We know you have questions and who better to answer them then our expert craftsmen! Our builders have taken some frequently asked questions and answered them in as much detail as possible. Each week we will be having one of our experts answer a question in our series Answered by Our Experts.
A soft close system allows to you slide your barn door shut as hard as you want, knowing it won’t slam. This system is especially helpful if you have little kids running around. You can tell them time and time again to close that door gently, but every so often, that door is going to get slammed shut. Sometimes it might get slammed on little fingers. The soft close system prevents this from happening. Installing your soft close isn’t too difficult, but we asked one of our experts to explain it.
How do I Install a Barn Door Soft Close?
Step 1: Prep the door to install a barn door soft close system
Start by taking off the anti-jump bracket located on the edge of the door. This task should consist of removing a few screws.
Step 2: Remove lags and spacers
Next, move the door away from the railing system’s last two spacers. This will make it easy to remove the lag and spacers. An electric drill and the right socket attachment will make this step quick and painless.
Step 3: Install the soft close door hardware
Once the lags have been removed, grab your soft close hardware bracket and simply slip it behind the current track. To do so, align the hole from the soft close hardware with the hole on the top end of the track.
Note: There is a small bracket on the bottom of the soft close sliding door hardware plate that must be oriented down toward the bottom of the track.
Step 4: Replace spacers
Once you have the soft close bracket aligned, take the spacers you removed and reinstall them along with the lags and stops. Once again, your drill should make quick work of this task.
Step 5: Attach the stop tab
Now that the soft close bracket has been successfully installed, your final step is to attach the small stop tab hardware piece. Go ahead and slide the door all the way to the closed position (with the hanger up against the stop).
Next, orient the stop tab at the top of the door or back of the door. However, note that if you want the stop tab on the back of the door, you’ll need to remove the door to do so.
Once your stop tab is correctly oriented, you’ll notice a tab that sticks down below the soft close door mechanism. This tab must be angled upwards so that it grabs your stop tab. Once you have it firmly aligned, grab your Philips screwdriver or drill to install the tab. Simply use your drill or screwdriver to adhere the tab with four screws near the top of the door.
Hopefully, that was helpful! If you’re confused at all, give our service team a call. They can help walk you through the process.
We hope you’ve learned something from this week’s Answered by Our Experts if you have a question you want answered, share it with us! Who knows, maybe yours will be featured on our next Answered by Our Experts blog post.
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