Contractor for Pocket Door

Hi there,

I have a pocket door in my bathroom that’s sticking and difficult to open and close. It’s located near a combo washer/dryer, so the vibrations may have caused it to go off track or become misaligned. I’m looking for a contractor, handyman, or finish carpenter with experience repairing pocket doors. Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

allisoncon

in General Discussion 4 days ago

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Brownstone Home Inspection | 11 hrs ago

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what happens with some of the old bottom rolling doors is the housings crack on the old wheel frames or the steel axles wear, allowing the doors to drop.

a company named grant hettich made sheaves and track that worked fine on the old doors with some refinements to the mortise pockets for the wheels but stopped making this product during covid (i have a set of wheels here for sale). a customer of mine got me the name of a new company making them but i cannot recall that name.

Bob, sometimes pocket doors get a “wind” or twist in them and the tension placed on it at the top, where it rides in a channel, and at the bottom where the wheels sit on a track, will cause a wheel to pop off to relieve tension. in this case, it is often easier to open the channel a little.

also, sometimes frames rub. i tell people cut the frame open a little without worrying about make a professional cut on the edge and then close the rough cut up with some stop molding.

BobMarvin | 2 days ago

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Maybe when you do my roof assessment you can take a look at my one pocket door that’s off its track.

BobMarvin | 2 days ago

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Thanks Steve; 1930 is better than 1453, or 1899. 🙂

Brownstone Home Inspection | 2 days ago

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thank you robert. i was trying to be polite when i said 1950. I really wanted to say 1930!

Op should comment back on here if in fact that door she is referring to is an old system. i know how to deal with the old and new (in fact i did more work on the old ones).

for other readers, when i have time i am going to sell most of the contents of my shop. this includes many fine and old tools but i also have bottom and top rolling door hardware here (old stuff including Lane hangers and some new) as well as lock parts.

also this reminds me. i constantly have people asking me to do you tube videos on things we find in old houses. i could make a video on how to adjust these doors.

BobMarvin | 3 days ago

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Sorry Steve—I didn’t see your definition of “new” when I wrote my last comment. Actually my definition isn’t 1950; I lean towards the definition used by historians of Europe—the fall of Constantinople in 1453 for the Continent and the accession of Henry VII to the throne in 1485 for Britain. 🙂

BobMarvin | 3 days ago

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Pocket doors on bathrooms aren’t necessarily new Steve. The bathroom in my 1899 house has a singke pocket door as do the other houses in the row.

Brownstone Home Inspection | 4 days ago

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fyi, johnson door hardware parts are or were on the rack at dykes. i have a pack of rollers here i meant to return and they are not worth driving here for but i would sell them.

Brownstone Home Inspection | 4 days ago

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it so happens that i ran a restoration company that focused on wood work and doors and i have adjusted and installed top hanging and bottom rolling pocket doors. i have been running a new business for 3 years now and as of this past monday, i allowed the liability insurance on the old business to lapse (and that might be the end). that does not mean however that i cannot probably successfully diagnose what is wrong with that door and guide you in what has to be done to correct it. Some of the newer pocket door assemblies are user friendly to a degree if the installers left enough space between the door and door frame. what does happen a lot to the modern top hung is that the installers to not lock the mounting bracket onto the “trolley” and people hit something on the floor or pull them a certain way, and the inner trolley and assembly separate. never the front one.

if this is new and modern, it will probably have been made by Johnson or stanley and both operate sort of the same way. it is impossible for the modern hardware to come off the track unless they left a gap between the track and the wall and did not install a stop.

i am assuming this is new because having these in a rest room is something done in newer condos, etc.

also note this beauty if it is new: they are taking mdf doors with a crap mdf frame and mounting the hangers into the top of the doors and the screws pull out. these doors are not made to be mounted this way and mdf is heavier than a cheaper pine door. it can be fixed by drilling holes into where the screws mount and then glueing dowels in there and remounting the screws.

if it is old and bottom rolling, it is possible that a person with some weight and muscle can get it back on track. a bigger door takes a bigger person and it is easier if it is moved to the middle of a two door system.

Answer these:
is it new? (in brooklyn Heights, “new” means post civil war; in park slope new means post 1900: to our good friend bob marvin new is post 1950 and two me, new is post 1985; i am kidding, by new i mean modern or in the past two decades).
is it top rolling?
can you see the track up top?
can you look around the side to see the wheels or trolly?
did you mention back “drags”?

I fixed one on the lower west side a decade or so ago and i had to cut the wall open to access the trolly and remount it.

i know you want someone to come out to do this but over the past decades it has gotten very hard to find a free lance to come out and do these small jobs. it is hard to justify what we get. if i can get you there, maybe you can find a guy in your nabe who can do it.