May 21, 2019 Latest Update

Thinking of creating a fireplace screen in the manner of a barn door? You’ve come to the ONLY location I am aware of where someone can show you how to accomplish it. I am extremely, extremely proud of this DIY instruction since, as far as I can tell, it is completely original. This tutorial is lengthy, but it’s not because the project is particularly challenging; rather, there are many steps to describe. So don’t let fear stop you. You can definitely accomplish this!

Let me first show you the photo that served as the project’s inspiration. I came across an Porch.com article that was featuring a home design project by Robin Chell Design; you can click here to see the whole home tour . The house has a stunning sliding fireplace screen that was undoubtedly manufactured by a highly skilled welder somewhere. It had me literally swooning.

The bad news is that neither my husband nor I knew how to weld, and we couldn’t afford to hire someone to do it for us. So, we did what we typically do and came up with a DIY solution without welding. Learn how to create a sliding fireplace screen in the form of a barn door by reading on. For your convenience, this article includes some affiliate links. To view my complete disclosure policy, click here.

MANUFACTURING A BARN DOOR STYLE SCREEN FOR AN OVEN Supplies required:

* Take note that the finished fireplace screen measures 45′′ x 32′′, which is large enough to cover the 42 1/2′′ x 30 1/4′′ fireplace opening. The specs and materials listed below are all specific to our fireplace. Just adjust the measurements to fit your fireplace!

*Necessary quantities are stated in parenthesis*
Tools for Hardware Cloth :

various size drill bits with a power drill Power driver Metal snips Angle Grinder (they’re incredibly cheap, and we’ve used our grinder for a ton of various projects; it’s a terrific item to have in your toolbox) Metal cutting blade Metal file How to construct the screen portion:

Before reading through each step, please take a moment to review the diagram below. It will assist you in placing the written stages into context**.

1) Use your metal snips to roughly cut the hardware cloth to 40″ x 50″; this will make it a little bit simpler to handle. After chopping it down, we overnight weighed down the top with a piece of plywood to help it sit level.

2) Disconnect the swivel mechanism from the pulley wheels (ours was easy to do–we just has to remove the Porch.com article that was featuring a home design project by Robin Chell Design; you can click here to see the whole home tour 0 ). Paint the hardware cloth , Porch.com article that was featuring a home design project by Robin Chell Design; you can click here to see the whole home tour 2, washers, and pulley wheels black using your Porch.com article that was featuring a home design project by Robin Chell Design; you can click here to see the whole home tour 1. We avoided painting the bolts since we discovered black ones.

3) Next, use the angle grinder and metal cutting wheel to reduce the two 48″x 2″x 1/8″ steel bars to 45″.

4) Reduce both of the 48″ x 1 1/4″ x 1/8″ bars to 32″ next. If necessary, patch up all cuts with an Porch.com article that was featuring a home design project by Robin Chell Design; you can click here to see the whole home tour 3. Keep the 16-inch sections you cut from these bars; you’ll need them for the following step.

5) From the pieces of 1 1/4″ bars you removed in step 1, cut the two wheel posts (shown in pink in the image below). Our wheel posts were reduced in length to 5 1/2″. The curve was then drawn onto the top of each wheel post using the pulley wheels. The top curvature of each wheel post was carved away with our angle grinder.

6) The screen door can now be put together. The steel bars that make up the fireplace screen’s outside should be laid out. With a pencil and some painter’s tape, mark the center of each of your corners. Remember that the top and bottom rails are DOUBLED UP 2′′ bars (one on each side of the screen). The fireplace screen’s sides are made of the thinner, 1 1/4″ steel bars, which are solely utilized in front of the screen.

7) Drill the bolt holes using an electric drill. The final diameter was 5/16 after working up from a little drill bit at first. The many drill bits that we utilized are shown in the photo below. Despite how arduous this process is, using a 5/16″ drill bit from the beginning really takes a little bit longer. We drilled all of the small holes at once and then changed to the next size drill bit to widen them all in order to keep the process as efficient as possible (also to avoid having to replace the drill bits a gazillion times). Until every hole was 5/16′′ in size, we repeated the operation.

8) After drilling all of your holes, arrange the top rails, bottom rails, and side rails of the frame and then lay the screen or hardware cloth on top of it. For increased rigidity, we folded the screen’s side edges over by about 1 inch. The back top and bottom rails should then be placed on top of the screen.

9) Next, you must feed the bolts through the screen’s individual holes in the following order: the side rails, the screen (hardware cloth), the wheel posts, the front top and bottom rails, the side rails, the screen, and the back top and bottom rails. Each bolt should have a washer and nut on it. Tighten. The screen/hardware cloth and wheel posts are essentially sandwiched between the two top rails and the two bottom rails; the side rails, however, are single rails rather than being doubled up like the top and bottom rails. The pictures and diagrams following should make this phase clearer.

10) Cut any screen that hangs overhanging objects with your metal snips.

11) The pulley wheels must then be attached to the wheel posts. Each wheel post should have a bolt through it, followed by a washer, the pulley wheel, another washer, and then a nut. Tighten.

To install the steel bar rail to the fireplace, follow these steps:

1) To provide the screen adequate room to glide back and forth without dragging on the fireplace hearth, we attached the bottom of the rail 33″ above the hearth. Determine the height of your rail by using the constructed screen as a guide. Make sure there is adequate space for it to open and close.

2) We cut the two steel bars, which were 48″ x 2″ x 3/16″, to 42″ apiece. You might be able to utilize one continuous length of steel bar for your rail if your fireplace is smaller than ours. We had to divide the rail into two separate steel bars because our fireplace is so big.

3) Using the same technique as for the fireplace screen rails, drill holes 3″ and 28″ from the end of the piece.

4) Using a level, hold your steel bar(s) up to the surface of your fireplace at the height you’ve established is suitable. Using the holes in the steel bar(s) as a guide, mark the locations where holes need to be pre-drilled through the fireplace with a marker or pencil.

5) After marking the holes, we used a hammer drill to pre-drill the holes in accordance with the Tapcon screws’ instructions. For our fireplace, which is made of brick and covered with cement board and a thin layer of cement, we used Tapcon screws.

More information on our DIY concrete fireplace may be found here.
6) After that, insert the steel spacers and Tapcon screws into the steel bar rails. Next, secure the screws by tightening them.

7) Hang your screen door on the rail by setting the pulley wheels on top of the rail after using a little amount of black paint to cover the blue on the Tapcon screws.

I’m done now! Although there are many steps involved in learning how to create a fireplace screen in the barn door design, they are really not difficult, and the finished product is AMAZING. Look at this.

We are quite pleased with the outcome. How do you feel? Be remember to pin it if you like it so you can locate it later.

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