I have this months FHB near the throne off the master bedroom. I been reading about pocket door framing.
I took the door down on this bathroom to repaint it. I was shocked at the difference that door makes on both the bed room and the bath. Sun light flows into the bedroom. The small bathroom seems bigger.
How much more would it cost in the average house to put in a pocket door instead of a tradition door when then house was first built?
Replies
All things being equal, saying that you had the wall cavity room (space) that a pocket door needs to fit into when being opened....not a whole lot more cost involved.
The pocket door kit usually runs between $45 and $60 depending what part of country you live in. All other involved materials ( ie...actual door, trim, hardware) would either be the same or slightly adjusted, but very little cost difference here. Wall cavity framing would take a little more time to lay out and install over a regular stud framed wall opening; but again...cost difference is only a few bucks.
But if your current bathroom door configuration was such that a pocket door could not fit into the existing wall cavity unless major architectural details needed changing so as to accommodate the door cavity.....then that's where money becomes an issue.
Davo
I can not give you a number, but not much more. All depends on door/hardware. I just installed three pockets doors which all walls needed to be reframed to accomodate the doors, not to mention some electrical had to be moved. As stated above, thats when it gets expensive. These three doors installed cost over $11,000.
"How much more would it cost in the average house to put in a pocket door instead of a tradition door when then house was first built?"
Not a lot. Roughly $60-200 extra for materials, depending upon the kit used.
But then, you have to consider the framing. The header spans above every pocket door in a structural wall are doubled. Could mushroom the project if this triggers a series of other structural modifications.
You can retrofit a pocket door too. If you are only talking about sunlight, you could just get a replacement swinging door with glass in it.