Pocket Door Now Works!

One of the longest-running projects I've had in the JayBee is the pocket door and its wall leading into the bathroom. I built the door starting in 2012. I built the wall for it in 2015. I hung the door in 2016. I replaced the door stop for the wall with a removable one in 2020. (Hmm... This might be another entry in the "you know you're taking too long..." series.)

For years now, I've had the door tied to the door stop because the wall was not plumb so the door did not hang exactly in the middle and, because it hangs free from the top, it could easily swing from side to side and scrape the half-studs or even slam into them. Even when I warned visitors not to move the door, it was too tempting; everyone who sees it wants to operate it. So--I tied it down, to keep it from moving and getting damaged.

Most pocket doors are hung in a wall that is built with 2x6s. Every inch counts in a tiny house, so I purchased this kit that allowed me to install the door in a wall only 3.5" deep. It has half-studs reinforced with metal to accomplish this.

In the photo below, you can see that the door was hanging unevenly in the wall. This edge was too close to the righthand half-stud; the other edge was too close to the half-stud on the other side.

Now that the house is level, I could finally plumb up this wall. I removed the screws holding the base of the studs to the floor, moved the studs until they were plumb, and reattached them to the floor.

Then, I decided to make use of these occasional holes in the metal reinforcing on the sides of the studs.

I cut boards to length and put pocket-screw holes in the ends of them.

I used the boards to span between the two half-studs on each side of the wall.

Now the door slides back and forth in the wall without scraping and crashing.

For a little extra insurance, I wrapped each of the new boards with leftover strips of sill insulation.

Voilá! A functioning pocket door. Now the door can be moved in whatever direction makes it easiest for the plumber to do his work.

That's the great news! The plumber is back in touch, and he will be doing the rest of the plumbing work in about a week.

Also see:

Pocket Door 1
Pocket Door 2
Pocket Door 3
Pocket Door 4
Pocket Door 5
Pocket Door 6
Wall for Pocket Door
Pocket Door Wall Done!
Dubbing Around the Edges (includes new door stop for pocket door)