[Closed] Sliding 'pocket' doors....anyone installed one?

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

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

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?

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.

Are your walls hollow?

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.

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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

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.

I built my own from scratch

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

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??

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

I'm gonna watch this with interest....

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

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....

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!

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

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.

Build one of these?

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 [url= http://www.eclisse.co.uk/ ]eclisse [/url]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.

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.

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!

@ 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 😛

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh good timing! About to do this.

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?

bencooper - Member

Build one of these?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I've fitted a few of these using a kit supplied by Hafele. The studs either side of the door are a finished thickness of 20mm IIRC (timber enclosed is steel to stiffen them) so you end up with a wall only about 70mm thicker than your door. Not that hard to do, kit was about £120 I think.

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

Point noted - although it will probably remain open most of the time unless I'm in full on Ramsay-mode.

[thinks out loud] I wonder if i can get a lock on the door too to stop people (mother in law) coming in/standing in the doorway/generally bothering me whilst i am being creative [/thinks out loud]

BFITH - Member

I wonder if i can get a lock on the door too to stop people (mother in law) coming in/standing in the doorway/generally bothering me whilst i am being creative

Ahem....

http://www.eclisse.co.uk/Door-Furniture/ECLISSE-Bathroom-Locks

I wonder if i can get a lock on the door too to stop people (mother in law) coming in/standing in the doorway/generally bothering me whilst i am being creative

You get that too.....bloody annoying eh! Decide to wash up to help but in reality wash the knives etc that you're using (must be hereditary as the wife does it too)

You get that too.....bloody annoying eh! Decide to wash up to help but in reality wash the knives etc that you're using (must be hereditary as the wife does it too)

Yes and when she feeds our kids (which Im very grateful for...obvs) when were at work she uses my best Zwilling Henckels 4 star knifes and leaves them lying around (blunted) on the worktop/sink/dishwasher!! (shudders)