Elphaba, I'm in Houston. We have completely gutted our "new" house and are in the process of rebuilding. Throughout the house, we have installed pockets for 4 pocket doors. One of those is in the master bath. I am really excited to be getting those doors out of the way. I can share my experience. We have 3 pocket doors in our office here, and we have not had any problems. The office is on a slab, and the thermostat is only kept at a comfortable level 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. This means that it gets fairly humid in there on the weekends. The office pocket doors are rarely used, but when I do use them, they work just fine. They were installed about 3 years ago without any problems. It's true that it is humid outside, but I wouldn't think with central air that it would be any more humid than anyplace else on the inside of your house. Of course a bathroom is more humid than other rooms, but if your cabinet hardware isn't sticking or rusting, I would think that the pocket door would behave in the same way. At least that's what I'm hoping since we just installed 4!!! My vote is for the pocket door. Best of luck with your project! Enduring, that's great info on the pocket doors. Thank you for sharing. This post was edited by TXBluebonnet11 on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 3:13

I wrote Johnson, asked a few questions, here's the reply: How much bigger of a door would be needed to cover the doorframe when closed? Your door would need to be 1 1/4" bigger than the finished opening. Can a lock be installed if desired? Yes, you would need to build out the jamb on the side that the door is closing into. Then, the door would lock into the jamb using a pocket door lock. Is there a gap between the door and the frame when closed, and if so, how much, or is there a way you would be able to conceal a gap? Approximately 1/2" or less depending on the thickness of the door. I think you are talking about the distance between the door and the wall? It is not noticeable at all, and when the door is closed (being 1 1/4" wider than the opening), you won't be able to see into the bathroom. I was thinking, if the 1/2" or less she mentions above, and that the door covers the doorway 3/4" on each side, if there is a sound issue, why couldn't one put some type of a "buffer" - I thought about something like that furry strip on a window that slides up and down??? I actually don't think I'd be losing anything along the wall this door would slide on, it's only 3' wide as it is, and the only thing on there is a towel bar and in-wall heater, which is going to be removed when we re-tile. I figured, I could just mount the towel bar on the back of the door, I wouldn't be losing anything. Maybe put a recessed storage cabinet in between a couple studs and actually gain some space. The vanity in there now is 42"wx22"d, I think going with one that's 36"wx18"d will just give me more floorspace, but I'm thinking all the time and not jumping the gun on this. I saw an interesting vanity that makes me wonder if I can possibly keep with a 42" but have it smaller in depth on the left side against the shower wall. See the link below for what I saw. It's just mind-boggling on how expensive some of this vanities are! Thanks to all - this is not going to be an easy decision on what to do, once I think I know, something I see changes my concept. I appreciate all the info and replies. Here is a link that might be useful:

I have actual barn doors on an actual barn. Each door is 6' wide and 12' tall, and they are heavy! With twin doors, You could add a 'weather flap' over one door, which would prevent noise and possible lack of privacy through any gap between the doors. It could just be an added piece of wood trim. All doors have a gap at the bottom. I have my huge doors adjusted pretty close to the framing, so I think it could be tweaked pretty close in a house. To secure my doors, I have a toggle clamp on each door which both locks them and pulls them tight to the jamb. That's a rather industrial solution for a house, plus you would have to lock both doors to prevent an accidental walk-in. I'm sure there's some kind of latch to hold the two doors together in the middle, although then the possibility would exist that someone could move the entire two doors at the same time. It would be cool to design some kind of latch that connected the two doors, and engaged the floor or above to prevent the whole thing from moving. I vaguely remember seeing hardware like that somewhere. Our powder room will have a barn door as well. I bought antique barn door rollers, although they are much smaller than would be found on a barn. I was told they may have come off of a rail car. We're going to hang a single antique door. I'll adjust the hardware and trim for a good fit once it is hung. I haven't decided on a latch yet. A question has come up, though. The universal sign that a bathroom is unoccupied is that the door is ajar. My wife isn't sure how she feels about leaving the barn door ajar since it is in our foyer, but I'm afraid that keeping it closed would send the wrong signal to a 'needy' guest.

Ours automatically locks when it senses our phone is more than 20 yards away… and then unlocks as we pull into the driveway and it senses the phone is back in range.. great because we have a detached garage and sometimes our hands are full with groceries! We can still punch in the code - or give it to the neighbor who feeds the cat while we’re away!