This barn door replaces one that had been cobbled together by cutting a standard exterior door in half and fitting a batten to create a rebate.

All well and good but its not ideal as cutting a door in half impinges on the center rail mortise and tenon joint so almost from day one there are going to be issues with strength often resulting in the doors wanting to go south on the unhinged side and eventually catching on the threshold and on the rebate which is precisely what happened .

When fitting a barn door one needs to bear in mind that security has to be doubled up so generally its a 5 lever mortise sash lock with handles for the top leaf and a 5 lever mortise lock for the bottom leaf sometimes a deadlocking night latch is fitted in place of the mortise sash lock on the top leaf.

Then there’s the lock between the two leafs. I generally use a good quality sliding bolt with or without a key.

Fitting a barn door is in effect fitting two doors so time wise it takes longer. 

A weather bar is fitted not only along the base of the door but also along the rebate that divides both doors; this is particularly important as it’s an area prone to water ingress in high winds. 

Generally it’s a good idea to paint exterior doors prior to fitting x 3 coats minimum . 

When you consider the labor involved in doing this right it’s around 2.5 days labor so not a 5 minute job.