Interior sliding (pocket style) door-

violann · ‎03-10-2010

Has anyone ever replaced one?

We have one in the living area of our house that was never closed, but now I'm thinking it might be good way to manage the cats.

Unfortunately the door is absolutely plain and not very attractive. I was thinking that something like an old fashioned screen door would look much better, but DH has said he thinks it would be hard to do.

Does anyone have any experience with doing this?

sktchy · ‎03-10-2010

@violann wrote:
Has anyone ever replaced one?

We have one in the living area of our house that was never closed, but now I'm thinking it might be good way to manage the cats.

Unfortunately the door is absolutely plain and not very attractive. I was thinking that something like an old fashioned screen door would look much better, but DH has said he thinks it would be hard to do.

Does anyone have any experience with doing this?

What about paint or some kind of mural painted (or pre-printed design) on the door. I have seen wood trim applied to plain doors to make them more decorative.

I love pocket doors. My ex-husband installed them in one of the houses - what a space saver.

bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

My walk-in closet had a wooden pocket door.

I replaced it with a new one that has a frosted glass panel on it.

Painting it seems like a good idea though.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

In our camper we have those barn doors that are so popular right now as a bedroom door. The door has rollers applied to the top of it and those ride on a tract that is on the wall. Basically a pocket door is the same thing only enclosed within the wall. They are very very heavy.Ours wasn't on the tract properly when the trailer was delivered and DH could not lift to fix it - we had to call the company for them to come and repair it, and it took 2 young men to lift it. I agree with your husband that this could be a bear of a job to replace and should be best left to a professional. Perhaps as the other poster said - apply some pretty moldings and paint the door to make it more attractive.

violann · ‎03-10-2010

I love mine too!! We may decorate it.

As cat crazies we don't like the cats to be too margianalized, and I thought they might feel closer to us if we used a screen door.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

Something I have seen a lot in model homes here is molding placed on a wall in a square or rectangle , then again inside that molding another square of molding. This creates 3 distinct areas and each is painted in 3 shades of the same color darkest in the middle - say beige in the middle , lighter beige in the center and ecru on the outside. The moldings are painted white. It would be some work and you need to be a good painter but it could decorate those doors very nicely.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@violann wrote:
I love mine too!! We may decorate it.

As cat crazies we don't like the cats to be too margianalized, and I thought they might feel closer to us if we used a screen door.

How about cut out the center of the door - apply the screen - and cover the edges with moldings. It is my (limited experience with cats) that they tend to rip screens with their claws.

forest4thetrees · ‎07-11-2010

Hi, Violann...... We have pocket doors in three places in our house, with each pocket doors sliding on rollers attached to the top of the door along a track, with the door disappearing into the wall on either side of the door opening (btw, "pocket" doors and "barn style" doors are two different things).

So, first, push your door inside the opening and see how much space is between the door edge and the wall opening on either side. That's the maximum amount you have to work with. So if you want to try 151949's idea of molding (which would stick out from the flat door) you'll need a lot of space between the door edge and the pocket space.....but if you have enough, that would be cute. Or you could just paint some kind of trompe-l'oeil effect on the existing panel (or hire a professional artist to do that for you).

As for the screen doors......look at someplace like Restoration Hardware to find an "old style" screen door ... the kind that was on a gazillion houses back in the 40's and 50's. Usually they come with a screen in the center section and wood surrounding. There's generally no hardware accompanying a new door. Just make sure that the newly-purchased door does not exceed your maximum width requirement for the pocket. You would then remove your current door panels, remove the roller hardware from the top, attach that hardware to the newly purchased screen door panels, lift the screen door and re-insert the rollers into the tracks and Voila! a screen door delineation for the kitty babies without total separation from the humans. If the babies should claw out the screen panel, you just remove that door panel off the roller, lay it down and replace the screen like you would on any other screen door, then re-insert the repaired door back onto the roller track.

I totally think it's do-able; either a DIY for you and handy hubby, or you could purchase the door panels and hire a local handyman/carpenter to do the work.

Sounds great!

bri20 · ‎03-10-2016

There are so many styles of pocket doors available now.

I don't know if this would work. Maybe the cats would be able to jump out?

magicmoodz · ‎03-16-2010

I have two pocket doors in my dining room. As stated above, there is no way moulding could be attached to these doors, even on only one side, since they fit snugly into the frame.

Do you plan on staying in your home for the long haul? If not, I don't think I would replace them with a screen door that is not staying with the true character of your home. I might opt to re-stain or paint it if you find it unattractive.