With barn door hardware becoming popular, there are more and more people selling it from the at home builder to professional businesses.

So what is the difference? To answer that question, there is a lot of differences. Many are building hardware from inferior makeshift wheels that you should be aware of before purchasing. In many cases you will find barn door hardware built from V groove pulley wheels that are designed for running a v belt, while others use v groove wheels designed to roll on a floor rail.

Here are some examples:

The first example is a zinc aluminum alloy wheel that is commonly used on compressors. Although it looks kind of cool, there are some things to consider. First off, look at the center hole. It has no bearings or sleeve. The problem is that Zinc Aluminum is soft and a steel bolt or shaft will eventually wear out the softer wheel hole. It can squeak and requires more oil maintenance. This style wheel is also known to crack and warp. You can also notice by the lock screw that the wheel is designed to be fixed to a shaft and not turn on it.

Next up are wheels designed to roll on the floor on top of angle iron.  This type of wheel is typically made of cast iron, comes in various sizes and may or may not have spokes. They can look neat but are clunky, heavy and noisy.  Some of the more popular companies will even use these as a retrofit to barn doors.

In addition, they typically have needle bearings that roll around a steel shaft or bolt.

Although better than the previously mentioned Zinc Aluminum casted wheel with no bearings, the needle bearings leak and require annual greasing. Notice the grease fitting on the lower 5 O Clock position. The last thing you want is grease dripping onto your barn door or floor.

I.A Décor, takes pride in developing barn door hardware sets with wheels specifically designed for barn doors. Our wheels are lighter, can be purchased in high quality composite ‘Hush Puppy’ wheels or even solid steel billet, not cast shown here.

Our wheels also are much smoother, quieter and require no maintenance as they have dual sealed ball bearings and a shaft designed specifically for the bearings.

Being in the barn door hardware business, I am seeing more and more Chinese sellers deceiving Americans by listing their barn door hardware as shipping from USA , but really shipping from China!

They are doing it in two ways. First way is that they send the items to distribution center in the U.S. The other is using a USA address and sending from China directly. You will notice the prices are cheap and often offer free shipping.

How does this effect you?

1.) If items are missing or faulty, it can be hard to get replacement parts.

2.) Lack of proper English communication leading to confusion and hassles.

3.) Measurements and instructions in metric system. This is also a quick way to know that you are dealing with a foreigner.

4.) In some cases, super long delivery times of up to 30 days or more.

5.) Rails being sent in many small pieces. For example, you might get a 78″ rail that is sent to you in 3 pieces that you have to butt together. Looks terrible.

We suggest, really knowing who you are dealing with. Buying from a true USA seller that actually lives and does business in the United States can reduce hassles and increase your chance of getting a quality product and service. Other countries, do not communicate nor do business in the same fashion as we do here in America. They also do not respond in the time of day that our country is up and doing business. 

So you are looking to purchase that super cool barn door hardware for your home to give it an awesome look and functionality.  However, with all the different sellers and various price ranges there are some things you should consider first.

Wow! Here is a real deal, atleast you think it is until you get it in person and find that the quality is not great, the service is terrible and the seller has little knowledge of what they are even truly selling.

I have seen this over and over and over again. The old saying of ‘You Get What You Pay For’ is most often true!

Think about this closely. The system says $49.99 and has free shipping to boot. I know for a fact it cost about $35 on average to ship hardware. After shipping there really is no room for profit when you consider they had to buy it to resell and pay for shipping to them.

Below are a few examples of questions that customers sent to a seller who clearly had little knowledge of their own product.

In the above example the seller is trying to sell an 78″ rail system for a 42″ door. This can not work in reality! A 42″ door would require an 89″ rail for the doors to completely open and leave room for the stops.

In this above example, you can see that even for a 78″ rail, the seller sends it in two pieces and without a splicer. This is a very low quality method for both look and durability. I have even seen these sent in 3 to 4 piece rails and it looks terrible. This is all about cutting the shipping cost over quality.

Here is another example of the seller not knowing their product and giving the customer false expectations. I know this set quite well and that wheel is actually 2.75″.

In this case, the customer does not even have a heavy door and the seller is unsure if his hardware will accommodate the weight.

I believe you get the point. One answer to a question we had seen that I have not listed that really shocked me was that the customer asked what the wheel was made of. The seller said they are not really sure, could be plastic or maybe metal.

Our advice is to steer away from low priced sellers that obviously mass sell and are not concerned about knowing the product or providing quality. Find a reputable seller that you can count on so that you can avoid the hassles that so many other people have faced.

At I.A Décor, we take pride in knowing our product well, providing a phone number and other media so that you can get all your questions professionally answered and know what you are getting. We believe in getting it right the first time and providing quality products and services.