I bought Hawa 80/z. It costs about $600 but my pocket door is 48" wide and quite heavy. I also did soft close and a bumper when you open. I also looked at Cavkit and may get a door with one of those. I did not look at Johnson because I had it in a previous home and it was not as smooth as I wanted. There was another one mentioned on threads a few years ago by a company named Bourget but I have never used it personally. I don't think you can go wrong with a good install. My doors won't be installed for a few months so I won't have feedback before then.

Just noticed that the Bourget uses the Hawa system too.

Good luck!

Wow. I gotta admit, that video is pretty compelling.

I talked to Bourget. Well, I traded email with them. Their frames are 2x6 only. When they do 2x4, they use the Häfele/Hawa Futura.

homepro01, did you build the frame yourself or use the Futura?

Aptosca,

I am using the Futura. I have two walls that are 2x6. May consider the Bourget for those doors when I get to it. Still need to pick which white to paint my doors!

You got the Futura knock-down? Any challenge in the install?

Hi Steve,

Not close to an install yet. Door just arrived at the millshop last week. This is my first pocket door but I have four more to install. This is the test run:-) I also have to paint the door and then coordinate with my contractor. This is a remodel of an existing home in stages. The laundry room pocket door will be 48" so I will seriously consider the Bourget for that. My contractor has installed them in the past and said there was no problem.

I am using Linnea door handles on this door.

I'd say "keep us updated" but I think I'm going to beat you to the punch, at least as far as the frames go: my framing is supposed to be done in 7-10 days.

I suspect we don't have to have the pocket door frame in place at that point, that, instead, it'll happen while the other trades finish rough before the plaster goes on.

My GC is a master finish carpenter by trade, so I'm looking to him to do/closely supervise the pocket door, rather than leaving it to the framers.

I just realized I'm not quite sure about installing/hanging the door ... the door's bigger than the opening, right? How/when does it go in? And how the heck do you take it off it you need to?

The Linnea stuff looks to nice but is too modern for me. I'll probably end up with something like http://www.craftsmenhardware.com/pktdr.html

Look at Accurate hardware for pocket door hardware. Your hardware looks really small to use comfortably. The door is slightly bigger than the opening. The door is installed by tilting it into place and then slid back into the opening. Trim is installed after the door is installed in the pocket. The door is usually installed before the drywall is put in but not necessarily.

That was just an example. I really haven't searched much for hardware yet.

Accurate has limited styling but I hadn't noticed they had a pretty wide choice of finishes.

Yeah: so the 1" that's hidden on the TruStile comes from the trim, right? And you can get the door off if absolutely necessary by removing the trim.

I'm doing plaster, not drywall, but same difference. As I recall, TruStile has a fairly significant lead time at this point so if I don't get the order in quickly (even if I do ...) we may run into the plaster guy.

Time to work out the schedule with the GC ...

millworkman, do you mean this?

As a DIY'er (and engineer) I've used Johnson to replace four pocket door tracks in my 1950 built home. The ball bearing 'trucks' ride effortlessly in the U shaped track. This is with 36" maple doors. I've also used one of their kits with the split studs (metal on one side) to stiffen the 3/4" stud. Worked fine for me.

Yep, thru the years you would be surprised how often people have not taken that into consideration and the doors end up looking out of sorts................

Was watching this video to see what the Hawa install looked like

https://vimeo.com/45107059

Not a whole lot of help, but a nice shot around 4:10 shows they didn't use "Architecturally-Correct Pocket Doors".

millworkman et al: when you go with TruStile's Architecturally-Correct Pocket Doors do you actually order the door larger?

I'm trying to understand the geometry here and I'm not seeing it: if you were to install a pocket door right next to a swinging door, are the doors the same size?

If they are the same size and an inch is taken from the top rail and one of the stiles, how does that match?

Or do you order the door larger so that the visible size of the doors match?

Confused :-p

My door was not larger. The drawing of the door sent to me with my estimate showed the larger stile on one side.

Yeah, I think I figured that: same size door, make one stile larger, taking away from the panel. Even next to a swinging door, you'd probably not notice the panels were different sizes.

Making the top rail larger makes less sense to me, particularly on a panel door.

there will be a small amount of the door hidden in the top track.

Right.

I think it might not seem to make sense because of my door style.

Making the top rail deeper means taking away somewhere. If I have swinging doors in the same room (I do) and I make the top rail deeper, then all the other rails won't align between the swinging doors and the pocket doors.

So in my case, I think covering the top rail is the lesser evil.

I can see how in two panel design, it might be better to take away from the top panel rather than the top rail.

I need some advice since I'm completely lost in all the different numbers of Häfele Hawa products specially the Junior 40 or 80 which I'm considering. I need to build one pocket door in a new wall and one in an existing wall. I was quoted 400-500 and 800. What is the difference between the Hawa junior set and the Futura set. Which one I'd need? I'm also considering the Jonhson 1500 SC soft close. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

You need both. The Junior is the hardware. The Futura is the cage.

dkotov, can you PM me? I can't PM you.

Contact Jason at Bourget Design & Millwork. He can drop ship the Hawa stuff and has better prices than I found elsewhere.

I ended up going with the El & El frame (via a local distributor) using the Hawa hardware. The cost difference vs. the Hawa knockdown kit was pretty much the same after the extra labor and added millwork.

You don't need to PM me. I was just going to refer you to Jason but he said it was okay to post here.

I'm getting the pocket frames from El and El but I'm still getting TruStile doors.

I first priced the Hawa stuff at Harbor City Supply because they're easy but I did find it confusing. I'd have been nervous/wanting help in ordering if I were DYIing this. But we went with prebuilt cages anyway.

I'd rather not post prices here w/o the okay from the distributors (maybe I'm over cautious?) So PM me?

The El & El cages come assembled. They are not knockdown. But they cost more. My GC figured the difference in price was within the range of the labor it would be to build the knockdown kit (given that he'd have to read the instructions, etc.: he doesn't build from knockdown often though he'd done it.) Actually, the El & El frames come with casing, too, which the Hawa kits don't. Not sure how much that is worth. (My casing is VGDF since it'll be stained; they do FJ Pine if you're going to paint.)

Thank you, I PM'd you - yes, I need to paint - simple white shaker two panel doors.

Door order went in yesterday. TruStile TS5000s. The pocket doors all have one 5 1/2" stile. After meeting with the distributor and the GC, we went with the pocket frames from El & EL using Hawa hardware. Based on some feedback from Jason Bourget, we actually decided to skip the soft close: I'm less attracted to soft close than I am worried a bit about not being able to get at the SC mechanism, if necessary, w/o tearing the (plaster) walls apart.

Had to reframe the ROs. The Hawa hardware requires a higher RO than typical (where typical probably means Johnson.) Fortunately not a big deal.

Congrats Aptosca!!! The waiting begins.

Yeah. TS doors are freaking 10 weeks out plus 10 days or so to hang. :-p

Doors are ready. Plaster is finishing. Looking at pulls.

The Accurate hardware looks really nice. And $. Looking for where to get them. They don't make it easy to find a distributor ...

homepro01, got a source?

Aptosca,

I found very few retailers online for Accurate. My local lumber yard could order from Accurate directly. I ended up using Linnea hardware instead for my pocket door.

Thanks, homepro01. Accurate did get back to me with the name of a local source. I'll go by this afternoon. Plus I found a place in NY that seems to have good prices and a good rep.

Accurate has the best fit for my style, which is Arts & Crafts. There are other good sources but the style is far more modern.

Thanks!

Congrat Aptosca! You are making progress:-)

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 ??