You'll find that any method used, which mitigates the potential of damage to the dining room wall, will be expensive, may be the deciding factor and you'll be hard pressed to find a contractor who can legitimately say there will be no damage to the dining room side. This is the method that I have employed on several occasions, and keep in mind that these are full 2" x 4" stud walls. I used a 2x4 pocket door jamb amended to fit. The plaster and lath is carefully removed about 10" up from the floor. Metal brackets are attached to the studs at the bottom plate to add additional vibration damping, and the plaster and lathing removal is then completed. Metal brackets are added at the top plates. The nails are cut and the diagonal bracing is carefully removed. With the depth of cut set at 2-7/8" I use a beam saw to cut the studs for the top of the header height.(The wall may not be "load bering" but it's still weight loaded). Using a 4" grinder with a masonry blade, the plaster which has penetrated the lath is removed adjacent to the studs to allow clear passage of the table of a cordless skill saw to pass unobstructed. The DEWALT that I use is 1-1/8" table edge to blade. The studs affected are then ripped from the header cut to the bottom. The metal brackets are removed, individually, and using a sawzall blade with least kerf, the cut is completed. This DOES NOT affect the lath attachment on the opposing side. The nails attaching the bottom plate to the floor joists are removed and the bottom plate is attached in the 1-1/8" area that will remain. The bottom plate is cut and removed and depending upon the height of your existing door, filler is added or additional floor sheeting removed for the placement of the new jamb. If it's your decision to retain the aesthetics of a cased opening, the jamb will need to be amended to fit. The header and framing is set and the amended jamb is installed. With the jamb set, square and aligned, pre-drill the horizontal 1x slats in the jamb and attach to the dining room studs, further stabilizing them. A flat 2x4 is added to the side of the top plates on the kitchen side. A 2x4 is ripped to create a 5-1/2" wall thickness for the bottom plate and nailed in place. 2x6's are then ripped, installed and they are similarly attached to the jamb. The rock lath secured with screws and the gypsum plaster applied.

Thanks for the thoughts - I've heard too many stories like shappy2 reports, where pocket doors were noisy and problematic - but also that it's the quality of the frame, rails, and installation that make all the difference, so I'm trying to be thorough - but yet not go broke. To clarify - the Johnson frame sets that are vertical metal-wrapped studs, are either the 1500, 2000, or 2500 series units. I had heard that the 1500 was the minimum. The frame the GC has wanted to use is the 2700 (see http://www.johnsonhardware.com/2700.htm), which is an entirely different type of frame that looks a bit like an orange crate, with horizontal wood pieces. It is NOT part of the 2000 series. In some ways, I suppose it helps avoid cave-in, but even when I called Johnson to understand why I'd want one over the other, their tech support folks said it's an older style frame that "we don't like to talk about". That gives confidence... either not enough profit, or really not very good. But which? As I mentioned, we compromised, and so far have the 2700 frame in place, but getting a Hafele rail with slow-close that I found at a relatively reasonable price. Now, we get to see if it all works. Good luck to you, too, anlawin! I'll report when and if we get everything together!

HI all. I've down the pocket door rabbit hole for quite a while. I am looking for three (3) pocket doors, all in - 32" for all. Two will be into and out of a walk through closet and one will be into a water closet (poop room). I have used Johnson and I don't want to do it again. It is 2023, April and everything is so much more expensive than I remember but here is what I could find - All Hawa w/ Futura frame and 80/Z soft close - $1,006 Cavity Sliders, with soft close - in stock locally - $720 HDPocketDoors - 80/Z $986 80/B $1278 I am leaning toward HDPocketDoors - looks like a solid frame with Hawa hardware at a reasonable price. Some questions for y'all - 80Z vs 80B ..... What I like about 80B is the whole mechanism is removable without tearing out hte wall. The top/carrier track stays in and you can remove and adjust and level the actual running track. Pretty slick. But it is a mortised connection to the door and will likely stack up costs as I figure out how to implement. Nothing wrong with 80Z 2x6 vs 2x4 - I can do 2x6 everywhere, even in the existing wall with some added meat. I think a 1-3/4" door and a 2x6 frame will make life easier with install, clearance, and choice of pocket hardware - thoughts ? Cavity Sliders - anybody out there use them ??

"I went to work in an office that had a pocket door that never worked right because someone had driven nails into it at some point and it was never the same after" (palimpsest) Yes. This happened to us when DH nailed the baseboard on the wall between the laundry and kitchen. The door came off track. When we renovate I will replace or remove. However, this was builder grade. On our extension I added three pocket doors. The one I had put in for the powder room is a solid core door, not thinner than most doors, as I wanted as much sound-dampening as possible with such a device. We used Johnson Hardware - not the home depot variety which runs $ 40 or so, but commercial grade. Look at the Johnson site under 1500 Commercial Grade and you will also find non-standard size frames (door max thickness 1 3/4"). Use a good carpenter.