Pocket doors should be considered especially by homeowners
renovating smaller homes, townhouses and condominiums. Just make sure you plan
your framing, electricity, HVAC, and plumbing around them.
Pocket doors should be strongly considered by renovators and
builders who are looking to maximize space and create a clean and uncluttered
look.
What is a Pocket Door?
A pocket door slides along its length and disappears into
the wall when fully open. Take a look at the photos and you will grasp the
idea. Remember those Japanese movies that you loved so much? Well, in some they
used pocket doors. Incidentally, in the photo below, the pocket doors in this
Japanese Zen Buddhist Temple slide into the wooden compartments. Now that
wasn't so hard was it?
Large pocket doors in Japanese Zen Buddhist TempleBesides
Japan, pocket doors were used in many Victorian houses to close off rooms like
parlors and studies. We have also seen them in many 20th century homes in the
Washington DC metro area.
It's very easy to close off a room with today's modern
pocket doors. When you are done, just slide them open and into the wall and
presto you have an open space. The additional benefit is you don't have to
worry about where the door is going to swing as you would with a hinged door.
Remember with hinged doors, you have to allow for the swing of the door. So you
can't put furniture there or anything else. With a pocket door, you can place
furniture and paintings on the walls that the pocket doors slide into. In a
small condo, apartment or house, that may mean a great deal and should be
looked into.
The only drawback to a pocket door in my opinion is that you
can't really lock it. There are hooks, although anyone who wants to come in
can.
What Styles do Pocket Doors come in?
Pocket doors can be ordered as single or double door
versions. For larger openings, get the double door version, otherwise they get
a bit heavy. We opted for the French door style in pine and painted them. They
also come in solid wood for complete privacy.
In the photo below, we are looking at our living room from
our eat-in-space kitchen. If there's a party, we can open the doors up entirely
so our guests can move about. If it's just for us, the doors will be closed.
The best part is that we're not worried about where those doors are going or
what they are banging into as we would have with hinged doors.
We selected a single pocket door to separate the bedrooms
from the main part of the house when we have guests. Before there was no door
and anyone could walk into the bedroom areas. If you select a French pocket
door, you can select clear glass or frosted glass. We opted for the clear
glass, but if you want even more privacy you can select the frosted glass.
When we don't have guests the single pocket door will
disappear into the wall on your right.
As you can see, our space gets great deal of light. Pocket
doors made sense because we did not want to close off the space.
Planning for Pocket Doors
You'll have to think ahead and plan for pocket doors. Since
pocket doors slide into the walls, you will need to frame walls properly to
install the track. The walls also have to be free of pipes, HVAC vents, and
electrical outlets. You may think that this is a challenge, but it's not. For
example, a 5 foot wide opening would require just 2.5 feet or 30 inches on each
side. That's very easy to accomplish.
Discuss pocket doors with your contractor and architect.
They do make a great deal of sense and can really increase your living space
especially in condominiums and smaller homes.