Securing the bottom of a pair of sliding barn doors?

[jcaron2]

I'm looking for advise on hardware for latching the sliding doors on my horse barn that I'm building (see the thread here). I have stay rollers attached to the building on either side of the door opening at the bottom, but I'm looking for some sort of hardware that will latch the doors in the middle.

I don't just want to latch the two doors to each other, to keep them from sliding open. I specifically want a latch that will secure the bottoms of the doors to the floor slab underneath to prevent strong wind gusts from blowing them outward.

Also, I have to be able to open and close (and latch and unlatch) the doors from inside or outside.

Does anybody have a good source for such hardware? Thanks.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

What I have used is a piece of rebar that is mounted vertically that drops down into a hole in the concete that I drilled with a concrete bit. You can put a hole in your slab where you want the pin to drop in. Cheap, quick and easy....

 

[jayste]

Well, I don't have any pics of it but mine has a bracket that bolts to the concrete at the apron going into my building. There's a track at the bottom that it slides into and both doors come together. This does what you're wanting to do. After I bring both doors together and they're both in the bracket I then latch them together as well as being latched at the door opening individually. See if the link below's diagram helps any.

http://www.barndoorhardware.com/sliding-folding-door-hardware.html

 

[studor]

Similar to Treemonkey I have a floor bolt that holds one side into the concrete. The other side has a bolt as well but it is shaped like a long "t" with a slot cut in the door so that it can be raised and lowered from both sides. The "T" shaped bolt has a strategically mounted hook and eye to hold it up off the ground when the door is open. The other side is just a standard Stanley 12" door bolt. The "T" bolt was a piece of rod shaped that way from a scrap pile but it would be a snap to make from rebar or rod. The doors can be locked together by a latch I have but if locked it can be only opened from the outside. The latch was about $5 at TSC (in Canada) and can be worked from either side unless locked. Total hardware cost less than $20 ( I am frugal) -- also look at this thread
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/134844-how-keep-barn-door-fastened.html

 

[jcaron2]

What I have used is a piece of rebar that is mounted vertically that drops down into a hole in the concete that I drilled with a concrete bit. You can put a hole in your slab where you want the pin to drop in. Cheap, quick and easy....

That's a really good idea and definitely along the lines of what I'm thinking, but I'd prefer something ready-made which has knobs/pulls/whatever on both sides of the door to unlatch it so that the person opening or closing the door doesn't have bend down and lift something or stick their finger in a hole or stand on one leg and blink their eyes three times. Eventually we'll have boarders leading horses in and out through these doors, so I need to have straightforward latches.

I'm picturing a latching mechanism similar to what you've done with the rebar, but with a push-rod or some other mechanical coupling mechanism up to an opener that you can turn or depress or whatever at normal doorknob height. Surely such a thing must exist!?

 

[jcaron2]

Well, I don't have any pics of it but mine has a bracket that bolts to the concrete at the apron going into my building. There's a track at the bottom that it slides into and both doors come together. This does what you're wanting to do. After I bring both doors together and they're both in the bracket I then latch them together as well as being latched at the door opening individually. See if the link below's diagram helps any.

Sliding Door Hardware Sets | Folding Door Hardware Sets | Barn Door Accessories | Barn Door Hardware

Jay, I've seen that National Hardware (Stanley) has a system like this too, but I didn't really leave myself much room at the bottom of the door to install the track. Nevertheless, depending what I find out here, that may be the way I ultimately end up going.

Thanks!

Josh

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Oh well in that case go scrounge the hardware from one of those metal garage doors that has a T handle or even in the back of a pickup canopy. The handle has a cam that toggles in or out latches that seat into the door jam. Just turn it sideways so it is going up and down instead of horizontally.
Google Garage door latches or Truck canopy. It will have a handle on the inside and outside to gain access. You would still need to put some sort of divot in the concrete for the latch to hold onto.
No standing on one leg or blinking your eye. Even them horse owners can operate it.........:thumbsup:

 

[jayste]

You could use Treemonkey's idea and make it longer. Sort of like a rod on a chainlink fence gate. The rods that travel vertically and slide through a bracket and you push them into the ground where in this case you'd slide them into a hole that you drilled into the floor. If you made it long enough you could actually work it from waist high. You'd just have to keep the hole cleaned out to allow the rod to fully go into the hole. Compressed air would work for that... Horses really like compressed air!:laughing:

 

[jcaron2]

Oh well in that case go scrounge the hardware from one of those metal garage doors that has a T handle or even in the back of a pickup canopy. The handle has a cam that toggles in or out latches that seat into the door jam. Just turn it sideways so it is going up and down instead of horizontally.
Google Garage door latches or Truck canopy. It will have a handle on the inside and outside to gain access. You would still need to put some sort of divot in the concrete for the latch to hold onto.
No standing on one leg or blinking your eye. Even them horse owners can operate it.........:thumbsup:

Very good idea! It would even lock if I wanted it to. Thanks!

 

[jcaron2]

You could use Treemonkey's idea and make it longer. Sort of like a rod on a chainlink fence gate. The rods that travel vertically and slide through a bracket and you push them into the ground where in this case you'd slide them into a hole that you drilled into the floor. If you made it long enough you could actually work it from waist high. You'd just have to keep the hole cleaned out to allow the rod to fully go into the hole. Compressed air would work for that... Horses really like compressed air!:laughing:

Yeah, I believe that's called a cane bolt (which I learned in the past half hour or so while looking at some of your suggestions ).

Yes, horses jump for joy when they hear compressed air. :laughing: