How To Make Any Door a Sliding Barn Door

I converted a regular louvered door into a sliding barn door and solved a small space challenge in my hallway.

The title of this post might lead you to believe that there is a magic trick to turn any old standard door into a sliding barn door.  Well there is, but prepare yourself for a HUGE plot twist… it’s not the door you need to change, it’s the doorframe!  Sliding barn doors lay over the top of a doorframe, which is why most commercially available barn doors are 84 inches or larger to accommodate for the typical 80 inch doorway opening.  In addition to covering the opening, you must also account for the trim, hardware and track. Ultimately, you need a good bit of space above your doorframe to make this “space-saving” solution work.

If you live in an older home like me and have low ceilings and narrow hallways to contend with, you may have resigned yourself to pocket doors as the only replacement for hinged doors. When I moved into my home two years ago, I knew I needed to replace the hinged door to the small bathroom in our upstairs hallway.  The door was a problem because when open, it blocked the entire hallway.  The bathroom happens to be my three-year-old son’s toilet of choice, so naturally, the door must ALWAYS be left open.  At first I thought the low ceilings would make it impossible to install a barn door, but after some thinking, I realized that the solution was simple: lower my doorframe a few inches and use a standard, interior louvered door as a barn door, while also freeing up real estate above the frame to hang the hardware.  The added bonus was that lowering the doorframe allowed me to buy or repurpose a regular ol’ door, which are cheaper and more plentiful at re-use stores, hardware stores and the little-known online vendor and Brazilian-forest-namesake, Amazon.com.

I had my heart set on a louvered, shutter-style door, which is contrary to the heavy, dominating style of most commercially available barn doors.  I considered making a custom door, which is an option, but decided that a little work to the door frame was easier than attempting to make my own louvered door.

Watch me install a small-space barn door:

What you’ll need:

What you’ll do:

Step 1: Remove the door frame

My advice: roll up your sleeves and go at the frame with a crowbar.  There is nothing more satisfying than the crack of wood under a crowbar!  To minimize damage to your wall, you may want to loosen any caulking and glue with a utility knife prior to getting wily with your demo tactics.

Step 2: Lower the frame

Measure the top of your opening and cut one or two pieces of 1×5 casing at 90 degrees to fit tight inside the top of the doorframe.  Screw these in one at a time like this:

This beauty of this method is that it allows you to lower the frame 1.5-2.25 inches easily without any structural changes to the door frame.  After you trim around it, no one will ever know.

Step 3: Case and trim

Now you can attach the casing and trim like you normally would.  The fact that it is an inch or two shorter doesn’t effect anything.  Cut interior casing and trim at a 45 degree angel.  Using adhesive and a finish nailer, attach the casing to the inside of the doorframe, then trim the outside of the frame on both sides. Because you have lowered the frame, you will notice that the wall above your new frame will need extra attention when it comes time to patch and prep.  I promise that this won’t be noticeable at all after you hang your track.  If everything goes according to plans, it should look something like this:

Step 4: Patch, prep and paint

Before you hang the track, spend some time and get your doorframe and wall in pristine condition.

Step 5: Hang the track

Determine how you will hang your track.  I decided to attach my track directly to the wall above the door opening.  Many people recommend using a header, which is a 1×5 (the size can vary) board cut slightly larger than the length of your track and attached to your wall studs.  This is the most secure way to hang a barn door track and I do recommend it.  The reason I didn’t use a header is because I am a rebel who throws caution into the wind, and also because I used a light-weight door and honestly just didn’t want to lose even an inch more of precious space.  If you attach your track directly to your wall, you need to align as many of the holes in your track as possible to the studs in your wall.  I managed to match three out of the four holes in my track with studs. I am confident that this is enough to support the weight of the door.  Use wall anchors for any holes that don’t alight, but remember that these should not be expected to support the brunt of the weight.

Step 6: Attach the hardware

This step depends on the hardware and door you select.  After you have painted or stained your door, attach the hardware per the instructions and voilà, you’re ready to hang your door and be done with it!

Bonus Step I:

You will notice that your sliding barn door swings a little.  You can fix this by installing a small floor guide.  I picked the invisible version and love it.  It does require using a router on the bottom of your door to make a small divit.  There are other tracks that don’t require the use of a router.

Bonus Step II:

Add a handle.  I didn’t because the louvers work just fine and I don’t want my 3-year-old running into it at night while independently (yeah right) using the potty.  Sometime in the future I may add a handle.