Barn door question....

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> What's the structure inside the shed on the right-hand side? How do you like your KK box blade? I just got one and am still figuring out how to use it wisely.

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Rmorgan,

Forgot to answer you question the other night... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

This shed started out as an addition to an existing 12x12 shed that I built on top of an old spring house foundation a few years ago...that is what you see inside...

For more than you will ever want to know about my shed, take a look at:

I feel like Spencer Junior

The first picture in the thread shows the shed at the start of the project.

I like the KK box blade. I think it is great for the price I paid. I procrastinated and did not make a final decision on what box blade to buy until I needed one, and decided on a Woods unit. But woods could not supply one to my dealer for several weeks for some reason, so I had no choice but to buy the KK box from TSC as they had them in stock. It works pretty good for me, but sometimes I wish it weighed more...three 12 inch concrete blocks help. I think I may weld on a shelf to hold solid blocks of concrete. I am happy with it for the money.

 

[rambler]

I see some real problems with any type of door, with those angled roofs & compromised header. But a nice looking building!

so, what do you wish to accomplish with the doors?

For me as a farmer, I want _maximum_ openning size. can never fit in the stuff I want, those doors always get too small!

So what do you want? Overhead doors (regular garage, bi-fold, or most roll-up, esp with your low roof angle on the one side...) will lower the top of the door frame.

Sliding doors will not allow you to use the full width of that wider bay as a wide door.

If you end up with a 7.5' high by 10 foot wide doors on both sides to get your clearances right, then you might as well go back to split hinged doors, they will be the best bang for the buck, & with your roof overhang snowpack won't be that bad!

Now, what do you want to accomplish with the doors? do you want a good tight seal to keep snow out, will this be heated & you want to keep drafts out? Then forget sliding doors, they are miserable to seal to hold heat.

Do you want full width, then you probably want bi-fold doors, but with the roof angles you will give up height.

A roll up door will give you more height, but it costs more.

A garage door will take some height away, but is more common.

The split hinged doors would be about the cheapest, give you full height, and will seal up fine for heating. They do get to be a bit unweildly beyond 10' openning (5' each) and there is the snow issue, but these are not impossible deals for your openning, and you could most easily use max width & height with this design.

Please, look up some bi-fold doors, they are neat & getting very popular, work like an airplane hanger door, very stable, can seal up good. But they usually need 3' of header room, and with that angled roof, you only have 3" if you want max width....

So, what do you need of your doors? Height, width, sealing, insulation? There are lots of issues here you haven't mentioned.

To be different, my uncle had 'curtain doors', that went around to the side. Um, take a regular garage door, put it on it's side, only hang it from the top, and it would slide around to the side wall - like a shower curtain.

Each door has strengths & weaknesses. What do you need, what is not important?

--->Paul

 

[Henro]

Hi Rambler,

<font color="blue"> I see some real problems with any type of door, with those angled roofs & compromised header. </font>

What is compromised about the header? Curious...unless you mean the lack of clearance above the door opening on the left side...where the minimum is about 11 inches...

All I want is something to keep the wind blown snow out. Maybe some wind blown rain too...but I don't really think the rain is an issue. There is a two foot overhang, But drifting snow can still pack up against whatever doors happen to be there. I doubt that it would be an issue though...We really don't get heavy snows that often here...

I don't want to give up door opening height. I would not have to with sliding doors as I could hang a double track oh the outside of the header. it is a built-up beam made up of 4 2x12s bolted together so it can carry the load.

Now I would give up some width of the left side, if I went with roll up doors. The only ones I have found so far have a maximum width of 12 feet. Height is not a problem for those doors. I've been busy the last couple days so I did not call the local supplier yet to ask questions...

I really like the idea of having both sides fully open. That would rule out sliding doors. I am willing to spend the extra for the roll ups if it is not crazy...double the cost of sliding doors might be OK...I have to get prices and see.

Hinged doors would be the cheapest but I am not sure I want them. If cost was the primary consideration I would want them.

In the end what I want is simply something that can give full access to both sides at the same time and which when closed will keep the wind blown snow and rain out. I actually did not know this is what I wanted when I posted the original question. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I will not heat the shed...famous last words???...so I am not worried about a tight seal or anything like that. A tarp tied across the opening would work actually, but it is a pain to take down and put up to let the tractor out... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[OkeeDon]

<font color="blue"> A tarp tied across the opening would work actually, but it is a pain to take down and put up to let the tractor out... </font>

In that case, what about a roll-up canvas door? Heavy pipe at the bottom, maybe with tie-downs at the ends - ropes attached to the pipes - pull and fold them up like a Roman shade. You might need some horizontal battens to keep them from flopping around as the pull up - I'm coming off the top of my head, here, but you could probably build a scale model to see how it worked. With some extension poles, you might even be able to fashion an awning for additional shaded work room.

 

[rambler]

As I look at the picture of your shed, the bigger left openning, the header over the door 'comingles' with a rafter, & so you can't just bolt on the roll-up door onto that header on the far left side - or for several feet, until you get enough vertical clearance for the whole roll of the door. To me it looks like you have a lot less than 11" on that side of the header, but I might not be seeing it right.

Hope I gave you some stuff to think on, lots of different ways to go. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, no one says both doors need to be the same style......

--->Paul

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue">As I look at the picture of your shed, the bigger left openning, the header over the door 'comingles' with a rafter, </font>

Hi Rambler and all,

Yes! You guys have certainly helped me a lot with advice and guidance and I REALLY appreciate it.

You are seeing right, that one rafter does cut across the header beam. But that rafter can be cut out as needed and the roof supported a different way in that area, to expose the front surface for the roll up door box, if needed. Now I might have to move it out a little from the left end...but that might be better anyway, as a little wall piece put there would give me something to knock down later by accident, rather than hitting the corner post...you know how things like that can happen...You are certainly right, without removing part of that offending rafter, the clearance is only a couple inches.

At this point I am leaning towards the rool up doors if they are not too crazy in price. I think I am looking about about $650 per door, just judging from what I saw on an internet site. I will have to call the local distributer and see what the price actually is for me needs on a 12' wide door...12' was the maximum width offered at that site, for what appeared to be affordable doors.

The other idea I am thinking about is double track sliding doors, with a 12' track extension out the right side of the building. I could sink a 6x6 post and extend the header 12' out to it, and make two 12' door similar to what Just Toolin did.

At the left end I could put a little 2' wide hinged wall section, that would normally stay closed, but could be opened if I needed the full 12' opening opened...

I don't think my neightbor would object to my putting a post over close to the property line...

OkeeDon's idea caught my imagination...but I probably don't have the time to develop it this year /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Too many other things on the front and back burners...

 

[OkeeDon]

<font color="blue">...but I probably don't have the time to develop it this year Too many other things on the front and back burners... </font>

Yep, it's going to take you some practice time to learn to run two tractors at once, standing up with a foot on each, like the old movie cowboys did with two horses... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif