• This topic has 44 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by BFITH.
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  • Sliding 'pocket' doors….anyone installed one?
  • BFITH
    Free Member

    Looking to possibly install one of these (or something similar) in our kitchen to avoid door swing issues into kitchen:

    Anybody installed anything similar?

    br
    Free Member

    No, but have to in the next month or so, will be watching the thread.

    deadslow
    Full Member

    Me too, awaiting the wisdom of the STW hive! Also need to install one soon

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    joshvegas
    Free Member

    My parents have one into an en-suite

    the wall was built for it and I can’t see how it would work anyother way.

    Are your walls hollow?

    Tallpaul
    Full Member

    Do you currently have a normal door that you want to replace or is this to be included in the design of an extension etc?

    I’d like one for our kitchen, but it would mean knocking down part of a partition wall and then encroaching on the internal room dimensions with a new stud partition wall incorporating the pocket.

    BFITH
    Free Member

    Are your walls hollow?

    they’re designed to be retro-fitted into an existing timber stud wall – obviously you have to remove plaster board, strengthen frame, install gubbins and plasterboard over again.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    I built my own from scratch. I built and extension and didn’t want to lose the space in the room caused by the double door swing. I designed it all in cad and built it at work. The doors were glass and the tracks and rollers I used were designed for a passenger lift. I made it with a pulley system so when you pulled one door the other opened at the same time. All the mechanicals were hidden so all you saw was the glass sliding from what looked like a solid wall. It probably took me about a month to design, build and install but it looked amazing and worked really well.

    The above probably inst much help to you but I would definitely look into a kit door set if I was doing a simple internal door like the one on the pic. The only problem is you need to build a framework on the inside of the existing wall to hide the area where the door slides in. This means you will need plastering done and loose some room space.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qw5Ztz]DSC_0020[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/pRJzPK]DSC_0012[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qNqKfd]DSC_0021[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qNqKxC]DSC_0017[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/qvWHos]DSC_0003[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr

    BFITH
    Free Member

    Do you currently have a normal door that you want to replace or is this to be included in the design of an extension etc?

    we would be replacing an existing door – but we have plenty of stud wall to the left to incorporate one of these

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Anyone have any experience of folding doors? We’ve a small-ish study where the door opens into the space where you’d be sat, so were considering a folding door.

    But in my head I’m imagining something horrible, wobbly, ill fitting that jams a lot.

    BFITH
    Free Member

    I built my own from scratch

    You can come and do one for me if you like… 😀

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    Are your walls hollow?

    stud walls are with a 100mm or 75mm internal cavity, dependent on the size of the stud timbers.

    never installed a pocket door, but seems like an awful lot of hassle and cost for something like a kitchen where by far the easiest and cheapest option to gain more usable space is to take the door off if you’re having clearance issues.

    worth it for a bedroom or somewhere that you need privacy, but what are you really getting up to in your kitchen that you don’t want anyone else to see??

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    but what are you really getting up to in your kitchen that you don’t want anyone else to see??

    …or smell?

    Never cooked fish?

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    I’m gonna watch this with interest….

    We’ve got no door on our kitchen as having it swing into the kitchen would get in the way of the oven & having it swing into the hall would be a pain.

    I’ve looked at pocket sliding doors, but I think we would need to get a telescoping one as the wall next to the door is narrower than the door width.
    It’s a solid brick wall, so we’d either need to take the wall down, install a longer lintel and put a stud wall up or just put a stud wall onto the existing wall to put the telescoping door into.

    I keep looking into it, realising it’s quite a big job & a bit of a ball ache & then giving up on it…..

    andysredmini – I’d be interested to know what component manufacturer you used for the tracks & rollers.
    Did you have tracks top & bottom or did it hang from a track at the top?

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    BFITH

    I would love to but it wouldn’t be cheap. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and never manage to do anything cheap, quick or easy.

    I have added some pics to my post above.

    project
    Free Member

    From experience of sliding doors AVOID THE TRACKS WITH WHEELS, the wheels always become worn, or derail or just jam, ensure you make a method of accessing the track if something should jam it later in life.

