# space saving with pocket doors



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

A lot will depend on if this is a supporting wall.
Pocket doors are pain to install and a lot of extra work. 
All the sheet rock will need to be removed in the area, a new header installed,
Studs removed ect.
Do a Google search on "installing pocket door" there's lots of sites to see what your in for and even videos.


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## deana (Mar 14, 2012)

*pocket doors*

Well every room is so small that we were thinking of doing all of the internal rooms. Which would be 5 doors. One for each bedroom, one for a bathroom, and one for a bath/laundry room. 1100qf isn't much room for all we have. The house is also laid out poorly. We will be getting foundation repair and leveling before anything else happens. But was wondering if pursuing pocket doors is even worth the thought. Thanks again.


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## kj6887 (Feb 19, 2012)

Another thing to consider is that the water lines, hvac and electrical lines are in the walls. You will have to relocate them if they are in the pocket space. Not a fan of the pocket door just my opinion but there is a place for them.


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## deana (Mar 14, 2012)

Am thinking a may not like to having them, but I want to check every avenue first. We'd really like to add on but not a good time financially. So much to do so looking at everything don't want to miss something good. thanks a bunch:detective:


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

You can put this in the category of "a MAJOR project".


Regardless of wall is load bearing or not, pocket doors can be a nice option. But you will be doing some serious construction.

Is the need to remove sheet rock, re-route any electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cable or telephone wiring, etc, etc, frame a temporary wall if the area is load bearing, frame in a new header, properly set up the pocket door kit, and then sheet rock back to a nice smooth finish, the trim out the door more than you want to attempt?



It is a lot of work that's not for the meek, or novice DIY'er....:yes:


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## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

Another option maybe sliding doors that slide along the wall and not in it. Although it may not fit in with the style of your home.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

mae-ling said:


> Another option maybe sliding doors that slide along the wall and not in it. Although it may not fit in with the style of your home.


There are some beautiful and elegant exterior sliding door options out there. I did an office space with old-fashioned barn door hardware and huge oak doors hanging from it. Looked great and they actually fit with the brick and the very tall openings better than any other door system would have. 



















I rather really, really hate the cheap pocket doors with crappy rails and rollers. I had a client with a little kid that loved tossing toys and magazines in the extra pocket space. Mom would not stop to think why the door was not closing smoothly and would drag it along bending the cheap rollers and no doubt the track. I bent the rollers back in place for as long as I could but there came a point where I had to pull everything apart and replace the track and door. 

On the other hand I encountered many solid oak pocket doors from the 19th and early 20th century that were beautiful with solid tracks and minimal space for stuff to get into the pockets.

Final consideration. As mentioned you may have to move all the utilities to frame an interior pocket door in place and you may not then be code compliant if you are required to have outlets on every wall and every x feet apart.


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## md2lgyk (Jan 6, 2009)

My wife and I built our log home by ourselves. For the same reason you want them, every interior door (seven of them) is a pocket door. Not hard to do, but that was new construction. I'd say retrofitting them might be way more work than you want to do.


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## KarlJay (Dec 9, 2009)

I'm in the same boat, small house and want every sq ft I can get. One of the websites I saw when looking for the hardware had the sq ft saving listed. Wasn't huge, but that's not the only point...

With a slider you can place the bed, nite stand, etc right there where the door would have opened into. So for me it's more the flexibility that it offers. Not just me, but for resale, this allows for more flexibility in laying out the furniture in the rooms, might be able to get another small chest where the door would have opened.

I'm going from 1bd 1ba to 3bd 2ba and only added about 120 sq ft. Some areas are just simply a tight fit for a standard door.

To use the space best, I'm ending up with 3 doors pretty close to each other, 2 bd, 1 bath all close together. Sliders are the only way I could make it work well. The 2nd bath is going to be tight and would have to open into the hallway. I'd rather have it open into the wall.


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## bpm (Feb 8, 2011)

deana said:


> We are a family of 5 with many guests. Our home is 30+ yrs old. When we open a door in our home it takes up much needed space. We are considering pocket doors. I believe we have ample wall space to hang them, but I am unsure of the problems we might face. Our home is wood frame w/ crawl space. Any information would be helpful. We are going to be remodeling soon but our lack of knowledge and lack of friends with knowledge of pocket doors has us wondering if we will be creating a big problem in the long run. Thank you for your time and any help.:confused1:


I added a pocket door a couple of years ago to a small half-bath in my house. The bathroom is only about 3 x 5 feet and with the swing of a standard door, you had to go in the room and squeeze yourself against the sink and wall just to close the door. Adding a pocket door eliminated that problem. 

As others have said, the complexity of installing the doors will vary quite a bit depending on whether the wall is load bearing or not, and whether there are any utilities in that wall. Mine was very straightforward. The wall was not load bearing and there were no utilities to relocate. I've done framing and drywalling before so I felt comfortable doing the work myself. I was planning to redo the bathroom anyways (new floor, new door and window trim, etc.) so I just did everything at once. Get a good quality pocket door kit and you shouldn't have any long term problems.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

the barn door sliders are pretty neat, but the hardware can run upwards of $500. Haven't found a set that is under $200, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough. If money were not an issue, I'd opt for the barn door look. Pocket doors and bifolds just seem cheap. That being said, I've seen some really nice looking pocket doors too.


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## Doorman54 (Feb 22, 2012)

Farm&Fleet and Tractor Supply both have some of the hardware for sliders. 

I know I've seen it at Farm&Fleet. Approx 2" box section track, 4 wheeled trucks with a vertical bolt that splits them in pairs. 

Here's an example


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

cibula11 said:


> Pocket doors and bifolds just seem cheap.






















*Yeah, Those pocket doors sure do look cheap...*


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