My barn/indoor arena currently has only one sliding door - on the west end of the building - and it’s really large and heavy. So much so that it isn’t very practical in terms of needing to open and close it on a regular basis. This is a post-frame construction so I don’t know what if anything I can do to make the door more user friendly or if it’s even possible to have a smaller door put in back there. It doesn’t help that the prevailing wind is basically always out of the west. Any ideas?
We lived with those kinds of doors, we tweaked them time and again so they would work easier, which they did for a bit, then would get heavy again.
Sliding doors are not ergonomicly friendly to humans.
They tend to cause back of shoulder pain if you have to push them hard repeatedly.
After decades of fighting those doors, at times the wind would just flat knock one down and we had to put them back up, we went to overhead doors with a manual chain and those, even a kid can work easily, in any weather.
We also have a people’s door where we can near those, so the big door doesn’t has to be open all the time.
For when they are open, we have gates if horses will have access to those entrances.
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If your budget can stand it, consider paired sliders.
That way you are only moving 1/2 the door.
Also make sure the track is kept clean - I thought one of my 12X16’ sliders was off the track when I couldn’t slide it completely shut.
Friend came over, eyeballed it & used a hoe to dig out the track.
Problem solved.
Most likely the overhead track system is not correct as my company back in the old days used to install very heavy overhead tracked sliding doors. We hung sliding doors on blast cambers that weight in excess of 10,000 pounds and those doors could be moved by a person with one hand (stopping the door was another story since the kinetic energy required to stop the door increased with speed)
If the just regular off the shelf sliding door track and hardware the weight rating could easily be as low as 300 pounds
Go to this Richards-Wilcox web site, they have been manufacturing sliding door hardware since the 1880s
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Change out to double doors or maybe have a double size man door cut into it so at least you can walk thru it. There are those garage type roll up doors, might check into those.
First, check the track. I can shut 12 foot by 20 foot doors with ease when the bottom track is clear. Dirt in the track, birds nests, broken wheels, all make closing harder.
In my barn someone installed a door in the door so you can keep the big doors shut in bad weather.
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After decades of fighting two 9 1/2’ wide, 14’ tall half sliders on one end of our quonset barn, the other end had been closed up a few years after the barn was built in 1956 because our winds kept knocking those doors out, we finally about ten years ago took them down and put overhead doors.
We also added a people’s door on the side.
No more needing a crowbar to break the door loose when iced over, to help push it on when it was stuck, etc.
Wonderful that, wish we had done that 50 years ago.
Now, for regular garage type overhead doors, some can me made very fancy, look like barn doors, you need about 2’ of space above the top of the door frame inside the building, so it can lift up out of the way.
After that, all our barn doors now in all barns are overhead doors.
No more sliders, ever, not in the barns or stalls, if we can help it.
Our backs thank us.
Human bodies were not made to pull heavier things sideways.
It twist us and strains arm, shoulder and back.
Others tell me their sliders just move so easily, just push with a finger.
When we are where they can show me, not so much.
They realize they are straining after all.
Few work easy more than right after you fix them, for a bit.
That is what they remember.
Then again they start hanging up where you have to shove them.
If sliders is what a place has, if it is what fits better for other reasons, stalls with narrow aisles, barns with low ceilings, you live with them.
Given a choice, I would think hard if sliders is what I would pick.
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Thanks Bluey. I don’t know why but I never thought of that. I think an overhead might be the answer to the west end. The building has 14 foot (at least) side walls so I don’t think the tracks would interfere with using the building as an indoor arena. I’m putting a smaller door in the east end and was going to go with a slider but maybe I’ll do an overhead there also.
I sold and installed overhead doors for decades, the ones that are sold now are made less durable than the ones from the 1980s. Gauge thickness of the door panels has been reduced. The standard in the “old days” was 20 ga panels with 100,000 cycle life springs… this changed to “optional” in the 1990s when 24 ga became the standard, but 20 ga or 18 and 16 ga doors are available
Today it is not uncommon to see 29ga panels with 5,000 cycle life springs being sold as “top of the line” products
Referring to Bluey’s third photo of the arena… if the door was to be installed on the side wall the door could be tracked to follow the roof line… by doing so there would not be any track hanging down into the arena. This is an optional installation process that does not add much to the cost but sure does clean up the view in the arena.
Back the original post… if you are considering replacement of the sliding door… first get a quote on motorizing the sliding door . A commercial grade slide door operator is less than a commercial overhead door. These operators are designed to handle un-sprung weight.
IF YOU GO with overhead doors…be sure to get wind load certified doors …your insurance company might require this.
If you wish to not use a wind Load Rated door have at least two door struts per section with extra long stem rollers that are double bracketed on the bottom section
If the door is very large get a quote using 3 inch track… this is heavy duty commercial grade designed for extreme use
I’m having Morton install a small slider on the east end, closest to the house, and they do aluminum (frame?) doors. They’re going to give me two estimates on the big west-end door; one will be replacing it with aluminum (it’s wood frame) or renovating what I’ve got so that it moves a little better.
Don’t have the clearance for overheads
In the old days, or I should say, what I used to see in old buildings occasionally, was a man door built into the barn door, whether it was a slider, or hinged. I’m sure you’ve seen that, but I will look for photos and add them to this post if I can find them. In essence, it’s like putting in a dog door, but people sized.
This is not a barn, but you get the idea: 
must be talking to a residential door installer regarding a standard installation but there are several low headroom types of installations including rear mounted springs only requires 4 inches of header clearance
https://www.garaga.com/information/faq/headroom-commercial
Another option would be lower the header in the existing doorway
OP, you might want to talk with a commercial overhead door company as a low clearance, rear mounted spring door only requires 4 inches of clearance at the header…and even this type of mount can be a follow the roof pitch installation so nothing is hanging down
and if wanted a personal door can still be installed into a sectional overhead door
Talking to Morton their solution is one that is going to be one that they can do in-house… which would be build another slider
Well, part of the reason I called Morton was that 1) we’re thinking of having them build us a garage next year and 2) they do general repair work (my arena needs some other work on the gutters) and are only about 30 minutes from our house. I don’t object to sliders - as long as I can open them without excessive hassle.
