Header for Barn Door Tract in Wall with Metal Studs

[ustmd]

Hiya,

The wife and I are discussing a spring remodel of the wash room in the barn (toilet, washer/dryer, hot water heater). The previous owner framed the wash room with metal studs and installed a 32" exterior door leading into the main hallway. My wife wants to replace that exterior hinged door with a sliding barn style door. We are going to be using heavy duty box rail hardware for sliding door--both for aesthetic reasons and because we have it (National Hardware® 5116 Box Rail, Galvanized, 8 Ft. - Tractor Supply Co.)

My question is how to hand the framing for the track for the barn door? With the weight of the door and hardware (60-80 lbs) plus the movement of the door back and forth on the track, I cannot just screw into the metal studs for the mounting brackets. The wall that I will mounting the door to, has cedar shiplap siding. I am thinking of removing a section and installing sections of 2 x8 material between the studs for mounting the track.

Other ideas/suggestions? I would like to avoid tearing the entire wall down, because if I do that, I might as well redo the entire washroom and my $1K project just became a $10K project.:laughing:

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I take it this wall is an interior wall? The 60-80 lbs is the combined weight of the door and the track? Is the shiplap on both sides of the wall?

The studs can easily hold the weight. A single sheet of drywall is 50+ lbs. The movement might be a problem. How is the shiplap attached? I'd be inclined to say just screw the track onto the shiplap. You don't need a 2x8 for this.

 

[ace10]

As with most things... pictures are worth thousands of words.


That's a lot of dynamic weight. I think you're gonna need a decent header supported by a couple of king and jack studs. The problem I envision is being able to attach the studs to suitable material. You're likely going to find metal top and bottom plates.

I'm not certain you're going to have a solid answer until you remove the wall sheathing material and can see what you've got doing in there.

$0.02

 

[pmsmechanic]

There are several ways to do this in my opinion. My opinion is free so your getting what you pay for.

I think that if you can remove the cedar siding and reinforce with 2x2's or metal inside that would end up being the strongest. My thought's would be to lay something inside the stud so that when you attach the track your screw or bolt is going through the metal of the stud. You could also use 3/8th's all thread rod. Reinforce the inside of the stud with a piece of 1x1 square tubing and bolt the tubing to the studs while the siding is off and just slip the siding back over the bolts. The nut you use to hold the all thread onto the stud will be hidden by the siding. If you need to use oversize hole to reinstall the siding that would be ok as the track mounting hardware will cover the holes.

If you are willing to make your own track attaching hardware or modify what you have then something like this would do the job without removing the cedar siding. Rivet Nuts / Threaded Inserts | Rivets In Stock - Rivets & Rivet Tools At the very minimum I would attach each track mount with two bolts which would mean either drilling extra holes in the hardware or welding another tab on with a hole in it. You could also weld tabs onto the track and do it that way. If you are going to use the rivet nuts you might need to make a tool to install them with. Make sure you use a track mount on each stud. If you can do it I would also extend the track at least two studs past the opening of the door just for extra support while the door is closed unless there is a header above the door that is solid enough to screw into. I would also be tempted to make the door extra wide and the track extra long and then don't install any stops for the door to come to an abrupt stop against. The rolling along the track isn't going to be hard on your track support but if the door comes to an abrupt stop and jumps it will loosen things up.

You could also drill a hole right through the wall and use bolts to hold the track up. The hardware showing in the bath room could be hidden with trim or a shelf. I wouldn't install a track header unless you need to space the track away from the wall.

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you wanting to remove an exterior door and replace it with a barn style sliding door? on the EXTERIOR WALL?

Do you heat or cool this area? Do you have bugs or animals there that you would prefer stay out of this area?

How are you going to get one of those sliding barn doors to keep bad things out and cool air in?

Eddie

 

[ustmd]

Are you wanting to remove an exterior door and replace it with a barn style sliding door? on the EXTERIOR WALL?

Do you heat or cool this area? Do you have bugs or animals there that you would prefer stay out of this area?

How are you going to get one of those sliding barn doors to keep bad things out and cool air in?

Eddie

I knew I should have attached some pictures:dance1:.

Sorry for the confusion. The door, itself, is an exterior style door (builder grade metal door).The wall the door is install in is on the interior of the barn (barn has stalls on either side with a large central hallway through the middle) so there is no issues with exposure to the elements or bad things getting into the barn through the door.

The wife wants to change the hinged door to a sliding door because the current door swings into the wash room and is taking up some valuable real estate she has plans for.

 

[PILOON]

A suggestion that should work.

Use strips of, say, 3/4 plywood inside and outside of the bath rm screwed to the steel studs, and maybe even add a few thru bolts at every stud to kinda sandwitch the wall.
The width of the strips would probably be most esthetic if the went from top of door to the ceiling, but even 6" wide strips should do the trick.
Paint to match and add the tracks in the conventional way.

The other solution is a standard 'pocket door' but that is much more involved and besides they are not all that HD.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

build on a small 3' entry way that you can use for the door swing space, and keep a normal entry door.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I think you could screw the box rail hangers right into the studs and be fine. Catch plenty of studs with extra hangers. If it starts to fail, you can go back in later and redo it. It's not like you are going to be deliberately throwing the door open like your banging the tailgate on a dump truck.

Whatever way you go with, be aware of your standard barn door latches only working from the outside. I learned this the hard way when someone got stuck in our feed room with a sliding door. I ended up cutting a narrow slot through the door and hanging a piece of metal on the inside to stick through and lift the latch from the inside.