Barn doors have applications both as interior and exterior doors. They can be stunning and stylish centerpieces in your home as well as a space saving alternative to traditional swinging, hinged doors. A barn door is typically side mounted to a wall with a sliding door track set, allowing you to slide the door open and closed. Without a barn door bottom guide, the door may not be as stable as you want and can “flap” back and forth due to air movement. Fortunately, this problem is easily solved with the right barn door guide.
What is a Sliding Door Guide?
A sliding door bottom guide, or barn door roller guide, is a small device that screws into the wall or floor at the bottom corner of a barn door. A sliding guide wraps around the bottom of the door or rides in a channel at the bottom of the door to keep the door in place. A sliding door bottom guide, or barn door roller guide, is a small device that screws into the wall or floor at the bottom corner of a barn door. A sliding guide wraps around the bottom of the door or rides in a channel at the bottom of the door to keep the door in place.
A sliding door guide is necessary for exterior doors with barn door track systems to keep the door stable. The guide is optional for an interior barn door bottom track but is often installed to keep the door from swaying in its track system. Once installed, you can loosen the screws on the sliding door guide to adjust how close the door is to the wall.
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US Futaba offers fantastic barn door floor guide options. Their barn door guides are referred to as wall-mounted “C” and “T” guides. The “C” guide is a barn door bottom guide that wraps around the door bottom and is visible from the front. The flanges adjust apart to accommodate doors from 1″ to 1-1/2″ thick. The “T” guide uses a routed out channel on the bottom of the door and is mostly invisible from the front. The center of the guide to the wall adjusts from 1″ to 1-5/8″ to work on various door thicknesses. Both styles come in three popular finishes: matte black, oil-rubbed bronze, and brushed stainless steel.
We also have a wall-mounted barn door floor guide option from Sure-Loc. Available in Satin Nickel or Matte Black, this guide uses an adjustable wheel on the front to eliminate rubbing on the face of the door. The wheel is adjustable, so the space between the flange and wheel can range from 7/8″ to 2-3/8″. Another option is a floor-mounted barn door guide by Hafele that looks like a shark’s fin. It glides in a routed-out channel on the bottom of the door. Hafele makes two of them: a standard version and a rattle-free version. The channel needs to be 1/4″ wide x 7/8″ deep on the standard version and 3/8″ wide x 25/32″ deep on the rattle-free version. Another way you can mount these sliding door guides is to attach them to the bottom of the door and route out a channel on the floor. If you attach the guide to the bottom of the door, you’ll want to make sure the door is at least 1-3/8″ wide.
All barn door glides require a small portion of the door be in the guide for it to work correctly and not come out of the guide. Since a barn door is usually a little wider than your opening, you’ll want to put the guide near the edge of the opening. A portion of the door still fits in the guide when you slide it in both directions.
In addition to barn door guides, we offer a variety of door bottom guides for other applications such as by-passing doors and pocket doors, shop the hardwarehut for all door bottoms guides for your sliding door hardware needs.
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