    Sliding doors cant achieve a tight seal unless you use some sort of brush seal, also beware of small children/ older people jamming their fingers in the gap,between door face and walls, remember the gap will be bigger on paneled doors.

    ensure everything is plumb and secure that there is plenty of grease on the track and door stops are fitted to stop door sliding off track and into void, sliding doors can also become noisy when worn.

    For all the hasle involveled and the making good required easier to remove arcs on frame, leave existing door frame in place fit track etc and build a new removable section of stud wall over the new track.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    They were GAL tracks designed for fitting to a lift landing door but I modified them.
    There was a track at the top and sliders hidden behind the wall on the floor.

    BFITH
    Free Member

    take the door off

    Thought about that …. but dont want kitchen smells throughout the house. Besides were going to be doing a fair bit of re-modelling, so installing one of these isnt really going to be a hassle.

    @ andysredmini – great job!

    BFITH
    Free Member

    I’m gonna watch this with interest….

    If i decide to do it, I’ll be sure to post some pics!

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    sofaboy73 – Member

    worth it for a bedroom or somewhere that you need privacy, but what are you really getting up to in your kitchen that you don’t want anyone else to see??

    For us, it’s nothing to do with privacy but more to do with cooking smells, warmth & keeping the damp air from boiling pans in the kitchen so the extractor can get rid of it.
    We don’t have any heating in our kitchen & the main door we use into the house goes straight into the kitchen, so when unloading the car from shopping etc. the door stays open for a couple of minutes and all the heat escapes.

    Putting a door across would help with all of this. Ideally I’d like it to be electric with a proximity sensor & have it make the Star Trek ‘skoosh’ every time it opened….

    TooTall
    Free Member

    andy – those doors are impressively over-designed, over-engineered and over-built for the purpose of being doors.

    Congratulations for building the most stw doors I’ve ever seen. Nice job!

    joshvegas
    Free Member

    Keep the door and get someone to hide behind it pulling a sheet of paper out of an envelope?

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    Yeah they were a bit over the top but I built them from bits and bobs lying around at work and all I actually paid for was the glass, door handles and sliders so in total around £200

    I looked at adding an electric motor and button opening but decided I had enough to do building the extension.

    I spent pretty much every night, weekend, holiday and two weeks paternity leave for a over a year building that extension on my own and the worst part is we sold the house not long after so someone else is enjoying it now.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Build one of these?

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfvm8I9_oU[/video]

    STATO
    Free Member

    I fitted a pocket door to our bathroom as its 2mX2m and the door restricted where you could place the sink. Took the existing wall out (stud) and rebuilt a new one around an eclisse frame. This was one recommended on here when I asked. Its not cheap though. Fixed plasterboard to either side (tile backer on bathroom side for tiles) and tiled/plastered. Works great, looks good, no issues so far in 2 years. The track on the eclisse is removable once you have the door off so make sure the trim is removable (screwed on) incase you need to do maintenance in a few years.

    avdave2
    Full Member

    I really like the idea of them but for me they need to be split to open both ways, be automatic as I approach them and make the exact swishing noise from the original Star Trek.

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    Putting a door across would help with all of this. Ideally I’d like it to be electric with a proximity sensor & have it make the Star Trek ‘skoosh’ every time it opened….

    now that would make it worth it for me! clearly my desire to avoid DIY at all costs if there is a simpler solution / work around is not the norm.

    as to cooking smells / fish, my solution would only be cook nice smelling things and avoid fish – i refer you to my previous statement!

    BFITH
    Free Member

    @ STATO – will have a look at the eclisse ones.

    I really like the idea of them but for me they need to be split to open both ways, be automatic as I approach them and make the exact swishing noise from the original Star Trek.

    I, too would like this 😛

    giant_scum
    Free Member

    Fitted one in our bathroom a number of years back, again issues with space, door breaking knees whilst sat on the toilet. If space is at a premium then I would fit another one!
    Basically had to remove the stud wall and rebuild it again with the supplied door kit. It wasn’t that difficult to do hardest bit was hanging the door on the runners at the top.
    I used this company for the kit http://www.sdslondon.co.uk/sliding-pocket-door-kits.html

    Sundayjumper
    Full Member

    We had a surface mounted sliding door (not pocket) fitted when we re-did the bedroom a couple of years ago and now my wife is obsessed with sliding doors, she’d have them on every room in the house given the chance.

