I have a 5′ opening leading into a family room (no doors) and want to install a pocket door so it can be closed when necessary. The doorway is close to one wall so I cannot do double doors (one on each side) so need to use a single door. Rather than tearing apart the wall to install the door (the traditional construction) I would like to frame out from the wall, build the pocket door, and finish the build out with sheet rock. This means the door will be enclosed between the present wall and the new framed out wall. I know the easy way would be to hang a sliding door (like a barn door)on the existing wall but my wife doesn’t want to look at it so that is not an option. Another complication – as stated the opening is 5′ wide and most pocket door hardware kits don’t go that wide so I am considering butting two together to provide the required 10′ length.
Sounds hokey doesn’t it. I would appreciate any words of wisdom or caution. Thank you
PS: I have looked at a hardware kit at HD from Everbilt. Any thoughts on them?
Replies
Here's hardware;
http://www.johnsonhardware.com/pdindex.htm
As far as building out the wall, you're going to be rocking and mudding anyway, why not just modify exisitng.
I once installed a pocket in a bathroom remodel and left hall side mostly intact by carefully excizing framing (non-bearing) and working on the gutted side. Had a little filling and painting on the hall side where nails were. PIA but might work for you.
Have you found a 5' door?
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Edited 9/2/2009 5:18 pm ET by PeterJ
Look for Hafele for really good but expensive gear.
I built a double sliding door for my bathroom, both panels come from one side. One door has a slot in the bottom, and the other has a sliding guide mounted to it. When you pull out one door, it's guided by the other until it gets pulled out too. I pinched the slot at both ends with foam so the doors stick open and closed.
For the framing, I used 3/4" plywood with 1.5" 16ga. cold rolled channel to keep it stiff, then drywalled over that.
Tu stultus es
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
Hi PaulThis sounds exactly like my project, especially the part about two doors on the one side. Can you provide more detail on how you attached the trailing door to the leading door so it was pulled when closing. I have no ides how to do that and it is the key to the solutionTahnkspoppi