When looking at sliding barn door hardware, your eye typically starts with the track. Barn door track systems have a tendency to make you think that they're doing all the work. In fact, the track and the trolleys do handle the weight load and the movement of the door. However, there is another critical piece to the system. It is small, yet incredibly important-- the bottom guide. Let's take a look at our barn door bottom guides for both wood and glass panels.
What is a barn door bottom guide? The purpose of the bottom guide is to keep the door plumb, preventing it from swinging and damaging the wall or baseboard. Sliding door guides simply help the door to travel in a straight line and are not load-bearing in any way.
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For wood (or similar material) panels: The door panel travels on top of the guide. We include a 1/2” diameter bottom guide pin.
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For glass (or similar material) panels: The door panel travels inside the guide. We include a small, sleek, stainless steel
c-channel.
How is a sliding door guide installed? Both our bottom guide pin and small c-channel door guides are intended to be installed in the floor.
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For wood (or similar material) panels: There are two options for prepping the bottom of the panel to receive the guide. The most common is routing a channel in the bottom of the panel for the guide to travel. If your panel material doesn't allow for routing, we make a full-length stainless guide channel that can be affixed to the bottom of door.
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For glass (or similar material) panels: The small stainless c-channel mounts directly to the floor, with no additional parts or prep for the panel.
Will I be able to see the sliding door guide once the door is installed? The purpose of the floor-mounted bottom guide post is to be an anonymous helper.
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For wood (or similar material) panels: Placed in the area where the door extends beyond the opening while in the closed position, the guide will always be covered by the panel, no matter the panel's location on the track. Unless you bring your eye down to floor level, you should not be able to see the guide! The same principle applies if you're using our stainless guide channel mentioned above- you'll see the channel, but not the floor-mounted guide.
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For glass (or similar material) panels: For glass doors, the small c-channel guide will always be visible.