    Those Eclisse units aren’t *too* expensive really given the cost of most building stuff.

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    Have two eclisse doors in our newbuild for the ensuite and also one built using Royce and Tucker running gear (door not installed yet) for the living room.

    Still a work in progress so too early to report on long term issues but everything does need to be very true and plumb. Youll need to take down the stud wall for the extent of the pocket.

    thecaptain
    Free Member

    Last year I was looking into surface mounted sliding door options for an arch that had nothing but I wanted to reduce the airflow. A bit awkward because of obstructions around the arch.

    Ended up with a curtain from a charity shop. 5 quid the pair, perfect fit 🙂

    The other one of the pair is screening a clothes hanging alcove in the bedroom. Bonus.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    We had a problem with clashing doors and the door getting in the way if it was left open so I fitted a 2 way sprung hinge like they have in restaurants and it works a treat. Swings back closed every time and it has a glazed top so you can see if somebody’s in the way.

    tang
    Free Member

    Oh good timing! About to do this.

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    Ended up with a curtain from a charity shop. 5 quid the pair, perfect fit

    The other one of the pair is screening a clothes hanging alcove in the bedroom. Bonus.

    now thats my kind of problem solving

    OP – have you thought about one of those beaded curtain jobbies, much beloved of kitchen opening everywhere in the 70’s?

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    bencooper – Member

    Build one of these?Oh god – there goes a few hours of youtube viewing and internet searching!

    STATO
    Free Member

    One thing id mention is sliding doors are slow compared to a normal door. Using one for a kitchen might get annoying having to close and open it constantly as you cant really leave it half open and nip in/out like you would a normal door, or pull it closed behind you as you go through. Its very much a stop-open-step_through-stop-close-carryon. It works ok for a bathroom as you tend to stop and close/lock a door on entering.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    My brother became a convert after living in Norway for a few years in a smallish apartment and they were a real space saver. Since moving back to the UK he’s installed a couple in his house. Basically he ended up rebuilding the stud walls which isn’t a tricky a job as you might think and easily within the capabilities of an average DIY’er. The problems occur if there are any electrics or pipework running through the wall and of course you need to make sure it’s not a structural wall.

    I’d like to have one in my kitchen, with it being a typical modern build there are some spots in the house where there are alot of doors focussed in one point so it becomes a bit of a door flapping exercise to get through them al, so a pocket door or two would give more space in the rooms and would be easier to just leave open without getting in the way. it’s a job that’s on the list for sure.

    pleaderwilliams
    Free Member

    Have specified a few Eclisse doors on request of clients. No complaints from them. In my opinion they can feel a little bit cheap/wobbly, as a consequence of trying to squeeze frame, runners etc within a 100mm wall.

    STATO
    Free Member

    Have specified a few Eclisse doors on request of clients. No complaints from them. In my opinion they can feel a little bit cheap/wobbly, as a consequence of trying to squeeze frame, runners etc within a 100mm wall.

    Yes I was concerned initially when the bare frame was first installed. But 2 lots of plasterboard and re-using the original 1930’s wood frame has stiffened the wall up to the point its not noticeable unless you push hard right next to the door (if I did that to the original walls of my house it would probably fall down 😆 ). The door we fitted was the same as the rest of the house, solid wood (laminated obviously) rather than hollow, gives a good weighty feel/solid when opening.

    dustytrails
    Full Member

    I’ve specified and set out some of these (Although the Fire Rated versions)
    http://www.portman-pocketdoors.co.uk/kit/standard-kits

    Be aware that if the sliding gear goes tits up you will need to remove part of the wall to access the running gear!

    thisisnotaspoon – Member

    Anyone have any experience of folding doors? We’ve a small-ish study where the door opens into the space where you’d be sat, so were considering a folding door.

    But in my head I’m imagining something horrible, wobbly, ill fitting that jams a lot.

    Regarding Folding Doors – I’ve also had experience with these. If you get good quality kit they shouldn’t be “wobbly, ill fitting that jams a lot”!! Also need a decent quality door.

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