Sliding horse stall doors?

[QRTRHRS]

I have used sliding stall doors for rooms. One thing to consider is your latching hardware. Standard stall door hardware is meant to be opened from the outside. Depending on the configuration, you may have to cut a slot through the door to slip something thin through to raise and release the latch. It's no fun being locked in a room. The other issue with sliding stall doors is varmit and temperature control.

As for chewing, in a word, stall guards. Preformed steel angles screwed onto exposed wood corners to limit chewing. Usually made by forming flat stock, the rounded corner is safer than angle iron. Usually powder coated though that won't last long either. I had a border with a horse that was good at chewing at a flat T&G wall. Go figure.

 

[petebert]

Any input for the door design? The doors will be solid wood, no bars. Both will be cover an opening around 7' tall, one opening will be about 5' wide, the other 4'. This will be a milking room for the time being. So I don't have to worry about horses chewing on them but one side of the room will go into the animals area and cows and sheep will probably end up leaning against them. Would t&g 1x6's work with some 1x6's attached horizontally on one side and a mix of horizontal and diagonal on the other side.

I haven't planned far enough to ahead to consider the latching system yet.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Any input for the door design? The doors will be solid wood, no bars. Both will be cover an opening around 7' tall, one opening will be about 5' wide, the other 4'. This will be a milking room for the time being. So I don't have to worry about horses chewing on them but one side of the room will go into the animals area and cows and sheep will probably end up leaning against them. Would t&g 1x6's work with some 1x6's attached horizontally on one side and a mix of horizontal and diagonal on the other side.

I haven't planned far enough to ahead to consider the latching system yet.

I have built doors with 2x6 T&G using standard metal door hardware. That would be "U" shaped channel that is available from many sources. Typical barn doors have one channel with a flange that locks the two doors together when closed. You would want two pieces with no overlapping flange. When I built mine, I simple laid them out on a flat surface, T&G interlocked, everything clamped and screwed together. No metal on top or bottom. For this, you need sliding rollers with a flange that screws to the top 2x. Heavy, heavy, heavy!

Standard door hardware offered by many has metal top, side and bottom, usually in 48" width but there may be some in the wider width that you want for your 5' door. For your app, a door with no worries about kicking, I think 1x6 would be fine. If you can find hardware for the narrower board width, I think the metal frame would negate the need for more boards to strengthen the door. Without looking myself, you may well find the narrower hardware what with sliding barn style doors being very popular on the rehab shows these days.

Do some online searching on stall door hardware. If you have any Amish close by, chances are there is someone making or will make just what you need.