Quality Pocket Door Frames?
Aletia Morgan
9 years ago
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kudzu9
9 years agoAletia Morgan
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Pocket door frame advice
Comments (11)Thank you. This information just led to a ton of information gathering and I feel like I'm on the verge of seriously overanalyzing this. Johnson frames come in several series but they make a frame with "soft close" hardware which is only available on their entry level 1500 series frames. The higher level frames are able to handle heavier doors and such but don't have a soft close option. If I'm using basic solid core doors that aren't going to push the weight limit, am I losing anything by using the 1500 series? This is the Johnson door. Before now I didn't know there were soft close pocket doors. In this case, the Johnson door is both soft open and soft close. Neat! My searching didn't lead me to any other frames that come with soft close hardware but I did find other companies that manufacture just the hardware, which you have to install on the door/frame. I'm afraid this is one of those things that could be a major project with little noticeable benefit. Should I just get the Johnson soft close frame and be done with it or is there much to gain by obsessing over the decision?...See MoreOk to put 1/4" drywall over a pocket door frame?
Comments (43)If you plan to use a Johnson framing kit, you might take a look at this. https://jhusa.net/1515-ply-34-pocket-door-frame-plywood-clip-set The plywood is 3/4", but it is recessed into the pocket door frame so it doesn't take up additional width space. Then you could put the sheets of drywall over that. One caution: if you put drywall over plywood sheeting, don't make the same mistake I did when I re-did the exterior walls in a room of a mid-1800s house. I covered the interior side of the exterior walls, with 3/8" plywood to give lateral strength, since the original house has no sheathing under the siding, which was nailed directly over the studs. (150 years of lateral movement with wind and ground settling is why the original plaster/lath walls were beyond repair.) I didn't want to rip off the exterior siding and add sheathing, so I installed plywood over the interior side after putting in insulation, and then added sheets of drywall, which came out to identical thickness as the original plaster and lath. My mistake was to smear construction adhesive over the plywood before applying the drywall, because the wall was uneven and the drywall didn't fit snugly against the plywood at many spots. About 6 months after the drywall work was finished, I noticed hair-line cracks developing over some of the drywall joints. Although plywood is supposed to be extremely stable compared to regular wood, there is still a small amount of expansion and contraction under varying temperature and humidity conditions, and the movement was just enough to produce visible cracks. I should have just fastened the drywall at the studs without the glue, as if the plywood sheathing weren't there, allowing some structural movement under the drywall without causing it to shift enough to produce cracks. It's something I live with, since the cracks are very small and hardly noticeable to anyone but me, but I know they are there and they jump out at me every time I look at that wall....See MoreEclisse pocket door system
Comments (10)Hi Maria, I saw your post and just want to share my experience so far. I purchased two Eclisse single pocket doors for our bathrooms. Both are 30" W x 80" H, and one is for use with 4" wide walls and the other for 6" wide. I live in the USVI so after the freight cost, freight forwarding, and customs/duties, I probably paid around $1,000 for the two combined. Yes, it was expensive. We are hoping it is worth it to never have to replace them. They have a 12-year warranty, which gives me some peace of mind. My boyfriend and I did the installation ourselves. He works in construction and is pretty handy! - We used existing doors, I think 1-3/8 or 1-1/2" wide. This saved us some money, but turned out to be kind of a pain. One of our doors was a bit warped--not really ideal for any door, but especially one that is supposed to slide straight! We had to cut down the sides of the doors to fit and route out the bottom where the guide goes. - The Eclisse has a feature where you can remove the track after it's installed. I can't speak to the ease of doing this because I haven't tried, but it's nice to know it is possible. - I would really have liked to upgrade to the soft close in both directions. And really, with the track being removable, it isn't too late if I ever want to add this. But after spending so much on them already, I cannot justify the cost, which is $125 for one direction or $155 for both (before shipping and duty). The self-closing feature just FYI is $220. (These prices were quoted to me in July 2019.) - We did not buy the optional $100 poplar jamb kit, and instead my boyfriend built and stained the jambs to match the doors. He made them easily removable with screws, and this was helpful when we did have to remove the doors from the hangers...since we decided to tile the floors after we had already installed them (we were originally going to do stained concrete). I definitely recommend having your floors complete before installing. :-) - I included a couple photos so you can see what it looked like before we drywalled over. - I am going to have to find some creative towel rack solution since I cannot drill into the wall where the pocket is. Keep this in mind for hanging pictures, etc. Finally, here is what the Eclisse.us rep told me in an email when I mentioned I was considering Johnson, but was afraid that it wouldn't last: "We tend to get a lot of calls for people switching from Johnson to our pocket door hardware because Johnson tends to be more expensive over time because many problems come up with either the wood frame and the track/hardware. Below I’ve put some more information so you can see Eclisse is unlike anything a wood pocket door such as Johnson cannot offer: -Extractable track – never have to break drywall to remove track in future -Frame is all galvanized steel – no wood so no warping -12 year parts warranty – Product has been cycled tested to last this long -Runner kit- tested over 100,000 cycles. A difference from our runners to most of all others is that everything is covered by durethan that helps to contain the grease inside the ball bearing and prevent and avoid the dust." Hope this is helpful!!...See MoreHelp framing for pocket door
Comments (15)"I like a pivot door, but your counter would be blocked when the door is open. I would go with the builder's idea." Karenseb - I agree that a pocket door will be best for the OP's situation, but the main reason I went with a pivot door in my new home is because there is a vacuum/mop closet to the left of my laundry entrance. I plan to keep the door in the closed position when going in and out. A quick push with the hands or a shoulder (when carrying a laundry basket) places the door back in the closed position and out of the way so that I do not need to move the door when trying to get into the closet....See Morecrl_
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