Sliding barn doors = winter pain in the butt

[Sunwhinnies]

I know, I know, it’s almost spring but today was the final straw. During the winter the sliding doors are hard to open or close and I’ve pulled my arms out of the socket too many times to count.

Anyone have a solution to make these easier to use? I’ve tried salt under door but in the brutal cold it doesn’t help. I’ve put boards under to lift the door, shoved a spade under while trying to open.

After ten years of this crap, doing the same thing over and over again, I need to smarten up.

Some days I can barely open wide enough to get wheelbarrow through. Thus horses don’t use front paddocks since I can’t be sure by the time I get home for work, the door will open. Argh.

Dutch doors the answer? I’m not a fan because I’ve not seen any totally wind proof but I’m done with this. Want to hear suggestions please.

[dotneko]

Don’t know the size, but we put in automatic garage doors on our barn and indoor 25 years ago and never looked back.
Our smaller barn has sliding doors. Make sure there is a good 6 inch drop in front of the slider and be religious about cleaning crap out of the corners/tracks.
He actually made lighter/insulated sliders out of garage bay doors out of home depot that we got discounted because they had marks on them.
For now, you just have to deal for a couple of more weeks.

[Bluey]

Bigger, sliding barn doors may look pretty, but they are a pain, not in the butt, but below your shoulder blade.

They are the least ergonomic way to open a door, it strains your back and that is with them sliding smoothly, not talking about when they become hard to push, until you again get around to adjusting them.

Compared with swinging or overhead doors, well, pretty only goes so far when your back hurts for years, then change to overhead doors and that pain goes completely away, duh!

Our big overhead barn doors run up or down with a manual chain and they are so easy, a kid can manage them.

Automatic ones would be nice too, push a button and they move.

[Ghazzu]

My old barn (circa 1700), which I use for storage, has sliding doors that are placed inside the exterior wall, so they open nicely.

The newer steel barn has the doors on the outside. A royal PIA.

Those old guys knew what they were doing.

[clanter]

[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8046033]
My old barn (circa 1700), which I use for storage, has sliding doors that are placed inside the exterior wall, so they open nicely…[/QUOTE]

that was the way they were on our barn in Kentucky … inside the building …they retracted into pockets between the outside wall and the stalls

[Fred]

I feel your pain, OP, literally.
The one thing that I find helps, but it won’t help you now, is to dig a small trench under your sliding doors, as far back as they open, before it freezes (Oct/Nov).
The next thing I am obsessive about is keeping a broom & shovel outside by the door and cleaning the snow out of the track BEFORE I or anyone tries to open it, so it doesn’t get compressed in the track.

I also keep a pry bar handy to loosen the ‘grip’ if I have to.

[Prime_Time_Rider]

I contacted our barn builder about installing a metal awning or porch roof to cover the sliding doors to keep some of the rain and occasional snow (I live in Texas) out.

[SmartAlex]

#1 you have to make sure your ground level is appropriate so that when it heaves with frost you still have some clearance.
#2 keep a spud bar handy to beat the ice and gravel into submission daily
#3 occasionally hire serious manual labor to help you catch up on the beating

[Classicgal]

I read about this on some post. Mix 1/2 gallon of water, 6 drops of dish soap and 2 tablespoons of alcohol. It melts ice. I pour this into the one spot I cannot salt and dig out and it frees up my sliding door! The first year we built our barn I raised the doors as much as possible since there was room on the hangers. But that was not enough so I actually cut inches off the bottoms. That worked for a long time. But this year has been so bad here I was fighting with the one door I was able to dig out. Then I read about this. It really worked.

[dqsid]

LOL…my old dutch door that I use to bring horses in and out are on their very, very last legs and after daily struggles to get it open and shut I’ve been debating about building another dutch door or a slider…I was leaning toward a sliding door…maybe I should reconsider =)

[winter]

I loath sliding doors in any application: barn entry or stall. For this reason I did dutch swinging doors on my stalls (inside the barn, our stalls don’t have outside doors) and large overhead doors into the barn. Our overhead doors are electric, but can be opened just as easily with the chain as bluey described.

[spaceagevalkyrie]

[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8046033]
My old barn (circa 1700), which I use for storage, has sliding doors that are placed inside the exterior wall, so they open nicely[/QUOTE]

Thats the way my west facing barn door is. I can have 4’ snow drifts in front of it and it’ll open perfectly. The east facing one however, opens on the outside and is a pain in the ass.

[SmartAlex]

Well, if it makes anyone feel any better, our inside sliding tack room door off the concrete cross tie area won’t slide either. Not because of ice, but because of heaving. So it isn’t always ice and drifts that causes the problem.

[Sunwhinnies]

Huge thank you

Seriously thank you all. This is why I love COTH, so many people with great ideas. I’m actually going to write these down and start with the easiest ideas and work down the list.

Funny how you can just put up with inconveniences for a while until you actually realize there must be a better way. Or in my case too long! Duh.

Sometimes I have a daydream of boarding and condo living. Ok at least until mud season is over.

Many thanks.

[Crockpot]

The one thing that I find helps, but it won’t help you now, is to dig a small trench under your sliding doors, as far back as they open, before it freezes (Oct/Nov).

Yes I am kicking myself because I forgot to do that this year. ARGH

[jherold]

If your slidder is wooden, you can build a swinging door within the door. Might have to build a little ramp to get your wheelbarrow out, but that’s what I did. Braced the 1 x 6’s, added hinges and cut out a door. Slapped on a stall latch and I never worry about my siding door again. Makre sure the door opens in so that you can still get if even if the snow is piled up against the door.

[jawa]

I was in a barn that had a HUGE sliding door. One door for a 14’ aisle and it was built stout! It was hard to move on a good day, but was almost impossible if it was humid or had absorbed any moisture.

Luckily it had a 36" door added into the main sliding door. Wide enough for the wheelbarrow and for a horse to pass through in a pinch.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Fred;8046727]
I feel your pain, OP, literally.
The one thing that I find helps, but it won’t help you now, is to dig a small trench under your sliding doors, as far back as they open, before it freezes (Oct/Nov).
The next thing I am obsessive about is keeping a broom & shovel outside by the door and cleaning the snow out of the track BEFORE I or anyone tries to open it, so it doesn’t get compressed in the track.

I also keep a pry bar handy to loosen the ‘grip’ if I have to.[/QUOTE]

Yep - this. All of it…even the pry bar that lives on the door handle just in case.

[Pennywell_Bay]

[QUOTE=Fred;8046727]
I feel your pain, OP, literally.
The one thing that I find helps, but it won’t help you now, is to dig a small trench under your sliding doors, as far back as they open, before it freezes (Oct/Nov).
The next thing I am obsessive about is keeping a broom & shovel outside by the door and cleaning the snow out of the track BEFORE I or anyone tries to open it, so it doesn’t get compressed in the track.

I also keep a pry bar handy to loosen the ‘grip’ if I have to.[/QUOTE]

^^^ This. Plus I WD40’d the track in the fall.

[3chestnuts]

I have swinging doors on my shed row that open to the paddock. I have been religiously shoveling the snow away from them all winter, but there is inevitably still some buildup.

I had to put my pony on stall rest yesterday. As I was out there with the axe, trying to remove the snow/ice so I could shut the door, I was daydreaming about sliding doors and how they’d be so much better to have.

Thank you for reminding me the grass isn’t always greener! Here’s to hoping the weather gets nicer and barn chores get easier from here on out.