Sliding doors for Pole Barn

taem · Dec 21, 2019

Doing preliminary research on building a 40x60 pole barn machine shed to store haying equipment. It will be nothing fancy: metal roof over OSB and metal siding nailed to 2x6 ribbing on utility poles no interior finish. I've been thinking about 14'w by 12'h at each end to allow drive through of my equipment. I don't think overhead doors are in the budget and I was thinking of site built sliding door, metal over wood frame. Here's my question, and a request for any other suggestions: Is there a way to mount the doors inside the building frame and slide to a stop on the post? I live in heavy snow country Vermont-Canadian border and have quite a tussle with the other sliding doors on my barn in the winter. When I search for this, I get mostly pictures of inside dwellings, not farm buildings. Obviously I will lose a little inside space on the gable end, but that would be offset by not having to deal with the doors freezing to ground or having shovel constantly. If this is a bad idea,please tell me why.

Second question, less important,but still interesting: I have seen the aluminum faced bubble insulation touted a way to keep from having the underside of the roof sweat. I appreciate that the true insulating value of the stuff is low (one u tuber says it's only good use is to make halloween costumes for your kids) but I wonder if having the reflective and vapor barrier there is worth the trouble and cost (maybe $1800 for my project) in what will be cold building with a certain amount of air flow.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions

Diggin It · Dec 21, 2019

I don't know of any reason why the track and rollers can't be on the inside. It's just a matter of reversing things a bit.

That said, the track, rollers and associated hardware aren't inexpensive either. I'm looking for a way to do them without spending $400 or so just in hardware for each door.

caver · Dec 21, 2019

Just make sure your door is fully open on a windy day. I have a slider at each end and the one on the prevailing downwind side will start to flip out like a pet door. There are bottom retainer rollers you can but but in my situation they weren't going to work real well. I used a hook/lever style latch on each side. Shop around for the trolleys, track and hangers as prices were all over the place. Lowes had cheap trolleys but a small town hardware store had better prices on the track.

EddieWalker · Dec 21, 2019

The building sweats because of condensation that forms under the metal during temperature changes between inside and outside. By laying your metal over OSB, you pretty much eliminate this. You still need good air ventilation because condensation can still form under the OSB, but it's not going to be as noticeable. With OSB, you absolutely have to have a water barrier under the metal/over the OSB, to deal with the condensation that forms under the metal. Since this is such a small air space, it's also going to be minimal, but you have to have a way to deal with it. Just don't be surprised if you see water coming out from your roof when it's not raining.

tomplum · Dec 21, 2019

I have drive through sliders. In my situation, I wouldn't want it on the inside as I use all the interior wall space that I have. Plus, I have a mezzanine that runs the length of the building, so that wouldn't work either. So should you have plans for either, it would nix an inside slider. If you didn't need it for snow load, I would skip the OSB and use the insulation wrap/ barrier to control condensation.

fried1765 · Dec 21, 2019

^^^^^^ agreed!

davedj1 · Dec 21, 2019

All said and done you might as well get the OH doors. All the sliders I have ever built or seen have been nothing more than large kites in a windy situation. I built some large pole barns for my BIL for his lumber business, we were constantly fixing the doors or worse yet picking them back up off the ground and rehanging them.
I would think twice about putting OSB on the roof too. Seems like a waste of resources to me, run 2x4 strapping/purlins and apply the metal roofing right to it. As long as your eaves are vented properly condensation shouldn't be a huge issue.

WranglerX · Dec 22, 2019

To prevent door kite situation you probably need to have tracks in floor for bottoms of doors to run in, BUT with dragging implements and such though door way you are going to fill tracks with mud and dirt and that will make it almost impossible to open doors when you need to most....

Dale

fried1765 · Dec 22, 2019

DL Meisen said:
To prevent door kite situation you probably need to have tracks in floor for bottoms of doors to run in, BUT with dragging implements and such though door way you are going to fill tracks with mud and dirt and that will make it almost impossible to open doors when you need to most....

Dale

I have had a 36 x 48 Morton building with two large sliding doors for 36 years.
I have had no door issues.
I keep the doors either full open, 1/2 open, or closed.
There is an over center latch at each position.
The larger door slides over a center of opening in ground support at the middle bottom of the door.
36 years, and I still love my Morton building.
I do not have to deal with snow.

