I need to replace my dutch doors AGAIN…can anyone tell me what keeps yours from bowing at the bottom??
Hey, I just posted to your other thread! 
Our dutch doors are actually sliding doors built into a full metal frame (so to open them on the slide, we have to close the top dutch door (or just undo the dutch door hold back latch). I’m probably not describing them well, but our barn builder designed them and they’re super. The only issues we’ve had are the horses chewing on the latches and the faux cross bucks. The frames have held up really well for six years.
You can sort of see it in this picture. The steel frame goes outside the door, and the top and bottom parts are also framed in steel.
Ours are so heavy that I don’t think that they could bow. 1/2" plywood with 2x4 frames on both sides. Of course, the hinges are gigantic but they have held up to alot of abuse.
Ours are 29 years old and still in fine shape. Sorry, but I got a chuckle out of 2x4s and 1/2" plywood being heavily constructed. Ours are made from 2x6 and 2x8 yellow pine. No bowing or warping because of lumber selection. That may seem like heavy construction to some but they still swing with little effort from a little finger. I’ve never had to redo any of them except for one of the hinges that I snagged cleaning out the run-in with the loader bucket.
I did a long detailed how-to about building and hanging them some years ago on here but it got lost in one of the forum dumps. Someone here saved it and mailed me a copy but I don’t have it in a form I can repost it by.
Mine are bowing badly as well
We used marine plywood and 2x4’s for the frame. Sigh…
Tom, I have had some beavers attach them as well… I am thinking of doing the metal angled pieces on the door edges. What do you recommend?
I took an adult wood shop course at our local high school to learn how to build a set of Dutch Doors. Everyone else in the class was building things like bird houses, book shelves and little tables and they thought it was hilarious that I was building a door.
It was fun and easy. I used white pine 2 x 6s, measured the door opening and cut it in half for my two doors. I reduced that size by 1/4" all the way around the perimeter to allow for swing and fit.
For each of the two halves of the door, I cut the sections of 2 x 6 to the length I needed and I ran one section of 2 x 6 through a table saw to make sure the horizontal fit was correct. I then glued them together vertically and used a huge bar clamp to hold them together while the glue set.
I then used 1 x 6 white pine to form a ‘Z’ on the door, using wood screws to hold it in place. The Dutch door was solid and was still hanging straight when we sold the farm ten years after I built the door.
Hope that helps.
www.woodstarproducts.com/ has all sorts of metal edging and such for stalls. I have no idea why this text came out green after I copied and pasted that link.
I have aluminium channel on the top of the doors.
http://www.saf.com/content.php?action=showPage&pid=40&cat_id=7
Cut to length they ship well and if you have a really tight fit you don’t have to screw them down.
My husband built ours of 3/4" plywood with z buck on each side. I think.
As for the chew stop, the easiest and cheapest option is to get a piece of 3" PVC pipe, cut it to length, and saw it open down the length. Then slide it over the top of the door, and screw down on either end. They can’t chew, and they can’t get their mouths open enough around the 3" to crib, either. Works like a charm. :yes:
Today I am building a dutch door for the sheep barn. Yet again, COTH collective wisdom saves me a ton of missteps and gives me the confidence I’m doing the job right.
The sheep aren’t as hard on doors as horses, you might think, and they’re not, but what I learned from the original door that they destroyed is that if there is any lip or ledge on the inside, they will climb the door with it until they manage to tear the thing down. Even if it is open and not in their way!
I’m including this link that I found on one of the other dutch door threads, for interest; kind of interesting to see the idea of building the frame first:
http://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/09/diy-dutch-barn-door/
I’ll share pictures when mine is done.
My brother is an experienced carpenter and builder (high-end custom homes, barns, and indoor arenas) and he made my Dutch doors out of 2X6s, plywood (NOT the composite plywood though – a hoof will go right through that stuff), and T111 siding. They don’t bend or warp and were not so heavy that one needed weightlifters to hang them (just two strong men).
The key is to prime, caulk, seal, and paint the crap out of them, especially the bottom and all edges, which are going to soak up moisture, which causes warping.
He actually made the doors as one piece and then cut them, beval style, so they’d close flush and so that the bottom door would hold open the top door when tied back. You can add a piece of metal to the top of the bottom door if you have a chewer/cribber (my mom has that on her doors, and it’s great) but I haven’t done so yet because my two current horses don’t chew.
It seemed fairly simple when I watched him do it, but even so I’m glad I didn’t have to try. It’s one of those things that isn’t rocket science, but if you don’t have the right tools or materials I can see how it could go very wrong!
