Hi folks,
I recently built a couple of closets in my house and planned to use bi-fold doors. They have finished openings of 48†and 72â€. In the meantime, my wife has decided she prefers sliding doors, so I plan to buy two pairs of slab doors in sizes 24†and 36â€. I have several questions that I hope someone can answer:
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– Since the doors need to overlap in the middle at least a small amount, do I need to “shrink†the finished opening size a bit? Or maybe just add rubber bumpers on the doors where each of them contact the jamb?
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– On bi-folds I have seen a piece of ¾â€ by about 1.5†that nails onto the surface of the jamb with the bi-fold doors sitting behind it. How is that done with sliding doors – one side narrow and the other wider? Or perhaps not use it at all?
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– HD sells <!—-> <!—-><!—->Stanley<!—-> <!—-> sliding door kits that are rated at 60 lbs. I am using Jeld-Wenn six-panel pine doors (also from HD). I haven’t weighed the doors, but I suspect they might be a bit heavy for these tracks. I previously used a pre-built <!—-><!—->Stanley <!—-><!—-> pocket door housing/track and it operates somewhat sluggishly. I suspect the door is too heavy for it. Can anyone suggest a sliding door track product that might have a bit more capacity?
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Thanks
Replies
Yes, shrink the finished opening a small amount. Make jambs plumb and head level, that way you don't need trim at edges to conceal tapered gaps. Bypass doors are not generally done with stops of any kind applied to the jambs - no need.
Grant sells a wide variety of track systems for doors of any weight. Check it out online then price them at a commercial hardware retailer. Bring money. They make tracks for doors up to 1000 pounds (yes, one thousand). Their cheapest product is better than what you have been struggling with.
If good hardware is too spendy and your lady is not opposed, there are always curtains.
Bill
I found the Grant hardware on the web. Thanks for the tip. Should be an improvement over the Stanley. I know that curtains would be vetoed for sure.
Thanks
If you do end up shrinking the opening, I would suggest you find a way to do it within the finished opening as it exists.
Your wife may decide that she's not all too crazy about sliding (bypass) doors on closets once she has to live with them. They are somewhat of a hassle when trying to see/reach something inside an already dark closet.
Being able to simply remove the "filler" strips and not having to re-enlarge the opening will make switching over to bifolds less of a headache.
Been there, done that.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I agree about the "ease of use" of the sliding doors. It is just that these are small rooms and leaving space for the bi-folds to open is a problem. Both closets have lights in them so finding things in them should not be a problem. Thanks for the help.
You could accomplish what JDRHI is talking about by simply adding a 1/2" x about 3" pieca of your finished stock to inside of each side jamb. Be way easier than taking the jambs off and redoing them anyway which is what you are talking about doing if the opening is already finished for the bi-fold dimension.
Yup.
Thats zactly what I was thinking.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
All Great Minds....
When I said it was finished, I should have said the sheetrock covers the jamb, however no wood is in place yet. So I could just add a piece of 1/2" rock or wood to one side to reduce the opening. Thanks for the idea.
!/2" each side. By -Pass usually want to have a 1" overlap (least that is my experience)
Sounds reasonable