Pole Barn Door

UP Oliver · Dec 26, 2016

I have a 14 foot wide, 12 foot high sliding door on my pole barn. Today and tonight will be the highest winds it has seen. Right now we have around 25 MPH gusts, and it seems like the bottom would swing up and hit the ceiling if I didn't have the bottom held up against the wall.

I have not put my guide rollers on there yet, can't seem to want to spend $18 each on that. I might rig up something else cheaper. I have a half a dozen bales of hay there now.

Just wondering if people put temporary bracing on their doors for the big wind days. There is nothing between my door and the tree line over a quarter mile away to the west, and the wind is coming straight out of the west tonight.

My door is made out of wood 2x4's flat, so the door is and inch and a half thick plus the metal.

Any advice is appreciated.

rrlund · Dec 26, 2016

Set a few round bales against it on the inside and a couple more against the outside.

Dune Country · Dec 26, 2016

I drove a couple of steel stakes in the ground to hold the door in place when closed.

JD Seller · Dec 26, 2016

The bottom rollers that mount to the poles and guide the door work but will bend or pull out of the post. What I do on my doors is take a one inch solid rod, five foot long and drive it into the ground one inch from the door. I leave one foot sticking up. This will keep the sides from swinging. Then in the middle I drive a 1 1/2 inch pipe into the ground so it is flush. Some of the doors have concrete so I drill a hole in the concrete. I then install a drop rods on the inside of the door. So the door ends up anchored on each end and the drop rods in the middle.

I will tell you your doors with the 2x4 flat are not very strong. Across the 14 foot span just the wind force can easily break that door. My doors are 2x4 on edge, twice as strong as them laid flat. The steel with the ribs ran up and down, add zero strength to the cross ways.

What I do often during high winds is place some thing against the doors to help support them. That can be a loader bucket, round bale of hay/bedding, or even a tractor tire. Anything that helps support the door. The hydraulic pressure of the wind is stronger than you think pushing against the entire door surface area.

Brendon Warren · Dec 26, 2016

On my old hay barn I use ratchet straps.

donjr · Dec 26, 2016

Beat me to it, Randy.....

D beatty · Dec 26, 2016

This building has a guid poured in concrete for the bottom and I have turnbuckles on the inside of building to pull doors up tight against building once they are closed. The doors cover a 20FT opening.

Dave H (MI) · Dec 26, 2016

Bales is a good idea. Loader tractor with the bucket just touching the inside of the door is good. I have two 10' doors, 16' high, that meet in the middle. I have four pipes with caps on them buried in a big concrete pier. The pipes stick up about 3" and there are two inside and two out. When the doors meet they are between the pipes. A chain closure about 4' up keeps them tight together. Turnbuckles on the wall ends are snugged down so the door will not move in the wind. Had some pretty strong winds and no movement on those or on the 12'x16' and 10'x12' doors on the other walls. For future, plant a windbreak. It works.

JD Seller · Dec 26, 2016

Dave Do you have any trouble with the concrete piers raising in cold weather. I had to jack hammer two out as they would lift the doors so you could not open/close them. These where in the ground 2-3 feet.

farmerwithmutt · Dec 26, 2016

When I built my shed I put the doors on the inside. Then next to the poles with enough room to roll the doors through 4 X 6 post (they also protect the edges going in and out) then I ran 2 X 8 across fastening them both to the post and doors.

oliverplow · Dec 26, 2016

I have a small piece of chain mounted on each side of the door and another on each post around the door frame. I use two small load binders attached to the chains when closed. My door is 18 ft wide and 12 high.

Stephen Newell · Dec 26, 2016

You might park your truck or tractor up next to the door to hold it against the wind.

JMS/.MN · Dec 26, 2016

I built the pier on the split 24 foot shop doors with a 30g barrel filled with concrete. Welded a channel iron across the top to act as an anchor that the door halves slide in to. Hasn"t moved since install of 1983. Concrete shaped from the edge of the barrel to the top of the channel. Channel is torch-tapered at the ends, so no sharp edges.

JMS/.MN · Dec 26, 2016

The doors should be slightly wider than the opening, so on some doors I place those 2700 lb concrete landscaping blox from the redi-mix plant. Leave just enough space for the doors to slide through.

FinnMD · Dec 26, 2016

I have 2 pole barns with doors about your size. I get high winds often. When I built these I drilled into lower door framing stud from top down and put in 1/2 inch eye bolts through bottoms at ends that butt up to the 6x6 posts. Have chains wrap around posts and snap or other link connectors on chains to eye bolts. No worries.

Jack-Iowa · Dec 26, 2016

I have an l shaped latch that is a lever and drop it in a hole in the door and pull back the latch and it holds tight against the door beam and holds it in place. its about a 1/4 inch rod think menards has them for less than 5 bucks. on the bigger doors I put one on each end. wind is never an issue.

Dave H (MI) · Dec 26, 2016

I've never have any movement in the pier in two winters. I paid to have my shed put up and was not there when they put in the pier, but I had a top contractor and I bet he put that down below the line. The 16' walls were just a little more than I could handle on my own what with trusses and all.

When the doors are between the pipes, the chain is pushed down to tension it, and the turnbuckles have the doors tight to the wall it is almost like there is no doors...just wall.

mj · Dec 27, 2016

(quoted from post at 13:16:21 12/26/16) I have a 14 foot wide, 12 foot high sliding door on my pole barn. Today and tonight will be the highest winds it has seen. Right now we have around 25 MPH gusts, and it seems like the bottom would swing up and hit the ceiling if I didn't have the bottom held up against the wall.

I have not put my guide rollers on there yet, can't seem to want to spend $18 each on that. I might rig up something else cheaper. I have a half a dozen bales of hay there now.

Just wondering if people put temporary bracing on their doors for the big wind days. There is nothing between my door and the tree line over a quarter mile away to the west, and the wind is coming straight out of the west tonight.

My door is made out of wood 2x4's flat, so the door is and inch and a half thick plus the metal.

Any advice is appreciated.

I made rollers out of 2 in. channel driven into theground with small non-swiveling casters bolted on. One night the wind came out of the east(very unusual) and was pushing the doors inward 3 or 4 inches where they come together in the center, I pulled my backhoe inside and used the bucket to hold the doors.

UP Oliver · Dec 27, 2016

Thank you all for the great advice.

I plan to rig up something permanent that I can have on that door. The wind was up to 40 last night and the door is fine. I put two 16 foot 2x4's on edge against the door at 4 feet and 8 feet up and had them screwed to the posts on each side. Then I had a 2x12 on edge vertically from the top to the ground in the middle and had my dozer keeping that in place. It was ready.

Thanks again.

caterpillar guy · Dec 29, 2016

We have 4 doors on a 32x32 shed. They are 12 FT high 16Ft wide, with just a chain hooked to the doors and a pin or headless lad screw in the back of the pole. Never lost a door yet since the mid 60's these are on all 4 doors. The middle where the doors lap the chain is just from one door to the other around the pole. These doors are with the 2x4's flat with a 1 inch board inlet corner wise from opposite corners to hold them from distortion.

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