Diggin It · Dec 22, 2019

I would imagine that something as simple as a piece of 4x4 or similar stuck in the ground both sides of the doorway would keep it from blowing outward when either open or closed.

ovrszd · Dec 22, 2019

In regards to the building wrap. The roof metal is going to sweat. You can't prevent that. How the sweat is disposed of is in question. Eddie's comments above are spot on. If you wrap your building prior to putting on the tin with a vapor barrier of your choice the sweat will be directed down the roof slope and exit at the eaves instead of dripping on everything inside.

As Dave mentioned, I'd forget the OSB and use that money to improve the quality of the doors.

Menards sells metal framing for sliding doors. So when you are done there is no wood in the door. I've got a pair on my machine shed built that way and I really like them.

/pine · Dec 22, 2019

ovrszd said:
In regards to the building wrap. The roof metal is going to sweat. You can't prevent that. How the sweat is disposed of is in question. Eddie's comments above are spot on. If you wrap your building prior to putting on the tin with a vapor barrier of your choice the sweat will be directed down the roof slope and exit at the eaves instead of dripping on everything inside.

As Dave mentioned, I'd forget the OSB and use that money to improve the quality of the doors.

Menards sells metal framing for sliding doors. So when you are done there is no wood in the door. I've got a pair on my machine shed built that way and I really like them.

FWIW...
All the metal roofs I have where the underside is exposed...the condensation drips vertically from where it condenses and accumulates...it does not run down the underside of the panels at all...

Diggin It · Dec 22, 2019

/pine said:
FWIW...
All the metal roofs I have where the underside is exposed...the condensation drips vertically from where it condenses and accumulates...it does not run down the underside of the panels at all...

Yes, but I think he's saying the drips will run down the house wrap and not on your head.

aczlan · Dec 22, 2019

I would look at regular garage doors rather than sliding doors. The contractor who built our pole barns says that it's about the same cost (figuring his guys time to build the door), but garage doors are less problematic down the road.

Aaron Z

lman · Dec 22, 2019

I had a 56' x 40' built about 8 years ago with 20 ft. sliding doors 14 ft. tall at each end. The doors are actually 2 10 ft. doors sliding out. I've never had any problems with the doors and never had a mouse in the building.

lman · Dec 22, 2019

I also have the bubble wrap on the inside of the roof and have never seen any condensation. I do not heat the building, however.

Diggin It · Dec 22, 2019

Rollup doors may be comparable in cost at the standard 7' garage door, but when you go to 8 or 9' like some of us need, you start looking at commercial or custom prices.

zzvyb6 · Dec 22, 2019

My 40 x 60 machinery shed has 4 10' high x 12' wide sliding doors on 2 tracks on one of the long sides. I can have any 2 open at one time. I made the doors using a 2x4 frame and 10' x 4' sheets of T1-11 available from Menards. Perfect for storing hay equipment, even my NH-1012 stack wagon. This gives me access to the machinery I need in the right order of use. 1 bay is a service shop area and one is for the farm's bass boat if necessary. I often park the fully loaded stacker in a bay until a customer comes to buy the hay and it stays out of heavy dew conditions. I can even unload and reload the stacker inside the building if necessary (need height inside for this).

The key to keeping the doors free from snow drifting is the right placement of the building (and the door side) as well as a 6' overhang on the door side. Mine looks like an enclosed oversized horse run-in.

I've seen the machinery sheds with sliding and roll up doors on the ends, but it's painful to watch users faced with equipment shoe-horned in an inconvenient position and facing the wrong way when its time to get it going. This includes parking the dismounted loader frame and a snow plow.

aczlan · Dec 22, 2019

Diggin It said:
Rollup doors may be comparable in cost at the standard 7' garage door, but when you go to 8 or 9' like some of us need, you start looking at commercial or custom prices.

That was for 10x10 doors on one barn and 12x11 doors on the other.
Haven't regretted going with roll-up doors for either.
If new are too spendy, watch on Craigslist. There are "standard size" doors for anywhere from free to $1000 (with most being $300ish for a door) and larger doors for $300-2000 depending on size and condition.
You can make any door taller by adding a section from another matching door.

Aaron Z