Well it certainly doesn't work in terms of quietly opening or closing a door at night. Sliding barn doors tend to be noisier than normal doors and I'm therefore not in favor of their use in bathrooms.

I agree w/Carolyn. I don't think they would work well for a bathroom. Maybe somewhere else in your house?

~Lyvonne

Thank you for your help. I was considering installing it on a small bath where it would make it more convenient to not have a door swinging into the space, but I have never seen one in person. Good to know about the noise.

I feel that barn doors will be one of those fad things that in 10 years people will be wondering why anyone wanted one. Besides the noise which may be lessened with nylon wheels, it bothers me that the wall along which the door rolls can then not be used to place a piece of furniture. In fact, not even a picture can be hung there. Seems like a waste of space to me.

I understand how some people might think of the space sliding door waste, but I wanted to just say we have had many clients that have been very excited to hear of the sliding barn door option. One client in particular had a problem with the layout of one of the children's bedroom where if they were to put two traditional swing out doors they would have bumped into each other. It just wouldn't work so a sliding door was their answer and it worked beautifully! Also, in a master bedroom that led into the master bath our client put two sliding doors. It wouldn't have worked the same way with regular swing out doors. I see that sliding doors aren't always the best option but sometimes they are definitely the best option. And just in case you are thinking you could do the same thing with pocket doors, just remember that a barn door would be easier to replace should there be a problem than ripping out the whole wall to fix a pocket door. Just a few thoughts. I have attached pictures of the rooms I described as well as a few others that fit the area well.

If your bathroom doesn't have room to have a door open into it, look into installing a pocket door. My in-laws had one installed years ago and it's worked out very well.

BTW, I agree that barn doors are a fad, and in a few years you'll be seeing questions on replacing them. You have to have a very large house to accomodate one.

how about installing one of these doors at the top of the basement staircase? my basement door currently swings open right into my kitchen...i have a small wall next to the basement door to accommodate the sliding door...plus, since its part of our kitchen/open concept family room, a barn door is pretty to look at too..

@vlarson6 that's exactly why sliding doors are becoming so popular. What is the size of your door opening and what is the size of the wall next to it?

door is standard 30in, right now we have an open space to a weight bearing pillar, abt 43in from door to pillar...with our renovation we can make a half wall, full wall or just a header that the barn door could slide over...we have to leave the pillar...

This looks like a cool project. I'd recommend just building a header piece so that you can have more flow in the room. You have more than enough room with that 43" distance for your door to slide. I'd recommend a door that is 34" wide because you want a bit of overlap on the opening for the door to work effectively.

door will be closed most of the time anyway so keeping it open with just a header may be the best option..thanks for the help!