

  Make sure your lag screws, pulley bolts, and wood screws fit, then take all your hardware- including the pulleys and washers, and paint them.
  Once the paint has dried, attach pulleys to 1"straps. You'll need 8 washers here, too. The order of assembly will be- pulley bolt, 1" strap, 2 washers, pulley wheel, nut. Get all 4 ready, and set aside.
  

• Build the Doors

  Now for the doors. Take your 4-(81 1/2") 1x8 boards and add 3/4" pocket holes along one of the long ends of 2 boards. Then match each of those up next to another 1x8 and mark anywhere that looks like it could use more pocket holes and drill those. I used rough cut lumber from the ranch, so it was a little tricky getting my boards to match up just right.
  Make 2 doors by joining (2) 1x8's together with wood glue and 1 1/4" pocket hole screws.
  Now, flip them over and add one of the (15") 1x6 boards to the top and bottom of each door- perpendicular to your 1x8s and flush with the top or bottom and sides. Use wood glue and 1 1/4" brad nails.
  Sand and finish doors as desired before going to the next step.
  

• Make Spacers

  I planned to use steel spacers for my rail, but changed my mind and ended up making them instead. Living 80 miles from the hardware store requires some creativity ;) You can still use steel ones if you wish, but here's a quick DIY from scrap wood. These go between your steel rail and the wall to make sliding room for your barn door and pulleys.
  Cut 4 blocks of 2x2 scrap at 2" to make little spacers for your track bar. Drill a 3/8" hole through the center of each one and paint these to match your hardware.
  

• Attach Track to Wall

  Now, you can attach your track bar to the wall with an impact driver, lag screws, spacers, and level. You'll also need 4-6 of those 3/8" washers. Those 2x2 spacers will go between the track bar and the wall.
  On the inner 2 holes- drill your lag screws in with the spacers behind the bar. On the outer 2 holes, place 2-3 washers on the outside of the bar to use as a stop to keep your doors from rolling off the ends of the bar. So, it will go- lag screw, washers, bar, spacer, wall- on the outer holes only.
  Use a level here to keep your bar even. The top of my bar is 86" up from the floor.
  

• Attach Hardware to doors

  Once your finish has dried on the doors, you can attach the hardware. Take the straps you attached to your pulleys and (12) 1 1/4" wood screws. Attach the pulley straps to the tops of your doors. I spaced mine 1 1/2" in from the sides of the doors and so that the bottom end of the straps were flush with the bottom of the 1x6 accent pieces.
  *I made my doors a little long, so I had to readjust my straps to bring the doors up a bit. I shortened the doors in the plan so you shouldn't have this problem, but it's no big deal to readjust your door higher or lower if need be.
  

• Hang Doors

  Now you are finished! Place the pulleys up on your rail and make any adjustments necessary.