I have 5 pocket doors. 4 came with the house, one was just put into our family bathroom during reno this past fall. Love them all, and would totally do it again. DH did NOT want the one in the bathroom, and GC argued against it as well, but I held my ground and couldn't be happier.

That being said, I've never installed one myself, but I know there are kits out there, and it didn't look altogether difficult when GC did it.

Here's a "during" pic....

I love our pocket door in our master bath also. It works very well though has fallen off it's track a couple of times--not too difficult to put back on though. Here it is:

I have two and love them.
I have not had any trouble with them coming off the track.

We had 4 of them in the house in which I grew up, and they were fabulous. One in the powder room on the first floor, and three for the bathrooms adjoining bedrooms. Never had one come off the track. I would love to have them here. I can think of several places they would be SO much nicer than a regular door.

We have three in our house (built in 1968). One is in the dining room and works fine. One is in the master bath and constantly slides open because the track tilted due to the house settling over the years. The other one is the entrance to the master bedroom. When we had the molding in the room replaced a few years back we couldn't close the door a few days later. At first we didn't associate it with the molding replacement but then realized it was nailed in place by the long nails they put in the baseboards!! Ugh...

Yes, you can buy kits. Home Depot sells standard-sized ones, but we needed to use 28" doors (rather than 30") so we had to special-order from our local lumberyard. The instructions are pretty clear and if you are an accomplished DUY-er you can certainly do it. You have to take down the wall and frame a new header over the wider opening (where the door and pocket will go) and then install the pocket framework, sheetrock and trim over it.

The kits do not come with the doors; you order the slabs separately. We ordered shaker-style 5-panel to match the rest of our house.

I believe the slab was about $150 and the kit was about $50. PLus the handle/hardware, which can range from $10-$100+, of course, depending on quality and style!

We put one between the kitchen and utility room. We only use it when my grandson comes over (he's a toddler) so he can't get into the dog food, but we really like it.

The nice thing about them is they don't take up wall space as far as having a door that opens where you can't place anything on that wall.

SORRY! Somehow copied an incorrect link! It should be this one:

Here is a link that might be useful: the REAL Johnson Hardware pocket door hardware link

I am also a fan of pocket doors. We have them in two bathrooms. After about 8 years we had a problem with one of them coming off the track, but luckily we had workmen here working on our kitchen, so we asked one of them to take a look and he fixed it easily. Otherwise, no issues. Ours are very similar to judydel's above.

And not to hijack this discussion, but judydel -- what color are your bathroom walls? So pretty!

When I said to use good hardware, I meant the frames, rollers, etc. The door hardware (latch, lock, etc.) is another issue. To get good gliding and keeping it on the track, I'd use Johnson Hardware.

We also have 3, 2 in the master bdrm/bath and 1 in upstairs very small bath. Love the space they save and not having to shut a door and clean behind in a small spaces. We, too, have thumb turn from the bedroom into the bath and our arthritic fingers don't work so well. No problem. We just keep a quarter or a seashell near the door to slide into the slot. :)

We have 4 in our home. One in between the guest bath and powder area, one between our Master bedroom hall and the bathroom, and two for our Master closet doors. Never had a problem with them coming off track, but we mostly keep them open.

One thing to be aware of...make sure that you are not installing a door where an electrical outlet or switch is, or is to go. Our surround sound guy cut a hole into our sheetrock to install the speaker volume button. We found out when my DH went to open his closet door and it would only go half way. Now, we have a nice plain white junction cover over the hole, and the volume button is on the other side of the pocket door.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

>make sure that you are not installing a door where an electrical outlet or switch is, or is to go. Our surround sound guy cut a hole into our sheetrock to install the speaker volume button. We found out when my DH went to open his closet door and it would only go half way.

Plumbing is something else to keep in mind. Where I used to live I had a pocket door on the tub/toilet area of the bathroom and when the unit was replumbed, they ran the line so that the door bumped into when you opened it all the way.

That sure did create problems.

Wow! I cannot believe all the responses I am getting and really all positive. I was expecting more negatives. Keep them coming, maybe this will convince the skeptics here.

I have had two different kitchen remodeled & had the swinging doors in both between the kitchens & dining rooms converted to pocket doors. They were/have been great & I'm glad I did it. As others mentioned, you need to be sure there is nothing in the wall to block the door sliding into it. There are kits to make the conversion.

Six pocket doors here. I love them. Because of them, I'm able to section off parts of the house from other parts and control the noise level.

Hi,
we also have a small bath and had a pocket door installed to replaced the ghastly folding plastic door that the Po's had. We had contractor friend install it and the total cost was $400. Money well spent! It has never come off the track; it works just fine.

If I had the space I would prefer a regular door, but that was just not an option.

Our house is 25 years old and has 2 pocket doors original to the home. We've lived here only 2 years (we're the second owner), but have had no problems whatsoever with the pocket doors, and we use them every day. I love them!

