sliding pocket doors - nr hiller design, inc.rusty, clean and oil them to solve the noise problem....
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30 | a r t s & c r a f t s h o m e s Wint e r 20 14
b r i n g i n g i t b a c k &
blackstoneedge.com; courtesy richard bubnowski
Slidingpocket doors
Sliders are authentic and efficient period accents—provided you can get them to work. b y M a r y E l l e n P o l s o n
S liding silently into and out of the
wall, pocket doors may not be as
much a style marker as the Arts &
Crafts colonnade, but they make elegant
and versatile room dividers in the modi-
fied open-plan houses of this period. Close
them to separate one room from another,
or push them into walls to create a larger
space. In tight spaces where there isn’t
enough room for a standard door swing, a
single pocket door is a good solution.
After the house has settled for few de-
cades, pocket doors may stick, scrape, bind,
gap, or make unearthly noises when pulled.
Most of the time, problems are due to a lack
of alignment. Doors may hang at different
levels, come off the tracks, or stick in place
by debris. They may even be nailed in place.
To troubleshoot problems in existing
pocket doors, first determine what kind of
door mechanism you have (see “Top-Hung
Pocket Doors,” p. 32), then follow these tips.
DOOR STUCK IN POCKET. Look for
nails through door edges, or a stop piece or
furring strip nailed across the door open-
ing. Remove the obstruction and see if this
frees the doors. a Using a flashlight, check
for broken plaster or other debris inside
the pocket. If there is debris, lift up on the
door, and rock and inch it forward. Have a
partner remove the debris using a broom
handle or a vacuum cleaner with a crevice
tool. a If the door still won’t move properly,
it may be misaligned with the top guide in-
side the pocket. Just as you would with a
balky screen on a sliding glass door, wiggle
above: Pocket doors can be a style statement—
or an efficient use of space. Above, quintes-
sential Arts & Crafts doors of Douglas fir,
and a five-panel sliding door in a new-build cottage bathroom.
Wint e r 20 14 a r t s & c r a f t s h o m e s | 33
the door to get it back on center. Poke a
ruler in alongside to guide the door out. a Using the pull hardware, pull gently,
rocking the door. You may need to use
force. (If the pull hardware is missing,
set two screw eyes about 1' apart on
the edge of the door, and thread some
heavy wire between the two. Then pull.)
As a last resort, go through the plaster
and wedge the studs apart to free the
door. If the doors are salvageable, try
shaving down the studs for the needed
clearance. Obviously, this will involve
significant plaster repair.
DOORS ARE BALKY, SCRAPE THEFLOOR, OR MAKE NOISE. Many of the
clearances around a smoothly operating
pocket door are only about 1⁄4". It may
be binding on the track above or along
the floor. Fortunately, the height of the
rollers is adjustable. a Locate the slanted
screw mechanism on top of the door
just inside the recess area. If the door is
scraping against the floor, turn the ad-
justment screw so it pulls the door up-
ward. Tap some shims under the door
to hold it about 1⁄4" off the floor. After
you’ve raised the door and removed the
shims, make sure the door hangs at
least 3⁄16" off the floor. a If the door is
too high, adjust the screw to lower it. Be
careful not to unscrew it completely,
however, or the door will fall
off. a If the screw mecha-
nism or rollers are dirty or
rusty, clean and oil them to
solve the noise problem.
DOORS GAP WHEN CLOSED. As
buildings settle, floors have a tenden-
cy to bow, which can cause your pock-
et doors to gap when closed. a Check
to see that the roller mechanism is se-
curely fastened to the top of the door,
and that the door itself is not warped.
Adjusting the roller height may help. a The stop moldings along the side
jambs or top track may be loose or
warped. Carefully remove them and
re-nail them in the correct alignment.
DOORS ROLL PAST THE CENTER POINT. If one or both of your doors rolls
past the center point, exposing its rear
edge, the stop piece is probably miss-
ing. The stop piece is a retractable metal
or wood finger on the rear edge of the
door, which catches on the jamb when
the door rolls out. a If the door rolls too
far into its pocket, add a stop block on the
back of the door, near the center.
ROLLERS ARE DAMAGED OR MISS-
ING. If the rolling mechanism is too far
gone to salvage, you may be able to re-
place the parts (see list below), or have a
machine shop fabricate needed parts. a
resources
Top-Hung Sliding DoorsVictorian doors may have run on floor tracks, but early 20th-century pocket
doors are usually top hung: The carriers containing the rollers, or wheels,
run in an overhead track in a recess above the doorway soffit. While there
were many mechanism variations, they fit into three basic types: single roll-
er, double roller, and trolley style. By shining a flashlight up into the track
above your doors, you should be able to tell what you inherited.
SINGLE ROLLER
DOOR
BLOCKING
METALTRACK
SINGLEROLLER
DOUBLE ROLLER
DOOR
DOUBLEROLLERS
WOOD TRACK
JAMB
STOP
32 | a r t s & c r a f t s h o m e s Wint e r 20 14
a blainewindowhardwareblainewindow.com Several styles
of pocket door hangers; rollers,
accessories a craftsmenhardware craftsmenhardware.com Arts &
Crafts hammered pulls a crowncityhardware restoration.com Period-style edge
& finish hardware
a hettichamerica hettichamerica .com Heavy-duty sliding door
hardware, many systems a houseofantiquehardware hoah.biz Pocket door pulls a johnsonhardware johnson hardware.com New pocket door
frames and rolling hardware a heritagemillwork heritage millworkinc.com Pocket door
stops, other trim a indianahardwoodmills indianahardwoodmills.com Pocket door stops and other trim a nick’sbuildingsupply nicksbuilding.com Craftsman-
style pocket doors a vintagehardware&lighting vintagehardware.com Pocket
door pulls, including A&C styles
left: Pocket-door pull plates from House of Antique Hardware include the ‘Lorraine,’ based on a 1905 model. below:Lost-wax cast brass Arts & Crafts pocket door hardware from Vintage Hardware & Lighting dates to 1920.
TROLLEY STYLE
DOOR
ADJUSTINGSCREW
WHEEL
METAL TRACKJAMB
b r i n g i n g i t b a c k &
Wint e r 20 14 a r t s & c r a f t s h o m e s | 33 32 | a r t s & c r a f t s h o m e s Wint e r 20 14
Hidden by bookcases for more than 60 years, the beautiful leaded and stained glass doors were in near-original condition.
courtesy indiana landmarks foundation
cabinetmaker Nancy Hiller after the Indiana Landmarks Foundation asked her
to do a small restoration job on the 1910 Glossbrenner Mansion in Indianapolis.
The leaded and stained glass doors were in near-perfect condition. Veneered in
quarter-sawn oak on one side
and Circassian walnut on the
other, the two massive doors
come together at the center
of a Tudor-arched opening.
They had been partially en-
closed and rendered useless
since 1949, when the physi-
cian–owner, using the house
for his medical practice,
covered the walnut side with
a pair of built-in bookcases.
Happily, the alterations
were easily reversed. “After
removing the built-in book-
case, we made some minor adjustments to the doors and were stunned by how
smoothly they operated after so many years,” says Nancy. Neither the rollers
nor hangers needed adjustment. The only alteration required was a new door
stop and some paint removal on one side of the leaded glass.
nrhillerdesign.comindianalandmarks.com
Pocket doors trapped in anArts & Crafts Tudor were brought back by
The Glossbrenner Mansion in Indianapolis, designed by English architect Alfred Grindle, was built in 1910.
tFor FREE information go to artsandcraftshomes.com/freeinfo
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