Jean Carroll
In my last post, I revealed our Modern Barn Door: An easy solution for awkward entries. I’m back today for the complete details on how we built ALL THREE , contemporary styled, 4-panel doors for around $150.
Because we have become quite the fans of Purebond Plywood in Red Oak, we knew we would be building the doors ourselves with their product. We don’t own a truck, so we had to figure out where to have Home Depot cut the sheets of plywood so that they would fit in our small SUV. Barn Door Hardware 4 ft Level Digital 2 ft Level Easy & Accurate Stud Finder Cordless Drill Drill Bit Set Metric Self-lock Tape measure In hindsight, we would have benefited from cutting each of the small doors from a separate piece of plywood.
But we chose to make our closet door the exact size of the opening, 24″, for two reasons. Because I want to provide you with as much information as possible, I’ve sketched up an imaginary door that is 32″ wide.
You’ll note that our large door, 39″ x 84″ will require more than one piece of plywood.
How to Build Custom Barn Doors, with a modern or contemporary design
The cuts on plywood can be pretty rough and it’s harder to sand the edges once it’s all put together. After you have your edges sanded, get them square on the door with vertical and horizontal rails in place.
The 18 Gauge Ryobi Airstrike 18 Ga is the perfect tool to make quick work of the nailing. After the door is assembled, you’ll want to use wood filler to cover the nail holes and make smoother transitions between the rails. I found the side edge of each door needed a great deal of sanding and a bit of wood filler to get it nice and smooth.
I used a 6″ fine nap roller and then followed with a sweeping of a 4″ brush, only lightly covered in paint.
Our driveway is very steep and once you reach the flat part, you’ve missed the opportunity to see what’s on the ground. The second “test” happened when my husband dropped the large door from about halfway up the stairs!
When I peered down the stairs to the basement after hearing the crash, I just assumed, by the way, he was contorted and slightly trapped by the door, that at a minimum, he had broken his leg. A little bruised, and not too happy about the hole in the wall, but nothing he wouldn’t recover from quickly.
If you are ready to take the plunge, for a link to a full description on the installation of the stainless steel hardware we used Click HERE. Disclosure: I was reimbursed for the cost of using PureBond plywood, but I would have no other wood product in my home regardless.
