7FT Barn Door?

[kaya842]

We bought our property with an existing barn and stalls. Currently they are arranged in a way that creates a lot of dead/ wasted space. We currently have one “horse” / big door which is in the middle of one of the long ends. I am wanting to rearrange so that we have a center aisle with the big door(s) on the short ends. The issue is that the barn was originally 24x46 and the previous owners added on to make it 36x46 (giving us plenty of room for 12x12 stalls on one side and a 12 or 10ft deep tack on the other and a 12 aisle). This makes it so that there are support beams kinda sorta where I would want to put the doors. I can put “big” doors on the short ends but the maximum door opening we can do between support beams is 7ft. Obviously this isn’t ideal but we gotta work with what we have. The current big door is 7’6.

In short: Is a 7ft doorway safe/ workable? The aisle will still be 12-14ft, but we would really like for the vet/ farrier to be able to back the end of their truck in the doorway.

[Bluey]

I would guess a not very large pickup would fit under that.

Why not ask a local remodeler about raising that door frame, if you need a taller door there?

That should not be hard at all to do.

My 150F 4x4 pickup is 6’6" and the garage door is 7’ 10" tall.

You could ask your vet and farrier how tall their pickups are before doing anything?

[horsepoor]

I took this to mean it would be 7’ wide, not tall…maybe OP can clarify?

[4horses]

7ft should be fine in height provided your horse doesn’t fling his head up and hit himself. Most horses are good about not hitting their heads. If you want a run in, i would worry more. If you are leading in then i doubt you would have a problem.

or did you mean 7ft wide?

[Bluey]

Well, if 7’ is width, no, that won’t work.

My pickup itself is 6’4" and with the mirrors way more.
My garage door is 10’ wide and it is a tight spot.
There are mere inches left on each side driving in there.
I think the minimum to drive a pickup thru would be more like 8’+.

Our stall doors are 7’ high, horses do fine on that height as a door.
That is just too low as ceiling in stalls.

[js]

Seven foot as the width will not work at least for driving a vehicle into the aisle way. Honestly, the farrier and/or vet has never needed or asked to back their trucks into the aisle, they park just outside the door. You might could look at a roll up door that mounts on the outside and rolls into a housing type thingee. That way you can make it wider.

[Janet]

Assuming you mean 7ft width.

A-I have 12 foot doors in my current center-aisle barn. The vet and blacksmith back up TO the barn, but not into the barn, though they can if they want.

B- the barn we had when I was a teenager had only 4’ wide doors to the outside, and it really wasn’t a problem. It was a bit inconvenient when we had several tons of hay delivered. but it was never a problem for vet and farrier.

C- if you are making changes anyway, it isn’t THAT hard to move the support beams. I did that when I converted a pig barn (with support beams along the center line) to a center aisle horse barn.

[clanter]

I had an overhead door company that did residential and commercial remodels we put doors in places that where thought impossible or least unlikely.

Even made disappearing walls that were nothing more than a vertical lift door for us.

A picture of what OP has now would be of help

[jawa]

My barn has 10’ wide doorways leading to a 12’ aisle. I can drive my truck through, but a 12’ doorway would be less worrisome. If the equipment you plan on driving through the barn can fit through a 7’ doorway, then you may not have an issue. You may not think you would ever need to drive through you barn, but there are some emergencies that might warrant it.

I’d check with a framer and see if it’s possible to change the support beam location and create a doorway that is a wide as you can possibly make it…10’ at a minimum and wider if possible.

If you can’t, then a 7’ doorway is okay and safe for moving animals in and out of the barn, just not ideal with equipment or your vehicle.

[house]

7 foot is do able with a car but very tight, that said I always aim for 10 wide 13 tall, that way you can get a semi in if you need to

[Palm_Beach]

How wide are your stall doors? Horses go in and out of them all day long. I see no problem with a 7’ wide barn door. The vet and blacksmith can take a couple extra steps. They won’t melt if it rains.

[endlessclimb]

I’d try my darndest to move the support beams and get the wider door now. Doing it later will be a big PITA.

[ShotenStar]

The main door to my barn aisle is 8 feet wide, leading to a 10 foot wide aisle (we cut off two feet in order to place the electrical master panel and a water hydrant just inside the door). That width works just fine for the farrier and the vet. They can back up close to the door opening without actually backing into the barn aisle.

star

[avjudge]

Reading these comments, it occurs to me that if you decide to go with the narrower door rather than address the structural obstacles, you could always build a small lean-to roof extending out from above the door so a vet, farrier, etc. whose truck is parked just outside the door will have cover going back and forth.

[Bluey]

@avjudge

Reading these comments, it occurs to me that if you decide to go with the narrower door rather than address the structural obstacles, you could always build a small lean-to roof extending out from above the door so a vet, farrier, etc. whose truck is parked just outside the door will have cover going back and forth.

Good thinking.

That is what we did also, just in case others are using the aisle when vet or farrier need to be there.
Works just fine to have an overhang to the front of the barn to get out of the weather.

[Palm_Beach]

@kaya842

In short: Is a 7ft doorway safe/ workable? The aisle will still be 12-14ft, but we would really like for the vet/ farrier to be able to back the end of their truck in the doorway.

OP wants to move support beams ($$$) to gain six inches to a foot of width so that maybe the blacksmith and vet can have the back end of their trucks inside the barn, instead of backed up to the door but a few steps outside. Personally, I think it’s a waste of money. Horses regularly go in and out of stall door openings, which are 4’ wide and no one gives it a second thought. 7’ is plenty wide for a horse. I’m pretty sure my barn doors open to 6’-7’ and I regularly lead them in and out 2 at a time.