HOW TO INSTALL A SLIDING BARN DOOR

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Assembly Instructions For Cannonball Sliding Doors
How To Install a Sliding Barn Door
Figure 1 Picture © 2006 Your Barn Door is shipped via common carrier (freight Line). The steel girts are normally shipped in one box, the box 2nd from right. The side rails are the box to the far right. The track and trolley is the box 2nd from left, and the track cover is the box on the far left. This makes a complete barn door system. The barn door sample will be a 10' x 10' door.
Unpack the contents of your order and make sure no damage has occurred during shipment. If so, please contact us immediately. Remember you have bought the door frame only. The skin or siding or what ever you want to call it, does not come with the door package. You have to buy that material at you local lumber yard or sheet metal company. Normally when purchasing your building you would purchase additional sheet metal and cover your door with it. Just about anything will work. Figure 2 shows a complete door and track system just delivered. Figure 2 Picture © 2006 You should have 8 pieces for a door 10 feet high x 10 feet wide. Two Side Rails, One Bottom Rail and Five Girts. Five pieces should look identical. That's the top rail and the four horizontal girts. The top rail is simply a girt. We call it the top rail just to identify it easier. The girt is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 Picture © 2006 Then there's the bottom rail. It has a large cavity in it, so it can slide over the door guide that will be installed on the side of your building running parallel with the door as shown in Figure 4 Click here for specification of Door Guide Figure 4 Pictures © 2006 Door Guide See Installation Instructions Below Last is the two vertical side rails. If this is a single door both of these rails will look just alike as shown in Figure 5B. If you have ordered double doors, there will be three rails that are identical and one rail that is just a little bit different as shown in Figure 5A. Figure 5 A Picture © 2006 Figure 5 B Picture © 2006 Side rails for double door (Double Couple) Notice on the left side of Side rails for single Door this rail there is a cavity which mates up with the other doors side rail. The reason for the odd rail for double doors, is that when you install double doors, and the doors are closed together, one end rail slides up into the other end rail making a tight, closed, snug, fit. keeping out the weather elements as shown in Figure 6 below. Don't get excited, the photo shows the side rails laying down when in reality they will be standing straight up and down. We photographed them this way so you can see how they fit together when in a closed position. Figure 6 Picture © 2006
There should be a 3/4" to 1" over lap for your sliding door at the top of the door opening. The door should also be approximately 3" to 4 " wider than the door opening. This overlap will insure that the door opening is completely covered by the door. So this allows 1-1/2" to 2" overlap on each door side. Please keep in mind that doors can always be shortened on the job site by using a metal chop saw to shorten vertical and horizontal frame members if necessary. When assembling the door keep the top rail (girt) flush with the side rail as shown in Figure 7. Figure 7 Picture © 2006 However, when you slide the bottom rail into the side rail, the bottom rail hangs down 2 inches below the side rail as shown in Figure 8. Click here for specification of bottom door rail Figure 8 Picture © 2006 Lay the J-Cannel, that's the lip on the bottom rail and side rails down as shown in Figure 9. Once the frame is complete and the door is hung, the J-Channel on the door will be facing toward the outside of the building and the door skin will be applied to that side of the door. Figure 9 Picture © 2006 If you don't know what the J-Channel on the door is for. I'll briefly explain it. First, the J-Channel is 3/4" deep. This is deep enough for a standard 3/4" thick board you normally purchase at your lumber yard. It can also accommodate thinner sheet metal. If you use sheet metal and the sheet metal rattles in the wind, it may be necessary to run a bead of caulking around the sheet metal along the J-Channel. Regardless of what your using, if the product is 3/4" or thinner, it will slide behind the J-Channel on the edge of the door, thus giving it a nice finished look as shown in Figure 10 . In this figure I used a white board 3/4" thick as an example. I intentionally did not bring it down flush with the bottom rail to show the board behind the J-Channel on the side rail. Figure 10 Picture © 2006 There is no J-Channel on the bottom rail, thus the door skin just sits on this rail. Also there is no J-Channel on the top rail, so when your applying the door skin, make sure it is level at the top, because it will be totally exposed to the eye. Don't worry because there's no J-Channel at the top, if it's straight it will look great. Surely none of your Good Friends will get on a ladder and check the top metal with a straight edge and then make comments about it. Finally - Assembly Drilling Trolley Holes First, take a girt and drill a hole in it for your trolley to mount to. It's best you do that now, because it's much easier to drill the hole with the girt laying down. If you wait until the door frame is assembled your going to have to drill the hole in a horizontal position. Lay the girt down with a piece of lumber under it. I would use a 2 by 4 because of its thickness. Use a drill bit that is at lease 4 inches long because your going to drill the hole through the top of the girt right through the bottom of it (3-1/2"). That's why you need a 2 by 4 under it. If you don't have something under it, your drill bit is going to go right through the bottom of the girt into the ground or hard concrete. Save that Bit. On doors 6 feet wide to 12 feet wide, drill the trolley hole one (1) foot from each end of the top girt as shown in Figure 10a On