Pocket Door Design Query

[John Moorhead]

Hello All-

Do any of you know of a "primer" on designing a project with pocket doors? I have a friend that wants a corner entertainment center that would need pocket doors.

I've never designed a piece or installed a set of pocket doors and am having a bit of trouble wrapping my brain around it to get a proper design. I know that there are bugaboos, but I'd rather have them dawn on me now instead of during glue up... hehhehe...

Also, since the cabinet is roughly triangular (in the top view) what would you suggest for panel joinery. For a typical carcass, I would use dados and fixed shelves, but with the "triangle" section hanging off of the back, I am wondering if I should go with an internal frame and then attach the ply to that. If so, I guess I could go with thinner ply for weight savings...

Comments, remarks, leads???

TIA,

John Moorhead

[Robert Bonomi]

I don't think you mean "pocket" doors. A traditional pocket door is a door between rooms that _slides_ into a hole (the 'pocket') in the wall it is in-line with.

Obviously, this requires at least as much 'blank wall' beside the door, as the door opening is wide.

I'm guessing you mean "flipper" doors -- like for in front of a TV. where the doors swing open to 90 degrees, and then 'push back' into the cabinet to get 'out of the way'.

For 'flipper' doors, "design" is pretty much a non-issue. There's standard hardware (available from any of the usual suspects) for the job. Most of em are designed to support a 90-degree rotate and _then_ slide, so they may have to slide 'perpendicular' to the diagonal face, rather than against the 'sides' of the cabinet.

There's also standard hardware for _full-size_ pocket doors -- it's an overhead track system, from which the door is suspended. Full kits available at the various BORG, for circa $50 -- for a door up to 36 in wide, including the track, hanger hardware, and the 'split studs' needed to build the pocket into the wall. The kits _do_ "assume" you're building the door _into_a_wall_, and that the wall is 2x4 construction. (Note: I had an "interesting" time fitting one of the kits into a wall that was 2x6 construction. :)

Possibly use full thickness stock for the back panels as well as the 'sides', and dado into the back as well.

Keep in mind that TV's, especially big ones, are _heavy_. you'll probably want to add additional bracing under whatever holds up the TV.

[p_j]

I've got this PDF since I was contemplating using something above a frig in an alcove:

[Preston Andreas]

You can fit the doors to virtually any height and depth of cabinet. You have to be aware of side clearances. Generally, allow about 1 1/2" to 1

3/4" on each side for door and hardware clearance. Check the manufactures specs for exact clearances. With these clearances, the door is exposed to the inside of the cabinet, so shelves can't be used. If you want interior shelves, or you want to hide the door, you need to add a bulkhead so that the door slides in the cabinet in between the side of the cabinet and the bulkhead. That adds another inch per side required for clearance, but you can now put shelves on the inside. Also, size the hardware or put stops in so the door doesn't go all the way in. You need to leave a couple of inches protruding for door hardware.

I am sure hardware manufactures give application instructions online. Here is Blum's. This is the one I use.

$file/7007_POC_B.pdf .

Also, the hardware is designed for inset doors. If you want overlay doors, you have to cut a slot in the upper and lower rails on the hinge side of the doors so the overlay portion of the door can slip back into the cabinet. The slot only needs to be as wide as the door is thick (plus a little) and as high as the amount of overlay (usually 3/8" or 1/2") (plus a little). This is pretty commonly done by cabinet shops, since most don't like to do inset doors, but I find the appearance somewhat objectionable.

Preston