When you choose a Viba barn door for your home you can feel confident knowing that we provide easy-to-read, comprehensive instructions, and quality products to make installation straightforward. You’ve probably heard of using header boards for installing sliding barn doors, and you may be wondering what they are and what makes them so important. Here’s what you need to know. 

What Is A Barn Door Header Board? 
A header board (also known as a ledger board) is a piece of solid lumber that helps to distribute the weight of your door across the full length of the barn door rail and adds structural stability to your wall.   The barn door header board is installed at the top of the doorway and replaces the need to open your wall cavity up and install additional blocking and structural support to the wall studs. A header board can both add to the aesthetic look of your home, or can be painted the same colour as the wall to let the hardware be the star! 

Header boards have several purposes including: 

• Secures the header to the studs and the rail to the header
• Ensures your door has the support required to remain in place and safe as it tracks along the length of the rail
• Reduces the installation effort and mess as you don’t have to remove your drywall to reinforce the wall studs
• Can be stained to match your door, painted to match your trim, or painted to match your walls.   

Note that you should never use MDF, composite casings, or finger-jointed wood for a header board as they do not possess the capacity to hold your door up over time as they will flex and fail under load.

What Size Should A Header Board Be? 
The size of your sliding barn door’s header board should be approx 1 inch thick and will vary in length depending on the size of your door/opening. For example, a small bathroom or pantry door will have a shorter header board, whereas a large custom door for a foyer or a double closet door will have a longer header board or even multiple header boards. 

How To Install A Header Board
To best learn how to install a header board and sliding barn door in your home, consult our website’s installation guide here or, for more information or clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our handy and expert associates here. 

Browse our collection of barn doors and stylish hardware, or feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about ordering or installation.

Viba has been building custom barn doors since 2013. We are proud to say that all of our wood is sustainably sourced, and our doors are built locally at our shop in Mississauga.

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