doors 13 feet wide to 20 feet wide, drill the trolley hole two (2) feet from each end of the top girt as shown in Figure 10a Trolley holes should be a minimum 17/32" in diameter. If you don't have a 17/32" drill bit, use one a little larger. The next one up is a 9/16". Figure 10a Now, lets lay the door frame out on a level surface such as a drive way or floor of the building you are working on. The more level the better, because if you lay the frame out on an uneven surface the new frame will probably be assembled with a bow in it. Figure 11 Picture © 2006 When assembling the door you must keep it square. Do Not use a square, it won't work this time, the door frame is to big and your square is to small. If you have never squared something this large before, it's quite simple, there is no math involved. Lay the top rail out, the bottom rail out and the two end rails out as shown above in Figure 11. Use one #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screw in each corner of the door frame as shown in Figure 12A and 12B. Figure 12 A Picture © 2006 When applying the screw, screw it in the extruded pilot groove of the rails as shown in Figure 12B. This keeps the screws in alignment with each other up and down the side rails and gives the door a nice appearance. Figure 12 B Picture © 2006
Now take your tape measure and measure diagonally from one outside corner to the other outside corner. On a 10' x 10' door it should measure 14' - 1-11/16 " diagonally from one corner to the other. Now measure from the other corner to corner. The measurement should be the same. If it is not, the door frame is not square. If they do not measure the same, adjust the door while measuring at the same time. It might be helpful to have someone helping you or maybe a whole lot of people helping you. If your adjusting and the measurement keeps getting greater from each corner, that means your adjusting the frame the wrong way. Start adjusting the other way. Just keep working at it, it's got to be square or your going to have a funny looking door. When I square a door and I have some GOOD help, I use two tape measures. One guy or gal measures diagonally from one set of corners while the other guy or gal measures from the other set of corners. When your adjusting the frame each person with a tape keep yelling out their measurements. This way the adjuster (You) can see how close your getting to identical numbers. If your a math major, just figure out what the distances are in advance and just use one tape.
Figure 13 Picture © 2006 There a little hard to see, but I have two tapes measuring this frame.
After you get the door square, go back to each corner and put in the second #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screw. This will pretty well firm up the door.
10 foot high x 10 foot wide (Sample Door) Figure 14 Picture © 2006
Now, your ready to assemble the horizontal girts onto the frame. Girts doesn't have a right or wrong side, but they do have a weld seam on one side. I usually put the seam facing down. So when you set the door in the upright position, the seams will be facing out looking at you. Then when you apply the door skin, the skin will cover the welded seams. The inside of the door which will be visible, will then have a seamless looking girt. Measure down from the top of the frame to 2 feet and make a mark, then measure from the top of the frame on the other side down 2 feet and make a mark. Pick up a girt and slide the girt into the side rails with the girt centered on your marks as in Figure 15. Using #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screws, screw two self tapping screws into each side of the girt. If your door does not fall on an even number in height. You should space out your girts as evenly as possible. In other words, the girts may have to be placed at 2' - 3" to make them come out evenly spaced on the frame.
Figure 15 Picture © 2006
Now assemble your third horizontal girt into the frame. Measure down from the top of the frame on both sides 4 feet and make a mark. Slide the girt into the side rails with the girt centered on your marks as in Figure 16. Using #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screws, screw two self tapping screws into each side of the girt.
Figure 16 Picture © 2006
Now assemble your forth horizontal girt into the frame. Measure down from the top of the frame on both sides 6 feet and make a mark. Slide the girt into the side rails with the girt centered on your marks as in Figure 17. Using #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screws, screw two self tapping screws into each side of the girt.
Figure 17 Picture © 2006
Now assemble your fifth horizontal girt into the frame. Measure down from the top of the frame on both sides 8 feet and make a mark. Slide the girt into the side rails with the girt centered on your marks as in Figure 18. Using #8 self-drilling, self-tapping screws, screw two self tapping screws into each side of the girt.
Figure 18 Picture © 2006
Your frame should now look like the frame in Figure 18.
Figure 19 Picture © 2006
After you have 2 screws in each corner of each girt and rail, Gently and best with some help, take hold of the door frame and began raising the door frame up and turn the frame completely over. If I were you, after I had turned the door frame over, I would re-measure the frame to make sure it is still square. After determining the door is still square, add two more screws at each girt and rail. Congratulations, your frame is now assembled.
When you lean the door frame up to the building, the J-Trim on the doors should be facing you. In other words you want the J-Trim on the outside and not facing inside. "That's because your going to install your skin or metal or lumber on the outside of the door, and if your using thin enough material the material will fit behind the J-Trim giving the edge of your door(s) a nice looking appearance.
Thanks for considering our Doors, they will give you a life time of service.
Tips on installing the Track and Trolley System

