Helping a neighbor do a little project at his house. When the house was built for them 10 yrs ago, they wanted a pocket door between two rooms, but changed their mind due to cost. The builder said he framed it for a future door, and now they want to proceed.
Two story house on a concrete slab. He cut a few access holes in the wall and we have confirmed that a header is in place, but not exactly where he wants the door. I have no clue if it’s a structural wall…how would I try to determione that? If it is not, is there a way to not remove the old header? Cuz I don’t want to open up the wall any farther than necessary.
Unfortuately, I am thinking the header is there for a reason, and that I need to open the whole dang wall and install a new header. To make it worse, one room is a bath, and part of the pocket is behind the tiled tub enclosure.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell’em “Certainly, I can!” Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Replies
Ed- I've installed quite a few pocket doors over the years, both old and new work, so here's a few tips.
to determine if its a bearing ( structural )wall, try to figure out which way the floor joists run. If they are perpendicular to the wall, its probably a bearing wall. Sometimes the only way is to cut a hole in the ceiling. I try to do that in a closet or some other out of the way spot.
That said, I usually install a header for the pocket door . It just seems to be faster to nail 2 2x together than to cut all those cripple studs over the door 2x4 framing.The easiest way (IMHO ) would be to bite the bullet and open the wall on one side, especially if the header is in the wrong place.
If you really need to remove the old header, first pray that the original carpenter didn't use too many nails, then ,once the wall is open, gently pry the sheetrock from the bath side, slip a recip saw with a long blade u7p there, and cut off the sheetrock nails. You should then be able to pry the header down and off, Sometimes its necessary to cut the nails holding the header to the top plate, too. Hopefully there won't be any plumbing or wires in the wall.
Once you have the opening cleaned out , the rest is pretty straight forward. Read the directions for the pocket door frame kit, install it, hang the door, sheetrock the wall, and trim the opening. Don't forget the bumper on the liner stud in the pocket.
Oh, and be careful what length nails you use. I've nailed the door open when I forgot to check what length nail were in my gun THEN you've got problems.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.