Securing the bottom of a pair of sliding barn doors?

[Treemonkey1000]

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:

Horses are full of compressed air... So was my dog for that matter. :confused2:

 

[studor]

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.

There are commercially made latches like that for use on trailers that would hold top and bottom -- turn one way -- retract, the other way latch --
Are you saying the riders are slower than the horses -- I have seen a lot of horses figure out gate latches pretty quickly:confused3:

 

[Treemonkey1000]

There are commercially made latches like that for use on trailers that would hold top and bottom -- turn one way -- retract, the other way latch --
Are you saying the riders are slower than the horses -- I have seen a lot of horses figure out gate latches pretty quickly:confused3:

No I am just yankin their chain. I have seen some horses that might be smarter than the rider though...Some folks might put me in that category.

 

[weldingisfun]

If I understand what it is you are looking for, this is what should meet your need. https://www.hardwareworld.com/Zinc-Sliding-Door-Guides-Visual-Pack-20-pTVE3S5.aspx
I use them on my barn doors.

 

[jcaron2]

If I understand what it is you are looking for, this is what should meet your need. https://www.hardwareworld.com/Zinc-Sliding-Door-Guides-Visual-Pack-20-pTVE3S5.aspx
I use them on my barn doors.

Lee, that's definitely along the lines of what I need. The only thing that concerns me with those would be that they look kind of sharp and the horses might step on them. Not sure which would break - the horse or the door guide. I'm also considering this one, which is technically made to be used with National's guide track system, but it looks to me like it would work just fine for keeping the door from lifting out even without the track. Plus it's got rolled edges which, at the very least, shouldn't hurt a horse if he steps on it.

 

[jayste]

Lee, that's definitely along the lines of what I need. The only thing that concerns me with those would be that they look kind of sharp and the horses might step on them. Not sure which would break - the horse or the door guide. I'm also considering this one, which is technically made to be used with National's guide track system, but it looks to me like it would work just fine for keeping the door from lifting out even without the track. Plus it's got rolled edges which, at the very least, shouldn't hurt a horse if he steps on it.

That one is pretty similar to what we have on ours.

 

[ETpilot]

Not sure if this will work but you decide. I made these door locks for my hanger doors. The doors open as bifold doors and I needed to latch them top and bottom. The first picture shows the latched and locked position. To unlock I remove the pin and to unlatch the doors I rotate the handle. As I rotate the handle the locking rods are pulled out freeing the doors. The second picture shows the open and closed position.

The top rod goes into a welded piece on the door truss. The bottom rod goes into a piece of emt that I put into the concrete.

Adapting for your needs you can drill a hole in one door for a pipe. Run a rod thru and attach rods and rotating latch on the inside. On the outside you can have a handle for opening and also locking. The red drawn in area would be a latch from one door to the other. This way you can open from the inside and outside and lock from the outside if needed. Just an idea.

BTW, don't look too close at my welding. These doors were one of my first welding projects. Yet, they have been up about 12 years.

 

[tractorsanmore]

Sliding Barn Doors | Sliding Barn Door Hardware

center door guideand stop # 711271
we have one similar to this

 

[QRTRHRS]

I had a horse barn with a concrete center aisle that was 1.5" above the door aprons. When the builder poured the aprons, he used wood to form 1.5"x1.5" (2x2 stock) protrusion in the concrete about one foot wide. The ends tapered down to the level of the apron but it was square front and back. The protrusion was spaced away from the concrete floor so that the doors would slide behind it. Make sense?

When the doors were closed, you would guide them into the gap to minimize scraping the concrete. I then used one of those chains with the tapered bars to latch the center and the canterlevered latches on the side. Of course, this would not allow outside opening.

 

[jcaron2]

Not sure if this will work but you decide. I made these door locks for my hanger doors. The doors open as bifold doors and I needed to latch them top and bottom. The first picture shows the latched and locked position. To unlock I remove the pin and to unlatch the doors I rotate the handle. As I rotate the handle the locking rods are pulled out freeing the doors. The second picture shows the open and closed position.

The top rod goes into a welded piece on the door truss. The bottom rod goes into a piece of emt that I put into the concrete.

Adapting for your needs you can drill a hole in one door for a pipe. Run a rod thru and attach rods and rotating latch on the inside. On the outside you can have a handle for opening and also locking. The red drawn in area would be a latch from one door to the other. This way you can open from the inside and outside and lock from the outside if needed. Just an idea.

BTW, don't look too close at my welding. These doors were one of my first welding projects. Yet, they have been up about 12 years.

Very nice! That's pretty much exactly what I'm trying to do. I really need to learn to weld.