What Is a Pocket Door | Pros & Cons of Pocket Doors | How to Install Pocket Doors

What Is a Pocket Door?

A pocket door is a sliding door that, when completely open, disappears into a compartment in the adjoining wall.

Pocket doors are generally used for architectural impact, or when there is no room for the swing of a hinged door.

They can travel on rollers suspended from an overhead path or tracks or guides along with the floor. Single and double-door versions are utilized, depending on how wide access is needed.

​The pocket door is a sliding door that neatly tucks into a wall or separator. It slides on a track, so you can shut off a room for more privacy or open it up to connect spaces. It is suitable for small rooms or areas where a standard swing door would not utilize correctly or would take up too much area.

Since the pocket doors hang on the track and slide into the recess of a wall, the doors themselves are generally thin, lightweight, and don’t prohibit all sound from traveling between rooms. Though you can engage a handy person, establishing sliding pocket doors is a relatively simple DIY project!

Read More: 25 Types of Doors for Your Perfect House

Common Locations To Install A Pocket Door System

Here are some of the vastly popular locations to install a pocket door system in your household

1. Master Bedroom

If your master suite has an accessible bathroom design, installing a single pocket door between the bedroom and bathroom would necessarily add more privacy when many people are using the area at a similar time.

2. Laundry Room

Generally, older houses were often not created with a dedicated laundry room, so homeowners have had to turn a nook in the kitchen or a small spare bedroom into a laundry room. You can create your laundry room look better and lessen noise by installing a pocket door system into an existing wall.

3. Pantry

A single pocket door is a greatly popular choice when it gets to improving your home’s pantry. Choose a pocket door kit that fits the actual look and realize your kitchen design.

4. Home Office

Looking to separate yourself from the family and obtain a moment of peace when you work from home? Install a pocket door system good into your existing wall to improve productivity.

5. Kitchen And Dining Room

Most of the houses have their kitchen and dining room attached with an open design. But if you would rather have the choice to distribute the spaces when prepping a big meal or hosting a small get-together, installing a pocket door would provide you with the decent of both worlds.

Pros Of Pocket Doors

• Space And Clearance: In rigid quarters, like a Jack and Jill bathroom, standard swinging doors will consume the restricted clearance space available, gobbling up ten or more square feet each! Pocket doors solve that problem.

• Wall Space: When open, a swinging door occupies a wall area equal to its width (generally 32-36” for an interior door). In small rooms where the wall area is at a premium – for furniture arrangement, storage, or hanging art – pocket doors solve the problem.

• Convenience: Sliding pocket doors are effective in designing two separate rooms so that they may be engaged as required. For example, A conventional dining room might have a broad opening, equipped with pocket doors, toward an adjoining space. This would allow larger dinner parties to suit in, while still enabling additional intimate settings when the door system is kept closed. 

• Aesthetics: Many homeowners simply choose the elegant, simplified look and realize of pocket doors – particularly stylish glass pocket doors — and opt to use them for that reason.

Cons Of Pocket Doors

• Noise, Smells, And Light: Pocket doors do not settle as tightly as ordinary doors. As a result, they are not practically as effective in avoiding noise from traveling from one room to the next. Interior pocket doors are equally low performers regarding sealing off a room’s smell (think kitchens or bathrooms). Likewise, additional light will escape from one space to the other.

• Wall Sturdiness:- For a conventional 32″ pocket door, a wall opening twice that size is required. The door is covered up with the wall finish material (e.g. drywall) but because that wall area contains no studs, it will be flimsy and tend to wobble.

• Functionality:- Pocket doors are famous for difficulties with functionality. They always fall off their tracks, move with the problem, are problematic to lock, and screech when rolled.

• Accessibility:- Sliding pocket doors are tough to manage for anyone with restricted use of their hands, such as arthritis sufferers. Additional dexterity is required to slide a pocket door open and close, utilizing a flush or recessed pull, than to grasp well-designed, user-friendly standard door hardware.

Read More: What Are Louvered Doors & Its 10 Types With Pros and Cons

How To Install A Pocket Door

Before you start your Pocket Door Installation, examine the directions for the pocket door kit you are installing to give an overview of the procedure and what’s involved.

All pocket door systems are established in virtually the same way, but the manufacturer’s recommendations should provide you with the best advice for installing that particular product.

That being said, follow the list below for the standard procedure on how to install a pocket door:

1. Establish the rough opening or modify the containing wall to fit the rough opening dimensions for the door jamb provided by the manufacturer of the hardware.

2. Make sure that all studs are plumb (faultlessly vertical) and the header is.

3. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and cut the pocket door header and track assembly to length with the help of a hacksaw.

4. Establish the header and track assembly on the top jamb with the fasteners and brackets provided with the door. Nail the edge plate to the wall studs.

5. An inspection that the track is level so that the door rolls easily.

6. Connect the split jamb stiffeners to the floor bracket and accordingly plumb them with a level and nail the brackets to the floor. Nail the split jamb to the header.

