You may be able to find pocket doors at lumberyards, too. Regardless of where you go, you should easily find kits for doors that are 1 1/8 inches to 1 3/4 inches thick by 6 feet (1. 8 m) 8 inches high. If your door is not a standard size, talk to a professional about getting the job done.
Check if there’s enough room in the wall. You need just over twice the width of the door (so it can hide). Check if the wall is load-bearing or just a partition. If it is load bearing, you’ll need a new header and a means of temporary support while the door is being worked on. Check for wiring or plumbing. A wall with pipes in it is not a good place to put a door. Wiring can be easily detected with a cheap voltage sensor.
Door jambs aren’t nailed against the studs in the wall – they’re just spaced with wooden shims.
A standard pocket door is 1. 75 inches (4. 4 cm) wide. To make this step even easier, look for a pocket door kit that comes with split studs.
To adjust the header, use a reciprocating saw to remove the partition header currently in place. Then, cut away the studs, just like in the above, to make space for the framing. Cut the nails that are between the studs and the soleplate and then determine the height of your desired header before cutting the stud tops to length. Otherwise, you may end up with a frame that is not to size.
If you need to cut the track to length, use the mark on it that corresponds to your door size. Most, if not all, kits come with these markers. Use a hacksaw on the channel and a handsaw on the nailers. Make sure your track is level. If it’s not, it won’t slide easily in and out of its pocket.
When you are finished, sand the drywall to make it finished and smooth.
Do this before you install the door trim, unless you want the door trim painted, too. This way if your lines aren’t perfectly straight, the trim will cover them right up.
That’s it! Your pocket door is officially ready for use and looks like it was installed professionally.