The above photos shows the key hole track that the trolleys rides in. As you can see the track is a round ?? gauge galvanized steel with a ?? inch slot in the bottom of it. The trolley slides back and forth in the track with the 9-1/2" pendant bolt sliding through the slot in the track. With a round track, any debris that is put in the track by birds or other animals merely falls down through the slot in the bottom of the track, making the track Self-Cleaning.

The trolleys are made of heavy steel with Delrin trolley wheels. The Delrin product is made by DuPont. The CannonBall "Bolt Thru" Trolley is a small marvel of common-sense engineering...as close to goof proof as anything you've seen. The pendant bolt from the Trolley Hanger is secured with washier nuts and lock nuts. After you've rolled the hangers into the Key-Hole Track and the door is in place, last minutes adjustments are a simple matter of loosening the locknut while holding the washer nut with a wrench, and then turning the tang end of the bolt until the door is into the right position. Then you set the lock nut against the washer nut while holding the washer nut snug with a wrench and the job is done.

The side brackets has a two fold purpose. (1) they are used to slide on the track and then attaches to the header of the building to hold the track on. (2) they are used to join two tracks together. If used as a splice collar to join two tracks together, DO NOT remove the dibbits, as the dibbits help lock the tracks together.

To remove the dibbits, use a hammer and steel punch. Place the bracket on a solid surface as shown above. Place the punch on the dibbit and hit the punch with your hammer. The dibbit will be driver thru the bracket and hang opening. Take a needle nose pliers and work the dibbit back and forth breaking it off. Remove 2 dibbits per bracket. Remove all the dibbits from the brackets except the one you might use for a splice collar.

The above photo shows a bracket being used for a splice collar. When using a bracket for a splice collar do not knock the dibbit off the bracket and do not bend the dibbit in any manner. Leave as is. When the bracket is slide over the track, the dibbits will lock into the grooved notch of the track. After you slide the bracket over the track, then insert the next track into the bracket. When the bracket is bolted to the building wall, your track will not rotate because the dibbit is locked to the track.



STAY GUIDE INSTALLATION
	With sliding door panel open position, make a pencil line on face of building at very bottom edge of door. Slide door to closed position. Turn guide rail upside down so that slots are visible. Line up one end of rail with edge of door opening and mark slot locations on wall, 1 inch above pencil line. Use alternate slot location in case bracket interferes with sliding rib. Install wall brackets with lag screws provided. Make sure nailer holes are in vertical leg of bracket.
Bolt guide rail to brackets, finger tight, with carriage bolts and lock nuts.	Make final adjustments by opening door and checking clearance. Tighten all bolts and nail or screw through holes provided in brackets.