Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
amoore1205_gw

Need some help with pocket doors

amoore1205
9 years ago

We are in the process of designing our house and I love pocket doors. My husband and I are building this house cash and he thinks that pocket doors will add to the cost. Does anyone have any knowledge about how much more it will cost to have pocket doors framed vs standard doors.

Thank you!!

Comments (12)

  • mrspete
    9 years ago

    I promise I'm not changing the subject. I'll come back to it by the end:

    Essentially doors -- and we're talking interior doors only -- can be purchased in two ways: Prehung or Slab. Prehung doors come with the frame already attached. Slabs are just, well, doors.

    Prehung doors require less time, effort and craftsmanship to install, and while they're more expensive, they're cheaper in the long run. Slab doors are more difficult to frame and hang, so while the slab door may cost less upfront, the labor will end up costing more than the prehung door -- but that slab door can be made into a pocket door, barn doo, or whatever.

    Obviously, if you want a pocket door, you'll start by buying the slab door, then you'll also need the pocket door frame and the hardware. It's more expensive than a plain hinged door's hardware because it's more complicated. Then you need a thicker wall into which the door can slide, and you need an installer who knows what he's doing.

    So, yes, if you have two identical doors, and you buy one of them pre-hung and the other one to be made into a pocket door . . . yes, the pocket door will cost more in terms of materials, square footage and labor.

    However, you could find examples of doors that wouldn't fit that general rule: For example, a high-end prehung French door would probably cost more than a cheap, plain pocket door.

  • bdslack
    9 years ago

    We have a total of 5 pocket doors - mostly in bathrooms.
    We has to do it because there were too many doors in areas and it just would not have worked.

    Having three pocket doors all come together in one area has issues in placing electrical plugs etc. They were more money in the end - but we paid about $200 a sqft so when you figure out the space they free up it all washes out IMO.

  • rrah
    9 years ago

    The wall into which a pocket door slides does not need to be wider than any other wall. I checked my doors. The wall thickness, or width, is the same on pocket doors and typical doors. The thickness of the doors is identical. The framing of the wall is different to account for the pocket, but that's it. They are typical width solid wood doors--nothing special.

    I don't know if my doors were pre-framed or slab doors. It was too long ago, and I doubt I was onsite when that part of the build occurred.

  • sweet_tea_
    9 years ago

    I have 2 in my new build and I think the frames/tracks were around $130 each, not including the slabs. I could be wrong though. I think the slabs were just slightly less than a hollow core pre hung door unit, maybe by $15 or so.

  • lazy_gardens
    9 years ago

    We are planning mostly pocket doors because of the floor space they free up ... nearly the equivalent of a 10x15 foot room.

    You can buy the pocket door framing ready-made ... when you are building it's no harder to install than a pre-hung regular door.

  • amoore1205
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you so much everyone for your feedback. Hopefully he will come around my way :)

  • LE
    9 years ago

    We also have 5 pocket doors for various reasons. One even has a shallow-boxed light switch, which is something I didn't even know existed when we started. We were scratching our heads over the limited switch locations that we thought we had in that room. (Just so you don't let anyone throw up that roadblock-- there's a solution!)

  • dprae
    9 years ago

    Here's a quote from my general contractor regarding interior doors.

    For each pocket door:
    Finisher: 1. pocket door frame ($150) 2. pocket door ($150) 3. ball catches ($50)
    Lumber: 1. pocket door frame hardware ($68.98)
    Painting: 1. $150
    Total: $569 per pocket door

    For each regular door (not prehung)
    Finisher: 1. door ($125)
    Painting: 1. ($150)
    Total: $275

  • zzackey
    9 years ago

    I don't know the cost, but pocket doors were the best thing we did in the house.

  • amoore1205
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you for sharing the cost Dprae. That really helps. It looks like we will have 4 pocket doors in the rooms that need them the most.

  • HerrDoktorProfessor
    9 years ago

    They are more expensive but their judicious is money well spent. We have his and hers walk-in closets in the transition between the master and the master bath. We used pocket doors on each to avoid the situation of two doors opening to each other.

  • tulips33
    9 years ago

    Our builder charged $175 for a pocket door