Your post-frame construction project is complete. The 80' x 120' farm shop is the perfect building size for storing heavy machinery (e.g., combine, tractor, planter, and skid steer).
Fast forward to 15+ years worth of planting and harvesting seasons. Your post-frame building has worked hard for you, allowing you to move farm equipment in and out quickly.
Of course, these years of service aren't without regular pole barn maintenance. Sometimes, your sliding door gets caught and needs adjusting. Surely, this fix is simple enough to do on your own, but where do you begin?
Instead of pouring through Google searches and YouTube videos for a solution, we decided to answer this question in one spot.
This blog will show you how to fix your pole barn sliding door in five steps with a short how-to video. No construction crew is needed unless you really want someone to do the heavy lifting for you.
How to Fix Your Pole Barn Sliding Door in 5 Easy Steps
- Assess the Sliding Doors
- Examine Your Sliding Door Center Guides and T-Guides
- Inspect the Posi-Guide Track on Your Sliding Door
- Raise or Lower the Sliding Door
- Ensure Your Sliding Doors Align
Do You Want to Watch a Short Video Tutorial?
Are you a visual learner? No problem. Often, watching a short video tutorial is easier than reading (and re-reading) the instruction manual.
Watch this YouTube video for a step-by-step breakdown of how to fix your pole barn sliding door.
How to Fix Your Pole Barn Sliding Door in 5 Easy Steps
1) Assess the Pole Barn Sliding Doors
First, check the sliding door rollers (both upper and lower) for necessary adjustments. This inspection ensures that your sliding doors are correctly aligned.
How your door is unaligned will determine which changes you'll need to make.
For example, if the door falls inward at the top, you should adjust your center rollers down and outer rollers up. Vice versa, if the door falls inward at the bottom, you should adjust your center rollers up and outer rollers down.
Just so you know, it'll take a bit of testing to see which sliding door adjustment works best for your post-frame building.
2) Examine Your Pole Barn Sliding Door Center Guides and T-Guides
Second, you must check the exterior hardware on your sliding door. How much room do you have until your door meets the center guide?
The pole barn sliding doors will need to be raised or lowered depending on the distance between the center guide and the bottom rail.
Center guide door options include:
- Wood Center Door Stub: Most cost-effective option if you're planning for a future concrete floor
- Concrete Center Door Stub: Less likely to be damaged by heavy machinery since its made of steel
- Concrete Apron Approach: Provides stability against high winds and minimizes bird or rodent entry
Don't forget to examine your T-guides. This sliding door component is placed at each end of the door opening to help keep it secured to the jamb. Is the sliding door pulling or resting on your T-guides?
You'll know if you need to lower or raise the door based on how it's sitting on the T-guides. It should sit comfortably in the middle of the sliding door track without causing metal-on-metal friction.
3) Inspect the Posi-Guide Track on Your Pole Barn Sliding Door
The EasyMotion Sliding Door by FBi Buildings features the exclusive Posi-Guide Track. This weatherproof door system ensures your pole barn sliding door opens smoothly year-round.
The Posi-Guide Track doesn't collect ice, rain, snow, or debris (e.g., leaves). A unique low-friction polymer roller is protected behind and underneath the door track.
Instead, the Posi-Guide Track keeps the sliding door snug to the post-frame building. This feature is convenient on windy days. Moreover, the powder-coated aluminum can match the pole barn color and won't rust.
The rollers of the Posi-Guide Track should be exposed. If you can't find them, you'll need to make some sliding door adjustments.
The rollers can adjust upward or downward. It has a slotted hole in the mounting bracket that allows you to raise or lower the door by ⅜".
4) Raise or Lower the Pole Barn Sliding Door
You're almost finished with fixing your pole barn sliding door!
The fourth step is to raise or lower the door by loosening the jamb nut. The fastener is attached to the rollers.
You may notice a slight bend in the aluminum framing when loosening or tightening the sliding door.
No need to worry – the fastener has a 90º bend. Loosening or tightening the fastener will pull or push the door out from the header.
Once you're pleased with the adjustment, tighten the jamb nut, so your pole barn sliding door stays in place.
5) Ensure Your Pole Barn Sliding Doors Align
Lastly, you must ensure that your pole barn sliding doors are correctly aligned.
Do they sit parallel to one another? Are they gliding smoothly through the center guides and T-guides? Did you tighten the jamb nut?
You successfully fixed your sliding door if you answered "yes" to each question.
Now that pole barn repair wasn't so bad, was it? We make these building maintenance tips as easy as possible.
Why? Because we want you to avoid incurring extra costs by sending a construction crew to fix your pole barn sliding door, especially if your warranty has expired.
Do You Still Need Help Fixing Your Pole Barn Sliding Door?
It's possible that you've been following along with this article, and your pole barn sliding door still isn't working correctly. Just your luck!
However, we'd never leave our customers hanging. Our Repair & Renovation Specialists will get your sliding door back on track (no pun intended).
FBi Buildings has (7+ and growing) construction crews dedicated to pole barn repairs and renovation projects. Our in-house experts have the post-frame construction knowledge, experience, and building materials to extend your pole barn's lifecycle.
Best of all, it doesn't matter who built the original post-frame building. So, are you ready to move forward with your sliding door adjustment? Click here to request a repair estimate. A sales team member will contact you within 1-2 business days.
Do you have more questions about pole barn sliding doors that are not covered in this article or video? If you need help designing and planning, please contact FBi Buildings at 800.552.2981 or click here to email us. If you are ready to get a price, click here to request a quote, and a member of our customer engagement team will help you determine the next steps of your project.