Self closing barn door track at an angle?

Am I making this too simple? I am building an office with many interior light weight barn doors. If I angled the track the door is running on and installed a strong damper or soft closer for when it stops, wouldn’t that work. I have been looking for this topic everywhere. I am not the only one to think of it.
Can anyone see issues other than it will hit harder than ideal when it fully closes?

I’m not sure I completely understand what you are describing, but if it would injure a child when it closed, it will be against building safety codes.

There is also the question of how much strength is required to open it. And whether you can get through it if you’re carrying something.

If you angle the track only at the top, then there will be a light gap at the bottom of the door when it closes. If you angle the track at the top and the bottom, it is likely to become a tripping hazard. :disappointed_relieved:

There are many door closers on market, some that are smart and some that are manual. Home Depot should have a selection of the non-automated ones. I don’t know of any of that require an angled track, almost all of them are designed to close existing doors.

I noticed you had an identical post in the following thread, but that one is up-to-date for smartdoor closers that would work with smartthings. Again, though, there are many much less expensive dumb door closers of this type made, you should be able to find some locally in most places in the US.

Exactly how heavy are your doors going to be?

Although it has mixed reviews and some people have reported having to modify the interior spring, the Door Genie, which should cost less than $40 at Home Depot, is a popular choice:

If you want something of higher quality for doors which will be used frequently or bathroom doors which have high humidity or if you are concerned about liability issues, Kenwa is a popular brand in the US with a number of different models, some of which are sold on Amazon. But these will cost a couple of hundred dollars per door. And again, these are just dumb closers, they do not integrate with smartthings.

For options which can be integrated, see the other thread. :sunglasses:

I know this is an old post but I’ve just joined and this topic is of interest to me.

Yes, you can do what you suggesting and achieve a self-closing door. Interior warehouse doors, some quite massive and heavy, were sometimes made like this years ago along with a pulley counterweight for ease of use. They were basically fire doors.

The trick to making the geometry work is to have the “uphill” pulley strap be longer than the other so the door is parallel to the floor at the desired bottom clearance when in the resting, closed position. When the door is opened, the door remains parallel to the floor but rises along the track. Since this is a gravity close system, keep in mind the door will accelerate unless you have some sort of governor device. The angle of the track would determine the speed achieved by the time the door is closed. You could have a catch, like a cabinet door type spring catch, or a latch to keep the door open if desired.

Here is an industrial example though in this case they built the top of the door with an angle instead of using different length connecting straps. https://images.app.goo.gl/PSeNL5VZT8tHarFs6

Here’s another. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/heavy-sliding-industrial-door-old-warehouse-759868387 We are obviously into DIY territory if you are looking to adapt this concept to interior household barn doors