We have four in our home, but do not use them often. The one into the Master bath is rarely used. No problems, though.

I have two and like them. One b/w compartments in our bath (where a swinging door would be a nuisance) and one between mudroom and laundry where it is nice to be able to tuck it completely. I have heard people say the hardware isn't as good as it used to be, but in four years I've had no trouble with mine except mounting a mirror on that wall in the bathroom, having the screws go through and scrape some paint on the door-- so don't do that :)

My parents'walk-in closet has a pocket door. Their house was built in 1979 - they have never had any problems. Their was a post here about being unable to hang anything substantial on the wall because basically it is hollow.

It depends upon the hardware.

We have two. One door is on a closet using the standard hardware and it comes off the track constantly. I hate it. The other is on the bathroom and I practically had to have my arm twisted to allow it. To make me happy, the contractor put in extra, extra heavy duty tracks and promised me that it would never come off the track.

It never has.

Rosefolly

My parents put several in the house in which I grew up. They were solid wood doors on heavy tracks. Never came off, never had a problem in the 25 years they lived in the house. They were used constantly. One to the first floor powder room (used multiple times daily) one between my bath and bedroom, also used often, one between my brotherâÂÂs room and his bath, also used daily.

I would LOVE to have them in my house in several places.

I would love to have four of them for the doors associated with our bathrooms and laundry -- it is a door jungle in there.

I just added one to my master bath remodel and I LOVE it. I was so tired of the door swinging into a small bath and colliding with the linen closet door and the shower door. I couldn't wait to get rid of the swinging door and put in the pocket door. Plus, I think it is beautiful!

I love them; we have a few. One thing, though: they're not the best at, um, sound insulation. So if this is a bathroom that is directly off a public space, I don't know if I'd use a pocket door. We have one in our master bath and in our kids' bath upstairs, but those are relatively private spaces. We have a powder room near our kitchen/entry and wouldn't have used a pocket door there.

Pretty, olychick!

Olychick, I remember your door! My vision of redesigning our MB includes getting rid of the door to the bath from the master and using a pocket door to access the bath from our walk in.

Are you from Olympia by any chance? The Tulalip Casino rooms have this glass door to the bathroom mounted on a track. It is just beautiful. Although it's an outside mount it's still a sliding door. In our situation it would still be private and let in light.

We have three in our home, and we love them! Be sure to use Johnson Hardware and you'll be fine. You do have to be aware that you can't have any plumbing or electrical boxes on the wall where the door will go in (because there isn't room unless you build the wall out extra deep, which is a possiblity).

I love pocket doors and have had them in a couple of houses. They are the perfect solution for some space problems.

We have six in our home. We use them constantly and love them. Big feature of the house. Ours are solid and do help with sound.

We love pocket doors and when building our home, have insisted on them every where possible, doors are not particularly attractive or decorative and take up valuable wall space as well, this home we have 8.

Wow. I am surprised by the overwhelming positive opinions! I really was expecting everyone to say the opposite.

This is great news, and I just sent the architect the revision, saying "Yes! Make it a pocket door!"

olychick - your door is beautiful! Thanks for the photo. And sueb, good to know about the sound issue. These are bathrooms off kid's bedrooms, no public access, so that's good too. I was really concerned about the door blocking half of the window while standing open, because I expect these doors will most likely remain open most of the time.

Woo hoo! You gals are great! Thanks so much. :-)

They've been using pocket doors for years and years. I especially remember seeing them in some gorgeous antebellum homes in Mississippi separing the parlors from the dining rooms. Now those were pocket doors!

There are three doors in my house where I wanted to do pockets, and didn't, and I regret it every time I have to use them. Our builder advised against them, and I wish now that I'd never listened to him. Pockets would have made traffic through those areas so much easier!

I live alone so wasn't concerned about sound or privacy, so chose glass for the door, but the glass is heavy as is the frame and my gc hung the door so it just clears the floor, same as other doors (I'd read here about gaps under pocket doors if they aren't hung correctly). The sound is surprisingly well contained by the door (I can tell when I am in the bathroom and close the door and it really muffles the music playing in the next room).

GbKitty, yes, am in Olympia. Haven't been to the Tulalip Casino, but will remember to check out the doors if I ever do.

Thanks, Sueb, I'm happy with it.

I wish we had some.

Like others have mentioned, pocket doors are fantastic if they have high quality track hardware. Nothing is more frustrating than a pocket door that constantly comes off the track. (My pocket door between my laundry room / mud room and the family room is frequently used and constantly falls off the track. Very frustrating.)

Because we didn't want to cut into the walls, we did outside pocket doors. Same concept, the door is just on the outside.

Good Luck

This may sound obvious, but make sure your finish carpenters know what they are dealing with.

A friend of mine installed pocket doors and the finish carpenters nailed the door trim and the base boards right through the wall and into the doors. One of them still has an partial rogue nailleft behind somewhere that has scratched a groove into it.

We have three: a solid double door (doors close in the middle of the entryway) leading to our master bath, a glass paned double that sections my pocket office off from the eat-in kitchen, and a solid single hung in my daughter's hollywood bathroom to avoid collisions with the door to her shower area. No problems so far.

Ours were framed in, then beams were added at regular spacing so hanging things is no more of an issue that it would be anywhere else... at least in terms of the wall being hollow/not hollow.

We used all pockets in the two offices, laundry room, etc. in new addition. Existing house had no pockets. I want pockets on all of my doors! So handy!

Lauraella, I love your outside pocket doors! We should have used p/d for our closets, but since we didn't I think I'd like to do outside p/d for them now since I've seen how nice yours are. (I'd never seen the more traditional with matching trim -- always the "barn door" type which wouldn't go with our decor.) May I ask what the bottom of the doors look like? Do you see any hardware there? TIA!

Hoosiergirl,

On the traditional doors no, we did not do anyhardware at the bottom. On the barn doors we did.

The just look like regular doors, sorry I don't have a pic of the bottom.

Thanks, Lauraella! I just found what I'm looking for at Johnson Hardware's site. Apparently it's called a wall-mount sliding door -- who knew?! Thank you again for posting your pic, 'cause I had no idea this existed, and it's going to solve our problem!

Pocket door installation is a great project that will give you an average of 10 square feet of floor space than a traditional hinged door. Make sure you know what is inside of your wall before demolition and determine if it is a bearing wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tips for Home Improvement

I have two - one on each door into the kitchen. Love them. Want to add one between the MB and the built-in cabinet dressing area.