Barn door location?

With that said, I do have a question on what is the best location for the door. I think I want a 12' wide door instead of a 10' wide one because that will allow my tractor to stay parked in front of the door while the ATV's can go in and out.

I guess one option that I don't know how much would cost would be to put a small 9'x7' door in on the other side of the barn just to get the ATV's in and out of and have a 9'X10' door for the tractor.

If I just put in one door, I can't decide if it should go in the middle or if I should put it off to the side. I think I want the entry door on the side of the building that is nearest to the house. I thought with the window on the opposite side of the door and the predominant wind out of the South (where the main door is) I could get a nice breeze through there in the Summer when I'm in there working on something.

The plans are for all the equipment to be toward the front of the barn and my workbench and stuff like that toward the back.

I drew up a crappy sketch:

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nathan

I've about decided on a single 16' wide door centered on the front of the building.

Here's the latest sketch. It is pretty much drawn to scale and I put all the equipment that I have now in it to see how much space they would take.

If you put in two big doors, it will be easier to get stuff in and out, but you will lose a lot of wall space. Because of where my shop is located, I could only put in one door. It's sometimes a problem to get stuff in and out, but it's not that big of a deal.

How high are your sidewalls, and how high will your doors be? Overhead doors normally need at least a foot of overhead, plus another foot for the opener. Which means 8 feet is about it in a 10' sidewall building. A sliding door needs no overhead, so you can have a 10' tall door in the end of a 10' sidewall building. (You can't get a full height slider in the side of pole barn because you lose a foot to the headers.)

I put my entry door in the end of the building so I don't get soaked when it's raining. (No gutters to clean.) I put it on to the right of the overhead door (as you face the building) so if I'm pulling a vehicle in I don't have to walk to the other side of the vehicle to get to the entry door. Coincidentally the door is at the corner closest to the house.

I put in a 16' wide by 8' tall overhead door exactly in the center of the end of the building. I definitely would not go with a narrower door. You want to be able to get in and out when there's a disabled vehicle in the building.

Good luck.

One other thing, if you figure you need a 12' wide door, go at least 14' before its built. Nice thing about a slider is once figure out that after put the new duals on and now that tractor won't fit through either one of those !@#$%^&* doors, can take down a pole at each end, use the extra metal to make new wider doors after put in a wider track. Means taking down and cutting plenty of metal though. Can be done, aint at all fun, especially when could've and should've just gone 20' (2 spans) to begin with. I've been known to be plenty stupid from time to time, especially the first round, so learn from my mistakes, don't repeat them.

Mark

From my current perspective this will basically be a garage for my tractor and ATV's. I'll park my motorcycle and my riding lawnmower in there as well. That doesn't even take up 1/2 the space when I parked them all inside the outline.

I'm really wanting to know what kind of things I will need to be putting in there because right now I can't think of any. What am I going to put in the back that I need to get in there that will be too far from the access door?

I haven't decided if I will leave the rotary mower in there when not in use or not. I tend to leave the back blade on the tractor more than the mower.

Thanks for the input, I really am trying to take all this into consideration.

It's your decision. Which ever you decide you'll find reasons to do it different the next time.

One thing I don't understand is that several people are saying that I should put a door at each end. I don't understand why I would need to drive my tractor through the building instead of just backing it out the door? This would completely kill my idea of having a little shop type area in the back of the barn with the nice window looking over the canyon and my pretty tree! (The sad thing is that it is just a mesquite tree but people telling me to cut it down haven't lived out in West Texas! ;) )

My local contractor also doesn't recommend the light panels either. Says they are prone to leaks and hail damage. I was just going to put in some shop lights.

Thanks for the input! Keep it coming!

On a hot day when you have to work in there, you'll have a nice breeze with two doors. It also makes it easier to get equipment in and out, especially the piece of equipment you happen to want at the time.

Concerning the size of the door...you'll have a better idea of what size door you need than the rest of us. A 12' overhead door is nice, but don't overlook the possibility of two 8' sliding doors that separate to provide a 16' opening.

Here is something to think about. If you think you may in the future want a door in another area of the bldg, but can not aford it now just have it framed up and sided over. That will make it easyer in the future to add the door.

just a thought BUDD

If you are going to have the building fairly well "full" of equipment you might want to consider putting your bench, tools, etc. along the side of the building towards the front. Then you won't have to move the things in the back to get what you are working on close to the bench and tools.

I know you can make that decision after the building is up and you have used it for awhile. But if you think the side might be where you put the bench it would be nice to have a window in that area. A window would provide extra light and maybe allow a little more breeze through the work area.

Are you putting translucent panels in the roof? We built a building about the size of yours with 4 panels and they sure do let in a lot light.

A couple things I need to add. On the top side of the drawing I think that eventually I may add a lean to for storing implements. I guess that rules out a door on that side.

The other is that the back side of the building has about a 2' drop and a big tree on the bottom side. I don't want to get rid of the tree (they are rare around here).

What about 2 doors both on the front? One larger door for the tractor and one smaller one for ATV's and stuff. I could just leave the tractor parked in front of it's door and not worry about moving it around to get other stuff in and out. If a small overhead door is only $300 more that's what I think I will do.

How about this setup?

Thanks, Nathan

Door in the middle is best, can park stuff in the corners - corners are the place to put stuff. :) But, can have a good argument to off-center it too if that is what you need.

--->Paul

I think your idea of a bigger door is a good one, but I also think having doors on both ends is a good idea as well.

We only have 8ft wide doors and it is a constant juggle to get certain equipment in and out.

The reason to have doors on both ends might be that if you want to wrench on something real fast you could just pull the tractor through the door by your tools. This way you don't have to trip all over your other equipment. Also, you can get a nice breeze going.