A rustic barn door can be a wonderful addition to any home. These doors make a great conversation piece and add warmth to any space. You’ve probably looked at barn door kits or reclaimed barns doors, and reacted in horror at the high price tag.
Building a barn door by yourself is more economical and can be done by anyone who has basic carpentry skills. We will be covering all the details of building a barn door today.
Supplies You Will Need
- Angle grinder with brush knot coffee
- Router with rabbeting piece
- Tape measure
- Construction adhesive
- 1 wrought-head nail
- No. 1x6x20cm 2 pine boards
- Quart stain in light gold
- Quart grey stain
- Quart dark walnut stain
- Clear poly, 1 lb (optional).
- Use clean shop rags
- Paintbrush
- Barn door hardware kit
Step 1: Evaluate Your Space
First, take stock of the area you will be working in. Measure the width of your barn door. You will need to add two inches to the measurement.
Next, decide how you want your barn door open. You will need to ensure that the door slides to the right if you want it to open to the left. Things such as light switches or thermostats can make it difficult to place your barn door. Keep these in mind when you are deciding how the door should open.
You won’t encounter any obstacles if you are lucky. If you are unable to install the door the way you originally planned, you might consider opening the door to the left or installing a double door.
Step II: Buy The Hardware Kit
Before you begin building your barn door, make sure you secure all the hardware. This will help you determine the height of the door. You can find the instructions on how high you need your barn door to be in the kit. For assistance, contact the manufacturer if they don’t.
Step 3: Preparing The Boards For The Barn Door
After you have taken measurements of the width and height for your door, you can start preparing your boards.
Divide the barn door’s width by the width for each board to calculate the board size. You can adjust the width of each board based on your measurements until you get a uniform width.
Next, you will need to cut the boards to the right width using a table saw. After you have boards that are uniform in width, you can use your router or a table saw equipped with a dado knife to cut rabbets into each of the boards.
Cut rabbets at each edge of all boards except two. This will give you two rabbets per board. Cut one rabbet for each of the last two boards. These boards will form the barn door’s outer edges.
Last, make sure your horizontal rails are the same width as your door.
Step IV: Installing The Barn In Your Barn Wood
Here’s the fun part. These basic pine boards that you got from the lumber yard will be transformed into reclaimed barnwood that is well over 100 years old.
This can be done using an angle grinder equipped with a brush knot coffee. You can start with scrap wood to see how the brush cup behaves when it is lowered to the wood.
Once you are ready to start, attach the first board to your sawhorse and nail it or clamp it. This attachment can cause serious distress to the wood so be careful and use a light hand. You can always add more distressing if necessary.
You will see a lot of sawdust from the knot cup, so it is important to wear safety gear.
After you’re satisfied with the distressing levels on the boards, use an awl for some random wormholes to give the boards a rustic look.
Step V: Staining And Painting The Wood
Now is the time to stain your wood to give it a weathered appearance.
The first step is to apply a light coat of the light-gold stain. This can be done with a paintbrush, rag, or a roller. Allow each board to dry after you have applied the base coat.
Next, we will apply dark stain. Apply the dark stain with a rag. You may need to apply a lot of stain in certain areas, but not enough in others. Use a second rag to randomly wipe off the stain. This will create streaks or areas that are particularly concentrated. You can make it look more authentic if you’re more random.
After the dark stain is dry, we will apply a thin layer of grey stain to the area in the same way as the dark stain. You can be random. In some areas, you might need to use elbow grease while wiping off the stain. In others, just let it dry. You are more random the better.
To preserve the finished look, you can apply a thin layer of clear poly. This step can be skipped to get the best look.
Step VI: Assembling And Closing The Barn Door
Two 2x4s should be placed on each pair of sawhorses. Then, arrange your boards over the sawhorses. To act as spacers, place pennies between each board. To keep your vertical boards in place, screw two pieces from scrap wood between each 24.
Each diagonal measurement should be taken and compared to ensure the boards are square. Adjust them until they match. You can now attach your horizontal rails with wrought-head nails or some type of construction adhesive. After the adhesive has dried, you can hammer the nails into place for the lower and upper horizontal rails.
Step 7: Attach The Hardware
To attach the hardware to your door, follow the instructions in the hardware kit. Next, attach the hardware to the wall.
Step VIII: Hang The Barn Door
Now that you have all the hardware installed, it’s time to finish the job and be proud of your accomplishments. Ask a partner to help you lift and hang the door. Then, test it. To make the door move more smoothly, you can add some WD40 on the wheels to loosen it.
The Final Word
It is easy and inexpensive to learn how to build barn doors. After you’re done with this project, take a look at these other great projects like this rustic barn-stylemirrored.
