Barn Door Privacy Latch

It depends on which side of the room the door slides on. When the track is mounted on the outside of the room — the most common setup, where the door slides in front of the opening on the hallway side — the dust box and latch mount in the door face, and the strike plate mounts on the door jamb. When the track is mounted on the inside of the room, the dust box and latch mount in the wall, and the strike plate mounts on the edge of the door. Either way the function is the same: the paddle rotates out when the door is closed to hold it in place.

With the door closed, push the bottom of the paddle — it rotates out from the faceplate and hooks over the strike plate on the adjacent surface. To release, push the top of the paddle back flush. The paddle sits recessed in the door or wall when not engaged, so nothing protrudes from the moving door during normal sliding.

The dust box requires a 2-1/8 in × 7/8 in × 1/2 in deep mortise routed into the door face or wall. The Goldberg Brothers acrylic router template is designed specifically for this purpose — it includes a privacy latch insert and makes the cut precise and repeatable. Technically you could mark and rout it freehand, but the template is worth it for a clean result. See our router template.