Getting my plans together for the barn on the new property.
Is there anything safer than a jamb latch for securing sliding doors? Or is that the only one, and you’re best to mount it as high as you can while still holding the door tight? TIA!
I had spring loaded latches on my preifert stalls that latched overhead. Pulling down on the first bar of the grill on the door unlatched the stall. Closing the door latched the stall.
It was super slick. Could be triggered easily from outside or inside the stall. Quite unlikely (probably impossible) to be triggered by a horse. Nothing ever could extend into the doorway itself.
Not sure if that exists as something to be added to existing stalls, but it’s the safest set up I’ve ever seen.
I have sliding bolts now, which are fine…as long as they’re slid all the way back before walking a horse through.
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I know the latch you’re talking about. I’m talking about exterior/solid doors though, but I wonder if something like that could be modified for that purpose?
Oh, I totally missed you were talking about exterior doors, sorry!
I like the handle latch for the big end doors. U handle on each door, one handle has…like an L shaped piece? attached to the bottom. Close doors, that piece hooks over the opposing handle.
Very secure, minimal moving parts, nothing projects, super simple to install. Although can only be opened from the one side.
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FWIW, and not exactly on topic, I have an absolute horror of jamb stall latches after watching a nice horse at my junior barn walk into one and open up an 18" long gash on his shoulder.
A barn I work in sometimes has them and I am obsessive about making sure they’re shot back all the way before bring a horse in or out. They at least have blunted, smoothed ends.
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This is why I don’t like them. There’s the L at the end that grabs the door. There’s the L at the end that you push on to close them. They swing all over the dang place because they’re so adjustable. They’re best applied low on the door, but what a perfect place for an injury.
I’ve never had an injury on one, thank god, but I can look at them and see the extreme potential, in many different ways. I know I read somewhere someone had encased theirs in some wood to prevent any potential for snagging, but that seems messy.
@Simkie do you have a picture of the type you’re talking about? This god forsaken home trend of residential barn doors for closets and things makes searching for actual barn hardware nigh impossible.
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I have the metal mesh stall doors that fasten with a double end snap. Safe, but somewhat difficult to open and close one handed.
I would love to see other ideas.
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I have seen so many nasty gashes from jam latches that I would never have one on a stall anywhere. There are several Versions of this type of gravity latch. I think they’re just about the safest you can get.
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The intended location for these doors is from the stalls to the outside. Typically a dutch door application.
I don’t plan on shutting the horses in more than a couple times a year, and I certainly don’t plan on leaving any part of a door open when I do that - if they’re in it’s because the weather is SO BAD they need protection. That’s why I was hoping for a solid/slider door.
But all the latches for one reason or another just aren’t “the one”. Can’t open from both sides, etc.
I thought sliders would look the cleanest, but I am striking out on the latch part.
Yeah, totally agree, the avalanche of interior barn doors makes it so hard to find actual barn hardware.
Here’s the latch.
Although I’m not sure if there’s anything that’ll latch a sliding door that’s accessible from both sides.
Sliders off a stall are tough. I’ve seen a few barn that have that set up and they never work well. Maybe they just take too much horse abuse? I think there’s a reason why a swinging door is the overwhelming preference in that application.
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It would probably be easier to hang a hinged door, honestly. Ugh.
For the hinged doors, I’m totally sold on the twist handle latches. How clever to have the tie back built in.
Ok, so since maybe sliders are NOT the way to go, is there a reason why I should do a dutch style door instead of a single solid door? Hanging ease? Alignment? Again, horses will never be in with just the bottom closed, ever. If they’re in, it’s “batten down the hatches” time.
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I love the simplicity of that.
The one thing I’ll say about these is that hold back is a hazard. Super pokey. Even if the doors will always be open unless horses are locked in on the other side, they do weird, stupid shit and could knock the door off the hold back dicking around.
These are more horse friendly and actually designed for horse use:
Airflow and light would be one reason to do dutch. If horses need to be locked out, and you don’t want to close up the barn entirely, you can close the bottom. If you’re building the doors out of wood, that’s also a HEAVY thing as a one piece door. Tough to hang!
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They won’t be locked out, because the stalls are doubling as the shelter. But yes, heavy.
Can you describe how those latches work, or do they have a video? Maybe I need more coffee, but I’m not quite getting it.
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search box track sliding door hardware, that stuff used inside homes is flat track
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There may be times where you’re working in the stalls, don’t want horses helping, and still want light and air. Not a permanent situation, but a nice option to have half a door open while you’re installing mats or power washing or painting or whatever.
The latches work like a door handle. There’s a pic of the opposite side on this pdf:
https://www.plyco.com/documents/horse-stalls-equus-dutch-door-latches/53-equusdutchdoorlatches/file
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Ok now I got it, I think. For a tie back, I can think of a few ways to do it that aren’t pokey.
Yeah, I used double ended snaps. It worked okay. But I wished at the time I’d gone with those plyco handles. The other really just weren’t great.
Looking closer at it, isn’t the catch for this thing kind of pokey, and on the outside of the door where horses would be walking past?
Unless I’m still imagining the way it works wrong.
If you go with swinging doors, what about just a non-keyed double sided deadbolt? Or if you worry the horses could open the deadbolt put the key side on the interior and keep the key in an easily accessible place.
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