We have two pocket doors, and we love them - incredible space savers in small spaces!

Hi Sue it's Gustavian Grey by Ellen Kennon. Here's another photo of the same color.

We have one in our home now and I grew up in a home with one. After installing this one and loving how it looks and works (perfectly) we wish we would have made every door possible a pocket door. They are never in the way and you can get locks for them too.

Thanks for the replies.
I am so glad that everyone has had positive experiences with pocket doors. This makes our decision much easier.

When we had our home built, every where a pocket door would work, we insisted on it, and now have 8, luv them, why have a door in the way or taking up, wall space, which can be used in other ways.

The only negative I've heard about pocket doors is that some people don't feel comfortable using a bathroom with a pocket door because the lock doesn't feel secure. Our powder room has a pocket door and the lock feels plenty secure for indoor use.

My boys share a buddy bath and I am desperate for pocket doors. In that little span of house, there are four doors and it drives me crazy! Unfortunately, I think it would be a nightmare because of plumbing and electricity.

My parents were going to build a house years ago and they had the architect use pocket doors for nearly every room in the house. They ended up buying a house almost identical to what they were going to build, but no pocket doors!

We have 2 pocket doors in our addition. They were done at the suggestion of our architect and I LOVE them. One is in the laundry room, the other in DH's office. They are such a great way to save space.

I am not sure what is involved in installing them in an existing structure. I'd love to have pocket doors on all but the bathroom doors.

Perhaps your DD and SIL could get some estimates by a few reputable carpenters in their area.

In both our last house and the new one, we had one between the master bedroom and bath and were pleased with it.

In the new house, we also have two separating the kitchen from the little hexagonal TV room. These are glass, with grooves in the glass. We wanted to be able to muffle noisy football viewers, or put kids out there with a video. Although they're open most of the time, I love how they function and look. The grooved glass means no one should ever walk into them when closed. Note said football viewer's feet propped on the footstool!!

I love pocket doors but I only have one. I can easily think of 4 other places where they'd really come in handy. It's worked fine for 22 years - until this winter. For some reason when you try to push the door back into the wall it gets hung up on something. I had a contractor here to do some other work and he said he thinks that an interior wooden stud might have swollen just enough to partially block the opening. He was able to trim the stud a little and it's working again.

He told me that when he installs them he buys complete kits that include everything- door, track, rollers and all the framing necessary. His favorite has a metal frame.

Most likely we will put one in the master bathroom (water closet) when we remodel. I wouldn't mind having them in the dining room (x2 - would probably do the glass paneled in the DR, which, in reality, has been re-purposed as my artist's studio, we use the second living area as a DR). Would love to have them for laundry room and master closet and guest bathroom, but it's structurally/electrically/plumbing-ly impossible for them. These are the biggest space-wasters in my house!

I have several friends who have them (originals to their older houses) and love them!

I have 4 of them in my new house - 3 in the master bath and one on powder room. The master bath ones are no problem (though we haven't finished the bath, so I don't have actual experience using them!). The one on the PR did solve the problem (that we had in old house) of hitting the closet door across the narrow hallway, not being able to get in/out of PR when someone getting/putting away a coat. But I goofed and put the pocket door on the PR instead of the coat closet.

Not a good idea with kids who are always leaving the door partially open, so I can see the toilet from the kitchen! I should have put it on the closet instead. It's fallen off the track a couple of times, probably b/c we have it adjusted to the very end of the hanging bolts b/c the builder hung it too high (he put all the doors on the ground floor 1" off the subfloor, we were able to change the swinging doors but not the pocket door).

I would say it would work in your DD's situation as long as this is the master bath and not the main bath that guests/kids would use (and use a lot, and leave open to a public area).

Boy, we sure can get passionate about stuff around here, lol! Lyban, I bet you weren't expecting this many voices to chime in, were you?

FYI, the thing that sold my DH on a pocket door in the bath was that I posted this same question here last spring and got the same kind of response!

I think they're kind of annoying in places (like a bathroom) where they are used frequently. That said, I'd probably deal if I were really pressed for space. We are installing one between our bedroom and the small hallway to the closet and master bath. I know it will stay open most of the time.

As to installation, the kit that DH bought had metal-wrapped narrow studs. That's a poor description, but I think the metal will help prevent the swelling issue mentioned above. We haven't installed the actual door onto the frame/roller system yet.

I think pocket doors are great space savers. We're doing an addition (actually not an addition because we're not gaining any square footage ... more of a reconfiguration via ripping off the top of the house and rebuilding it) this spring and we're hoping to do a pocket door in a new bathroom. We have a small house and therefore small bathrooms, so we have to be really smart about space-saving. My grandmother's house was recently torn down and I took her bedroom door which I hope to be able to convert into a pocket door for this purpose (just because it's a really nice door). Haven't talked about any of this with the contractor yet though.