Barn door hardware is a unique and appealing new style of interior hardware for doors.
But some have asked, "why is it called barn door hardware?" Upon first hearing the name, some may doubt its home interior applications.
As it turns out, this unique style of hardware is named for its original application.
On large barns where particularly large doors were used, sometimes a sliding track system was used instead of a swinging hinge system for the doors.
With a hinge system, the size, weight, and overall mass of a door are born by just the hinges.
That puts a lot of stress on small areas.
Additionally, the vertical arrangement of the hinges causes an unequal amount of stress to be placed on the different hinges.
This can over time cause the hinges to warp, bend, and even break if not properly treated.
Also when a door is on hinges, it must swing out over a large area to move into the open position.
This can sometimes be inconvenient and tedious, especially if you're trying to conserve on space.
Flat track sliding door systems were developed as a solution to some of the problems larger barn doors were having.
The door is affixed with two track hangers at opposite ends that hang on and roll along a large piece of track above the doorway.
It's sometimes referred to as "flat track hardware" because the track itself is made of solid steel flat bar.
This gave the track strength and rigidity.
Now instead of a vertical hinge system, large doors had a horizontal track system that supported them.
The horizontal design allowed for the weight of the door to be spread out more evenly across the entire system, giving it more strength.
It also allowed for the large doors to slide back and forth into position instead of having to swing out.
More strength, more space, more overall ease of operation- that was why this style of hardware was developed and used.
And that is where the name "barn door hardware" comes from.