COMMENTS
I have 6 foot wide clostes with bi-fold doors. i want to replace them with sliding doors. However, the hieght is about 92 inches. Is this possible? Can I purchase standard slab doors this tall and install with sliding door hardware?
You can switch from bi fold doors to sliding closet doors but, in your case, only with a custom height door.
The standard sliding track hardware we offer has a height allowance of 2.3/8". This means that the height of the door you will need is 89.5/8" (92" opening height - 2.3/8" height allowance = 89.5/8" door height). Since we offer custom height doors this is not a problem.
If you really wanted to use a stock sized door you would need to drop the header on your closet opening to make it shorter. You would then take the height of the stock sized door and add the height allowance required by the track hardware. This gives you the height to which you need to make your opening.
I hope this helps,
Jim
We have a non-standard sized closet opening (rough 84"Wx83"H). We prefer the look of louver over louver doors (slab) installed as bypass. However, 42"W doors are unavailable. We were then told it may be best to order 3 doors (1) 30"x 82" and (2) 28" x 82" and to install the 3 doors on a triple track. A triple tracks requires 5 1/4". (The closet is 24" deep, shelving 12 & 16") As we do not wish to alter the closet opening so as to maximize storage, is this the best option?
If the triple track is the best option, are they available at Kestrel? If so, what model?
Upon reading your response to the 7/27 question, what size doors (H & W) do you recommend? (We recently purchased louver over louver slabs 36x72 installed as bypass with the track the doors had to cut quite a bit).
Thanks for your help.
We have a 1950 California rancher with the 'standard' sliding wood closet doors of that time in all our bedrooms. (I don't have the measurements with me..) but my question is, if we did want to replace them with 2 doors that open outward (so as to take advantage of the back of the doors, plus easier access to the whole closet at once...) - is that a tough conversion?
Response to
"We have a non-standard sized closet opening" First of all, 42" wide doors are available as a custom sized closet door. Actually, you would want 42.1/2" wide doors to allow them to overlap where they meet.
If you do go with standard sized doors you could mix (1) 30"x 82" and (2) 28" x 82". This would give you the appropriate overlap. The fact that one door is wider than the other two will not be all that obvious unless you have them stacked one behind the other.
For the tracks you can go with a standard 2 track slider but since 2 of the doors will be one the same track you will not be able to open the doors very far. If you go with a 3 track sliding closet door hardware you will be able to slide each door behind the other so that you can have at least 54" of open space to get in to the closet.
A triple track will take 5.1/4" depth (for 1.1/4" thick doors) and it is mounted to top of the jamb opening. We sell three different triple tracks that vary by the weight that they will hold. As long as your doors are under 150 lbs each you can use Johnson Track Hardware 111MSD. This would cost $123.17 for the complete sliding door hardware kit.
With regards to your question about the door height that will depend on the hardware actually. Each type of sliding door hardware (and bifold door hardware too) takes up a different amount of space and are adjustable. For the 111MSD series you would deduct between 2.15/16" minimum and 3.5/16"maximum in height from your finished opening to get your actual door size. This means that doors ranging from 79.11/16" to 80.1/16" in height will work for you.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions, or need me to clear any thing up, just let me know.
Jim
Response to
"We have a 1950 California rancher" Going from sliding closet doors (or bifold closet doors for that matter) to hinged doors is fairly straight forward.
Removing the hardware that currently have is the easiest part. You will just need to be mindful of any holes left over from the screws used to attach the old sliding door track hardware. Depending on how you need to frame out the opening for hinged doors these holes may be covered by the jambs or casings.
The part of this conversion that will take the most time, and be the most difficult, will be installing the jamb. If you already have a wood jamb in the opening then all you need to do is mortise out for hinges on the jamb. Unfortunately most sliding closet door and bifold door openings are only covered with drywall and hinges will not work if attached directly to drywall. In this case you will need to install a wood jamb so that you can hang the doors.
If we are making the doors and jambs for you then you will need to remove the drywall from the inside edges (sides and top) of the opening so that the studs are exposed. This will be the opening to which you install the jamb. Measure this new opening and from that we can determine the size jamb and doors you will need.
If you are buying stock sized doors locally you will need to find what is available that is closest in size to your opening. The difference in the width and height of the jambs to your opening can be made up with shims if it is around 1/2" all the way around. If the closest in size you can find is 2" or more smaller you can always add an additional stud to one of the existing studs.
There is another option that would work for you that would be very easy to do and might just work with your existing doors. Pivot hinges are hinges that mount in to the top and bottom edges of your doors. Because of the they do not require a jamb but you will need a secure place to mount the hinges on the floor and top, inside edge of your opening.
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions or need me to clarify anything just let me know.
Jim