The Easy Way to Install a Pocket Door Frame in an Existing Wall
We realized after we showed you our built-in bathroom storage plans that we had a few more things to finish up before we can really get going on our wall cubbies. Namely, the pocket door that we raved about in last week’s vlog! We chose to save space by installing a pocket door frame in the bathroom, freeing up the 8 or 9 square feet of floor space from the door swing, opening up the area behind the door to make our upcoming new built-in storage more accessible and — this is a big one in our house — preventing our girls from smashing each other’s fingers in the hinges when they inevitably fight over the bathroom. (They’re only in grade school but the sister fights start young, we are finding…) Watch the video to see how to install a pocket door frame THE EASY WAY and be sure to subscribe to our channel to see more of our bathroom projects.
The Easy Way to Install a Pocket Door Frame
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We chose to keep the pocket door installation as easy as possible, by using a pre-made pocket door frame and reusing the old door from the bathroom. Installing a pocket door is not quite as fast a project as installing a sliding barn door on the exterior of the wall, but, like we mentioned last week, we really love it for the sleek space-saving benefits (especially in an already narrow hallway, every inch counts!), extra privacy, and it still gives us that bit of hallway wall space to decorate. (Not that we have done that yet… but we’re liking these ideas.)
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Blast from the past: We installed a pocket door back in our Park House in Texas way back in 2012! See that photo tutorial here and more of the half bath projects here.
Materials and tools for pocket door frame installation
- Pocket door frame
- Existing door or premade pocket door
- Pocket door handle, plug and/or lock
- Wood shims
- Utility knife
- Crowbar and/or reciprocating saw
One segment we missed in the video was attaching our existing door to the sliding pocket door hardware — it’s quick and easy and we just missed videoing it with everything else going on (#badvloggers). There’s just a set of screws that you screw to the pocket door track. Someday if we decide to change this door for another door (or install another door) we’ll make sure to document that part better! In the meantime, what do you think — will you be installing a pocket door in your home?
More ways to upgrade, update, or otherwise make old doors look better:
DIY Barn Doors and Affordable Hardware Options
26 Tips for Painting Interior Doors
Ideas for Updating Flat Doors and Upgrading Bifold Doors
Upgrade Bifold Doors to French Doors
plus 50+ Beautiful Doors and Front Door Colors
Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
Definitely love our pocket doors, but found out the hard way that all pocket door latches are not equal. Like you, we reused our existing doors, so we needed a latchset that fit into the existing round hole. We discovered the Citiloc Round Privacy Pocket Door Latch (we got satin nickel):
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WF4TM2Q/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I prefer this brand because it’s much smoother latching, the much easier to grasp latch, and less fiddly installation than the Kwikset models you typically find at the home improvement stores
Thanks for the recommendation, Rob!
Hi,
I saw this pocket door on Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/pin/270145677634899287/
I wanted to know how you did the casing for this? Do you have a picture you can email me? I noticed that it is only half of the casing because it dead ends into another wall. We have this same issue coming up for us.
Thanks!
Melanie
Hi Melanie,
There are more details in the video that’s here in the post or here on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTaAGYWHstE
Take a look there and let us know if you still have questions.
I realize it’s been a few years since you did this but my question is this. I have a set of double doors that I would like to transform into a single pocket door. My guess is it would be a matter of removing the framing and doors, installing the pocket door frame, then adding drywall where one of the doors used to be, hang the door, paint (or vice versa) and done. Does that seem right or am I missing a step?
Yes that is about right. You just need to verify that the wall is a bearing wall or not. I would have check that for you.