7. The same repeat for the second pair of stiffeners, establishing them in the middle of the pocket.

8. Color or stain all perimeters and faces of the door to avoid it from warping.

9. Establish hanging hardware on the top perimeter of the door according to the manufacturer’s advice.

10. Slide the wheel fasteners into the track and hang the door on the two hangers.

11. Modify the hangers until the door is plumb.

12. You can also establish the door handle/lock at this point.

13. Remove the door and then establish drywall over the door pocket, utilizing construction adhesive and 1-inch drywall screws.

14. Complete the joints with drywall tape and various coats of drywall compound.

15. Reinstall the door and then establish the door guides on the inside and outside of the door at the jaws of the pocket.

16. The adjustable guides should center the door in the opening and enable almost enough clearance for the door to slide smoothly.

17. Utilise screws to establish one side of the head jamb so you can extract the door in the event of a problem.

 18. Establish a full-width strike jamb on the opposing side.

 19. Drill a hole and chisel a shallow mortise in that jamb for the strike plate, which the door fastener engages.

 20. Install the door casing, nailing it to the jamb and pocket door studs.

21. Use 6d finish nails to establish the top and strike the jamb casing. Use shorter nails to establish the casing on the pocket side of the door jamb to avoid destruction to the door.

Watch the Video: How to Install A Pocket Door

The following video shows step by step method for Packet Door Installation,

Five Facts About Pocket Door

A pocket door is a portion like a sliding door, but it is not a similar thing. Sliding doors can be mounted on the exterior of a room, with the door running similarly to the entryway. But for it to allow as a pocket door, it has to be tucked into a camouflaged ‘pocket’.

The pocket is hollow, enabling the door to roll in and out as wanted. And pocket doors can be relatively stylish. They can be plywood, solid wood, glazed wood, or the tempered glass of French windows. Here is everything you want to understand about pocket doors.

1. A Pocket Door Saves Space

This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many homeowners are unaware of this advantage. When you establish a swinging door in a room, you require space for the door to open.

This appears a lot in powder rooms, kitchens, and closets. Swinging doors might ram toilets, tubs, and additional appliances. They create your room feel claustrophobic and eat up floor space.

A sliding door doesn’t occupy any more square footage since it tucks into the wall. It can also be an effective way to partition a communal space.

Say, your kids share a room, or maybe you have a sublet part of your living area. The sheet of drywall and a well-installed pocket door can easily subdivide the space. This includes privacy and flexibility because you can now utilize the ‘extra room’.

2. It Doesn’t Have To Creak

Sliding doors in common (and pocket doors in particular) can be frustrating when they squeak. And because it was a popular architectural trick in the early 20th Century, several sliding doors are old.

Even if the rest of the house is restored, the doors are always neglected. This is because the pocket is invisible inside the wall, so accessing it would mean you remember to ruin the full wall.

However, the creaking is not inherent to pocket doors. If you establish the pocket correctly and assure the runners are completely level, you won’t have any problems with wobbling or noise.

The nicest way to assure a no-squeak door is to hire a competent carpenter and purchase a high-quality door frame. You don’t require to build the runners and framework from scratch – purchase a ready-made unit.

3. You Need To Fix It Early

Many contractors create the error of leaving the pocket door for last. They figure it is created by a finishing expert, so it does not require to be established until the rest of the house is ready.

This is why several sliding doors end up sub-par. Remember, the door is being established into a pouch inside the wall. The pocket is then completed with plywood, drywall, or even tile if you like.

So you should establish the pocket door as early as possible, while you are setting up the framework and building pillars. This way, you won’t hazard sub-par mounting or worse, harming the rest of the house as you mount your door.

Settling the pocket door in place early enough has another benefit – you can detect and improve errors. You can not do that once the permanent walls are up.

4. You Can Install One During Renovation:

In the theory, any post-construction door is more of a sliding door than a pocket door. After all, putting a pocket door to a living house would mean you remember to bore a hollow in the wall, assuming the wall is thick enough.

And you have to drill the hole and pull out the extra wall material without injuring the house supports. One improper move could bring the house down.

But there is an elective workaround. You can establish a ‘false wall’ in front of your containing wall and utilize it to build your door pocket. The downside is this ‘extra wall’ provisions into the room.

The pocket is a tiny 3.5 inches thick, and the drywall on either side has to be half an inch thick or surplus. So adding a false wall will consume 4 to 6 inches of floor space, creating your room smaller.

Another interesting way to utilize pocket doors is for repurposing spaces. Need to turn an odd corner into a bathroom? Or cordon off a portion of the hallway to develop extra closet space?

Maybe you are fixing up your loft or attic to give more living areas. Pocket doors are excellent for this. You ‘plant a skin’ in front of the containing wall and utilize it as a pouch for your door.

5. Consider Hidden Floor Runners

When you order a pocket door frame kit, it always comes with metal runners at the top and floor tracks at the ground. The floor tracks are commonly guided trim. It is aimed at holding the door steady.

But while the bottom trim is lovely and looks sturdy, it is not favorable. Weak floor trim is the major reason various pocket doors get unsteady since the weight pushes harder at the bottom.

