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