Tag Archives: sliding door installation

Where to Stop Metal, Installing a Sliding Door, and Footings

This week’s Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about where to stop metal in relation to concrete, installing a sliding door to a repurposed building, and the proper depth of footings.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Where do I stop my metal in relation to my grade board/ bottom stringer. I’ve set the bottom of my lowest stringer to be the top of my concrete. Does the dirt on the outside end at the bottom of said stringer because I would think moisture would penetrate. Thanks for your time and I enjoy your information. SAM in LANCASTER

DEAR SAM: Bottom of your pressure treated splash plank (lowest stringer) should be 3-1/2″ below top of your concrete slab.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m putting up a pole barn on the cheap with mostly repurposed materials. I’ve searched the interweb and find no instructions on sliding door track installation. I’m ready to start putting up the siding-do I need to prep/install the track/flashing/guides/stops etc. now or can I side the structure and do all this later? I have yet to buy any track/rollers/hardware, the doors will be 18′ tall and 10′ wide (high clearance for a stack wagon). Any help/guidance/direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, DAVE in ELIZABETH

Figure 27-5

DEAR DAVE: You will want to invest in your track and hardware so you have installation instructions including height of track board. Please do not try to wood frame door itself, invest in a steel frame – it will be far lighter in weight and will not warp and twist like a wood frame will.

Normally you will have a 2×6 #2 track board mounted on sliding door header face across your door opening and in adjacent area door will slide over. Top of track board is usually 10″ taller (above bottom of pressure treated splash plank) than door height. Before you run any siding install header, track boards and jambs. Install 1-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ L trim to cover track board. Hang track and track cover trim. Install J Channel horizontally on solid wall below track board and vertically on solid wall side of each door jamb.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello I called the number on your website and I was asked to send this question to this email address:

I’m considering building a pole barn however am concerned because about 30% of the vertical posts would be on a rock ledge at an elevation above the frost line.

I see the section on your website ‘sturdy wall plus concrete brackets’ not sure if that would apply here and/or what type of bracket or detail could be used in the situation?

Thank you! MARK in WEST MILLFORD

 

DEAR MARK: Building Codes require footings to extend to either below frost line or to solid bedrock. Our third party engineers have worked with similar situations previously and usually come up with a design solution involving “pinning” columns to underlying rock.  We would supply you with a column layout and have you indicate how deep you can get at each column location. A steel concrete stake and a sledge hammer are perfect for being able to do this in advance of your plans being completed.

 

 

Sliding Door Problems

Friday’s Pole Barn Humor

Just follow along here…..

A client wrote for Technical Support:

Hanger Sliding Door“I have had the roof and insulated walls on for quite some time and am currently enjoying an almost complete pole building.
Just yesterday I installed the two sliding doors with a friend. This leaves only the trim to be completed.
However, we did have one major issue as we assembled the 12ft. by 10.5 ft. doors. Those stupid slides don’t work at all. The trolleys hit every screw protruding from the top inside of the track. This is unheard of. Most of the time the top of the doors needed to be slammed past each screw. The designers used button head hex cap screws inside and it would seem they should have used something flush like a countersunk screw. I have not put the metal siding on the doors yet, and I am reluctant to even try since the obstructions are so bad. We tried making sure each screw was completely flush, but that did not help.
What’s going on here? Do you have a remedy for this? I will call tomorrow.”

Now we sell thousands upon thousands of sliding doors, and this is the only time I’ve ever heard of this issue. Actually, we just never get any negative feedback on sliding door assembly at all other than the occasional: “You mean we have to put it together?” which always gets a chuckle out of me as these ARE pole building kits.

More from the client the next day:

“After pondering the situation I decided that the button-head cap screws must be protruding too far into the rail space. I looked closely at them and discovered what I thought was a perfect explanation. The cap screws are threaded into the top of the rail, and they are not threaded all the way to the screw head (as none ever are). It appeared that there was a washer between the screw head and the rail hole keeping the screw from tightening flush to the top.

I spent a couple of hours today going to each screw and enlarging the screw hole to allow the button head to snug up flush to the top of the rail. Alas, it is too late tonight to determine the outcome, but I am not encouraged. Since the door frames are already installed (without siding) I must remove a few screws, enlarge the holes, and then reinstall the screws on half of the rails. Then after that I must slide the two doors over to the side I just completed, then work on the other side.  When I slid the two doors over to the other side the trolleys had to be forced past each screw with at least as much effort as before the work was done. So I do not think that the work I did made much of a difference.

It is good to hear that you are not familiar with this problem. Maybe I have some weird one-off problem with the rails being formed too tightly or something like that. Or maybe the contractors who assemble the doors never stop to see how the slides work before putting a load in them. I have not put the siding on these doors yet, maybe the siding pulls the rack apart enough to allow the trolley to ride lower in the track. That would seem to answer the problem. (It does raise others though, if that “fixes” it.)

When I have daylight I’ll make up a video and upload it to YouTube so you can see for yourself.”

I did advise the client to take a close look at the sliding door assembly instructions in our Construction Manual, as I was seriously totally baffled by his situation.

I did quickly hear back:

“Wait… You guys are in MN… have I still not got the right Hansen?  Ugh!! This is irritating. I wanted someone else.  Sorry.

Grrrr, my mistake. Wow, I feel stupid.”

As I love to say to our clients and friends…”Have a Great Day”!