Is your barn door open to criticism?

You can’t browse around Houzz or Pinterest for too long without stumbling onto at least one photo featuring a barn door. A sliding barn door can replace a traditional door between rooms. A series of barn doors can serve as an impermanent wall, giving you the flexibility to close it off for privacy, or open it up for unhindered, room-to-room flow. At Cates, we’ve installed many barn doors in both new construction and renovations. We’ve also saved the day on a few do-it-yourself projects gone awry. Installing a barn door seems simple enough, right? What could possibly go wrong? Here are several of the most common missteps and mishaps.

• The heavy rail and hardware fall off the wall because they were improperly installed.
• The doorway doesn’t have enough wall space to the side for the door to slide all the way open.
• When the door slides open, it covers light switches and electrical outlets.
• The track hardware doesn’t provide enough space for the door to clear the doorframe trim.
• The track or the door itself is not hung perfectly straight; it looks crooked and doesn’t slide right.

We could go on and on…

Our advice: Don’t go it alone. The Cates craftsmen have the experience and skills to make sure your barn door is functional, beautiful and safe—and totally Pinterest-worthy.

Photo credit: Pinterest