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Installing a saddle as a track to pocket doors

bpeikes
11 years ago

I had some double pocket doors installed to separate an area into two rooms. (office off bedroom). We used the Johnson hardware, which comes with some ugly nylon guides for the doors which don't really work that well.

The doors currently clear the floor by about 1/4 inch, and what I was thinking about doing was buying a 5 inch wide, 5/8 inch saddle, and cutting a slot in it so that it could be used as a guide for the doors. I figured it will also make the doors a bit more sound proof and act as a guide.

I've looked around for other solutions to keeping the doors running straight, but haven't seen any hardware. I've heard of cutting a slot in the floor and installing some kind of metal track, and then putting pins which come out of the bottom of the door and sit in the track, but have not found a source for that hardware anywhere. I would definitely like that over a "split" saddle.

Any ideas?

Comments (10)

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago

    What gets recommended here frequently is to cut a slot in the bottom of the door and cut an angle iron piece (very short). Install the angle iron piece in the pocket of the wall on the floor, and line your slot along the bottom of the door (out of sight) with the angle iron piece. Any "damage" to the door is then out of sight rather than being where you see it from the plastic things. Also, you aren't left with a permanent track in your floor either.

    I do not know what you mean by saddle though, so your idea might work. though, it might mark up the outside of your door with time.

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago

    From Brickeye in a clipping I have:
    "I do not use the typical plastic guides to prevent door sway (they will scratch the face of the door eventually).

    Mount a short section of aluminum angle on the floor of the pocket and cut a mating groove in the bottom of the door to prevent sway."

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    You can see the channel in the floor under these pocket doors in my last house. I wanted the door to the right to pull all the way over to the left (on occasion) because it does not go all the way into its pocket. So that door would have swung freely without a track.

    They used aluminum U-channel that was rough cut to depth and then ground down with a sander at the time the floors were finished. The doors have a spring pin like those used on bifolds on the bottom. I would have preferred brass, which was also available but the track isn't as noticeable as it looks in the picture.

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    "You can see the channel in the floor under these pocket doors in my last house."

    Sort of defeats part of the advantage of a pocket door, continuous floor.

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    It hardly defeated their *primary purpose. Unfortunately the track was necessary because the right door was designed to slide completely over to the left, which meant it was hanging free with no lateral limitation. Had the floor been completely parallel to this wall maybe the metal channel may not have been needed. A slight space in the finish flooring may have sufficed well enough. However, it wasn't since the house was 170 years old and not square.

    You're awfully critical of a lot of things other people do; I assume your house is perfect in every way.

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    The better way to stabilize a conventional pocket door is the way suggested with the pin in the floor and a groove concealed on the bottom of the door. That is the least obtrusive. My concern with a small saddle is that it could cause people to trip if they are not expecting it.

  • bpeikes
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks. Don't know how I missed that on the Johnson hardware site. That brass channel is pricey, I'll have to call Johnson to get the measurement of the inside of the track. Found a couple of other sources for the brass track that appear to be less expensive. Dkhardware.com has 8ft of 1/2" track for 30$

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    "you can't stabilize the center of a double pocket door."

    You can lock the bottom of the doors together so that one is tied to the groove in the bottom of the other, and the one closest to the pocket uses a longer track in the pocket a few feet long.