Barn Door Latch?

[Stephine]

I can’t find anything on this anywhere - when I try google all I get are fancy fake barn door things for indoors. What are people using for a sliding door latch or lock for an actually barn? Ours has two metal panels, opens to each side. It’s where the sheep’s nighttime pen is, so I need to be able to secure the doors. So far I am using a large rock and a cinderblock for the outer edge and a piece of wire panel held in place by a tree stump in the middle. Not ideal . What do people use who actually know about these things? Is there a name for those latches? I figure I should have something in the middle, but also need some kind of stoppers on the outer edges, so you can’t just push both doors together over to one side. I already hammered in a piece of rebar on each side towards the outer edge so that you can’t swing the doors forward at the bottom…

 

[Ridgetop]

We need pictures of the doors and barn.

 

[farmerjan]

There is a latch that we use on ours.. it is made by National Sterling Hardware I think... If you look at Exterior Sliding Barn Door Latches on Lowes website you can find it and others. It locks from the inside and holds the door tight against the door jam so it cannot slide to the side. It is actually adjustable with a nut on the bolt to keep it tight....The only way to keep them from pulling out in the middle where they meet is for them to be in a track on the ground... many that are on barns that you can back up to or into, have a concrete apron outside , with a 6" (or a little more) wide space between the barn and the concrete that the door slides in.... Big hooks and eyes can be used on the sides...

 

[canesisters]

Mine is a hook and turnbuckle arrangement. I'm not real fond of it as it can only be accessed from inside the barn - but it DOES lock that door down tight.

 

[farmerjan]

The ones on a barn door where we used to rent from a friend before he sold the place had the turnbuckle... the ones DS has have a nut on the end, but they do the same type thing. If you are near a good farm store they should also have several different types... Rural King does, and even TSC has some... our local co-op/feed store has a good sized hardware dept and has some also.

 

[Stephine]

Ok, here are a few pictures of our barn door. I can’t lock it in the inside because I don’t want to stay in the barn overnight .
I’ll take a look at the latches you suggested to see if they could work here.

 

[canesisters]

I guess it depends on how secure you need it.
Is it important to prevent someone from opening it from the outside? Or just to close the animals inside?

The easiest option - if you just need to keep animals in - might be to attach a hasp (like for a padlock) to connect the doors together in the evening & perhaps something similar to each side so that the doors can't be pushed outward. Sort of a bent hasp with a bolt (.. or around here it would be a screwdriver) dropped in to latch it at night.

 

[farmerjan]

They make a hasp that has a 90* , angle, that can be attached to the door on each side which will hold it tight against the barn... there is NO latch that can go across the front that will hold the bottom from being able to be pulled out away except for a physical "weight" against the door. But again, a hasp with a "turney" thing (I think they call it a swivel) in the middle will help... without having to actually use a lock or screwdriver (yep, we use one like that as it can't slide through it and usually is pretty handy. ) I like the large sized snap hook carabiners... like some guys use to hook things to their belt looks...
The way you have the rebar driven in is about the only way to keep them fairly tight against being pulled out or something squeezing in behind it... and the groove I talked about that people leave between the barn floor and when they pour concrete in the front. You won't want rebar in the ground to run over or trip over in the middle.

One thing though, they make a "gate anchor"... it is a metal bar that you can drop down on gates that will hold it open ... it attaches to the gate... there might be something like that, that you could attach to the front of the gate and it could be used to drop down so the gate would not be "pried out" away from the barn. Have seen them where they drop into a metal pipe that is a little bigger than the diameter of the metal post that drops down....

 

[Stephine]

I guess it depends on how secure you need it.
Is it important to prevent someone from opening it from the outside? Or just to close the animals inside?

The easiest option - if you just need to keep animals in - might be to attach a hasp (like for a padlock) to connect the doors together in the evening & perhaps something similar to each side so that the doors can't be pushed outward. Sort of a bent hasp with a bolt (.. or around here it would be a screwdriver) dropped in to latch it at night.

It’s to keep predators out - my sheep are in a no climb panel pen in one corner of the barn. We have all the predators here, we are on a creek that’s a wildlife corridor. The local mountain lion expert says they won’t go after them if they don’t see them, but I sleep better knowing the doors are locked!
I am not too worried about the middle getting pulled forward at the bottom as long as the two doors are firmly latched to each other.
I will look up a hasp - I tend to use long big eye hooks instead of screw drivers… I need my screwdrivers…

 

[Stephine]

They make a hasp that has a 90* , angle, that can be attached to the door on each side which will hold it tight against the barn... there is NO latch that can go across the front that will hold the bottom from being able to be pulled out away except for a physical "weight" against the door. But again, a hasp with a "turney" thing (I think they call it a swivel) in the middle will help... without having to actually use a lock or screwdriver (yep, we use one like that as it can't slide through it and usually is pretty handy. ) I like the large sized snap hook carabiners... like some guys use to hook things to their belt looks...
The way you have the rebar driven in is about the only way to keep them fairly tight against being pulled out or something squeezing in behind it... and the groove I talked about that people leave between the barn floor and when they pour concrete in the front. You won't want rebar in the ground to run over or trip over in the middle.

One thing though, they make a "gate anchor"... it is a metal bar that you can drop down on gates that will hold it open ... it attaches to the gate... there might be something like that, that you could attach to the front of the gate and it could be used to drop down so the gate would not be "pried out" away from the barn. Have seen them where they drop into a metal pipe that is a little bigger than the diameter of the metal post that drops down....

Thanks! I am going to look up all those things (English is not my first language and this is where it really becomes noticeable ). I know the gate anchor you are talking about. Good idea! Though I am not too worried about the middle getting pulled forward at the bottom if the two doors are latched to each other, since the sides are held by the rebar and the frame is steel, so pretty stiff. Carabiners and clasps are great, I use them for everything….