lighten up the door

[gws]

I have a 24x36 pole barn. Its setup with 2 stables and tac room on one half. The other half is empty
and provides a drive through with 2 large 12x12 doors on each end. The doors are made 2x6/2x4 wood frame then covered with T1-11. This makes for a very very heavy door. It hard to open. Is starting to pull the roller rails down and I would like to lighten it up a bit. What home built solutions do I have?

I though removing the T1-11 siding and replacing it with vinyl might help with the weight, but the wood frame is still going to be heavy. What are my other choices?

I have attached a photo of the barn.

 

[JJT]

They make heavy duty track which will take care of the sagging issue and 2 - 4 more trolley's would certainly help. I only see 2 on your 12' door? I have 4 on my 8' doors, (3/4" T111 and 5/4 PT) and my 8/9 year olds are in and out all the time.

 

[Thomas]

You may want to fix the rail first,and install metal backing plates to bolt to.
Than maybe build a cover to protect the rail and pullies from the weather than lube the living heck out of the pullies and rail.
The old New England barns were made this way,also seen some barn doors w/counter blance.

 

[MikePA]

The sliding doors on my barn have a 2" x 2" frame with metal reinforcements where needed. The outside has metal siding about the same shade of red as yours. You might try contacting one of the pole barn builders in your area and see if they'd sell you the materials for a standard sliding door.

 

[gws]

The sagging is not the rail, but the entire track. The photo shows how 1 of the tracks has dropped.
I have fixed this several times. Backing plates, but the weight keeps pulling the track down.

 

[JJT]

I thru bolted my rail with 3/8 carriage bolts every 16 or 24"'s. I can understand the sagging if you used lag bolts or screws. I still think you need more trolleys, spreading the weight out will help with the sagging and make it slide easier. You could also add a garage door spring, then it will open easier but be a pain to get closed, (pay me now or pay me later...)

 

[SteveBenson]

If you want the ultimate in lightweight there are extruded aluminum door channels you can buy (I think they are called EasyRails). Basically, it is 2 channel type pieces to form the sides of the door with 2x4s fitted in between every 2' or so. You can then side with whatever you want. I did a 10'x10' door on my barn this way with metal siding. It is a split slider (each door 5' wide). Each door wieghed about 50 lbs.. They had special rails for split sliders that interlock and even had a grove for weather strip seal. The EasyRails were pretty cheap if I remember correctly. The only problem is the doors are so light you need to make sure they are well secured in windy conditions.

 

[Rodneyd]

I built a frame out of 2" square tubing. I had a local welder just weld up a square. Door is 12 feet wide and 9 feet tall. I covered it with metal to match the barn. Only have one rail and two rollers. It was light enough for me to put up myself. Been up for about 7 years now. Only problem so far is my son backed into it without opening it first. Put a nice bow in it. Some day I need to take it down and take the bow out.
Rod

 

[SteveBenson]

They are called EASY-FRAME rails. These are made of steel and would be suitable for a single slider.

http://www.natman.com/prodinfo_itemdetail.asp?cat=8&sub=120&prod=149&catalog=1296&item=5471

 

[rdln]

Adding one or two more rollers would help with resistance and movement.
If it is national hardware and it probably is, the hangers are specified to be 24 inches apart. and add a hanger at the joint of two rails and lightly weld. Of course do all this after removing doors or taking weight off the rail with floor jack.