This can not be helped, because you can not resist gravity. But instead of utilizing standard trim, a creative trick is to utilize a metallic rod or pin. Drill the pin into the ground, then hollow out the bottommost of the door.

This enables the door to smoothly slide over the rod when you pull the door open or close. Half the pin stands inside the door and the other half sinks into the floor for decent gliding.

Read More: What Is Door Frame, Parts of Door Frame And Types of Door Frame Used in House

What To Predict Of Pocket Door Installation

If you are considering adding pocket doors as a component of your home, here is what to expect :

Assuming you are remodeling your house, expect to eliminate the drywall on both sides of the wall where the pocket door system will go. Besides, the wall studs will be withdrawn to make room for a new door header and pocket door frame.

Keep in mind if the house was created before 1978, the existing walls were likely completed with lead-based colors. Be sure to follow the procedure to dispose of the materials that are being ripped out.

In advance, purchase a pocket door installation kit or prefabricated frame. Trust us, this facilitates the project by orders of magnitude and you will thank yourself in the future.

These kits come with all the pocket door hardware essentials, containing the track system from which the door hangs.

Pocket doors are attached from recessed tracks, with the top of the door connected to a trolley system and glide that maintains the door centered when it moves.

Alternatively, some are elevated from the ground or the ground and ceiling, if the door is heavier and broader than the ordinary door. This technique can be a tripping hazard and limits accessibility.

Luckily, this can also be excluded with the use of additional recessed tracks (expect to spend extra time on this setup).

Once the pocket door frame has been installed, you will hang the door and adjust it so it is plumb. The final step is to complete the door jamb.

Five Secrets Of Pocket Door

When you are considering pocket doors as an internal door solution in your property, you will always find there are some popular misconceptions. Our fact-packed blog will make sure that you will become the primo of pocket doors and it will open up a full new dimension of door design that can conserve space, look decent and be particularly practical.

1. Pocket Doors Are Sliding Doors

When you refer to pocket doors, there is always some confusion. The name ‘pocket’ door accomplishes the explanation of how the door is, when fully open, enclosed within a ‘pocket’ in the wall. Rather than opening outwards, the door slides into the pocket that is fitted within the wall cavity and entirely hidden from view. 

Pocket doors can appear in single doors or pairs, depending on the size of the opening, and the doors move (slide) on rollers suspended from a track. So, pocket doors are a classification of sliding doors but not be confused with sliding door systems that are set onto the wall.

2. Pocket Doors Are Super Space Savers

s pocket doors do not open out into the room, they are remembered as excellent space savers. Especially popular in smaller homes, apartments, and studio flats, the sliding superheroes of all doors have uncovered that additional bit of storage space and aided furniture placement in several small and bijou homes. So, if you are short on space, then why not consider how excellent pocket door systems could be for you?

3. Pocket Doors Are A Valuable Investment

Pocket doors are necessarily pound-friendly and if you are undertaking a self-build or main refurb then they are an excellent investment, developing lots of flexible space opportunities.

When you consider that pretty much any kind of door can be prepared into a pocket door, this implies you can tailor your pocket doors to your style, build, and budget and if you look at their wider effect on your pocket, then you will realize that these creatively intelligent doors enable you to do so much additional with the space that you have.

For example, they may enable you to have a suite that, with traditional doors, would just not be possible; or perhaps you can utilize your pocket doors to develop privacy when you need it, but wide-open spaces when you don’t, meaning that you don’t have to build another room, you can just build one when you want it.

4. Pocket Doors Can Be Stunningly Stylish

People always think pocket doors can be far from in popularity but gone are the days when they were simple panels on a runner. Today, you will discover that pocket doors can be built out of virtually any kind of door design.

Almost all doors are sufficient for use as pocket doors, whether they are glazed or solid, the highest-end design or affordably stylish; whether they are wood veneered, laminate, or professionally colored, pocket door systems arrive in various sizes. This means you don’t have to settle to conserve space.

5. Pocket Doors Are Excellent For Any Room And More!

When we think of pocket doors it is attractive to limit our thinking. Maybe you are creating a new home or undertaking a renovation and have just considered pocket doors for the bathroom or kitchen, or maybe you have just thought of stylish sliders for the bedroom and not for the living room.

Given the selection available for pocket doors, we all want the interior designer inside us to catch up! Why not believe in saving space throughout your home and have matching pocket doors across your residence?

Or why not consider utilizing sliding doors not only for an inner doorway between crucial rooms, but for your fitted wardrobe doors, or to provide you additional space in your larder or laundry room? Excellent pocket doors can be smart, sophisticated, and chic, not just practical and space-saving.

Conclusion

In conclusion a pocket door is a sliding door which disappears into a concealed pocket within the wall when opened and it offer space-saving benefits and a modern aesthetic and it pocket doors provide privacy, ease of operation, and sound insulation.
However, the installation process can be complex and costly and it maintain and repair may pose challenges. Despite this consideration, and the pocket doors are a practical and stylish option for maximizing space and adding a sleek touch to any interior design.

FAQs

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