I don't think there is a quick site solution to what you are asking for. My morning coffee reading for the past two years has started on gardenweb and taken off from there, using links and keyword searches in google. It's been a lot of fun, and I've figured out many things that will be useful to me. One of the first things we did when we bought our house was to have all the old, smoke-stinky wallpaper taken out. It was from the 1980's. If it had been from the 1880's when the house was built, I might have tried to keep it. Anyway, I can't remember if it was apartmenttherapy or gardenweb that put me on to Farrow&Ball paints, but I hate to think what might have happened if I had not used their stabilising primer on my 120 y.o. bare plaster walls. Apparently old plaster can be extremely alkali, and can cause all kinds of problems when you go to paint. The primer I used neutralized and "fixed" the plaster, so that paint systems could go on without being subject to some alkali chemical reaction. Also the colors were great for a historic home. So this was one little tidbit I picked up from my browsing that was a big help. Another think I figured out over time was the use of solatubes. I did not think I could use them in this house, because the main places I would want them (kitchen and conservatory) are on a lower floor of the house. But in my browsing I just recently noticed they can have a 20' run and still be quite bright. And what could be more appropriate for a conservatory than natural sunlight pouring in. (Incidentally, the tube diameter is 10 3/4", a challenge to run through the second floor, but I have a plan to make it work.) So, I don't live on the ocean or operate a lighthouse, but I'm gonna have a least 4 Fresnel lenses in my house. How cool is that? Reading Victorian house blogs has been very useful to me. Craig and Yvonne's, The Devil Queen, and especially the Petch House are all great blogs to check. Greg over at the Petch House is wonderfully meticulous in both his execution and in his writing about it. Some of these blogs have lists of links to other old house reno blogs. Reading about what other people have done to their houses over time has given me a wonderful sense of the flow and natural order of work on these houses, and what some of the unexpected twists and turns might be. From reading these I've decided to have a consult with a structural engineer before I do any more to my house. Also, from reading modvic.com, I decided to have an architect use 3D software to model my house as-is and as-planned, down to plumbing run locations for any remodeling. Modvic was a great restoration, but they did not have a computerized 3-d model of the house, and ran into issues both when placing a new stairway, and some plumbing runs. i think the cost and delay resulting was much more than what it costs to have someone come out and measure and plunk it into a computer program. Lessons learned. I think you might enjoy the renewable energy for the home forum here on gardenweb. I spend the most time in the old house forum, then kitchens and baths, and finally, home decorating. Ah, home decor, that elevated place you get to when all the functions of the house are in order and you can turn your eyes to the icing on the cake. What luxury to think about curtains instead of new 20 amp circuits. "What should I put on my mantel for the most eye-pleasing effect?" instead of "how the heck do I get this fireplace working and mantel restored?" Someday I will be there. And to me, no discussion of home decorating is complete without mention of the Cote de Texas blog. Finally, somebody who writes about home decor in terms that an engineer can understand. Check out her top ten #4 entry on curtains. Finally, I know why something looks right to me, in very clear terms and boundaries. So, I don't think there is one place you can go to read and find what you want to know in an afternoon. I think it's more of an evolving process, and an enjoyable one. Best of luck!

Well, I opened the wall Friday and I found two heating ducts in the way in one wall and two supply pipes and a waste pipe in the other, so the usual pocket door is dead. Guess what else I found, two splices of 15 amp lines, and not the first time I've found shortcuts and outright code violations in this house. I won't say who built this house but it rhymes with A$$hole Bros. Matt, the doors I want to hang weight 100 lb. Do you think that on the wall track who gave me a link to is robust for long term track stability? The instructions claim good for 150 lb but I'm paranoid. Perhaps to be totally safe, should I construct a new frame from whense to hang the track in the usual fashion. Or am I just being an old woman. Don't want to open up the wall in 10 years to fix a sagging track. Brick, I'm a little confused. By 1X lumber, do you mean frame the wall next to the door with 1X2s and then attach 3/8 plywood to it, finally cover with 3/8" drywall? Or would the plywood go first and then the 1X2s to attach the drywall? Thanks!

Hi! Sorry I didn't get back to this site--I'm not very good taking pictures, but I went again to the interiordoors.com site and there is a photo in their gallery of a multi-fold door that looks almost exactly like mine, except mine is finished in a darker stain. These are exceptionally heavy, beautiful doors and you can choose, as you probably saw, from about six different wood species. They come with Johnson hardware in the "kit" they send. Anyway, I did a lot of my reno via the internet because it was simpler for me than running around looking for things in big box stores that didn't have what I needed most of the time. You will talk to real people who know their product intimately and the service was wonderful. By the way, my multifold doors, which are much wider in total than a pocket door--a total of 72 inches--do not swing. They move into position with just a touch of a finger. On the other hand, I don't have children at home running full tilt into them, either--that I can't tell you about! Veda

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!