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Posts Tagged ‘installing sliding closet doors’

Closet & Door Openings Not SquareFramed opening for a closet door
It is not uncommon to have the openings for interior doors or closet doors be out of square. The reasons could be anything from the house settling to an uneven floor to stud walls and header being twisted. The good news is that in most cases it is easy to work around these issues.

Rough Openings vs Finished Openings
If the opening for your doors is still rough (not framed out) then it really does not matter if your opening is square or not. When you frame out the opening you will have a chance to square everything up. This is also the case if you are installing pocket doors. If you are not sure if your door openings are rough or not here is an earlier post that explains the difference. Interior Doors: A Rough Opening vs. A Finished Opening

Measuring for your Doors
The first thing you will want to do is measure the framed opening where you want your doors. It is a good idea to measure the width and height in a few different places. This will help to show you where, if at all, your framed opening is out of square. Another check is to measure diagonally across the opening. If the measurement from the top left corner to the bottom right corner is the same as the measurement from the bottom left corner to the top right corner then your framed opening is square. Here is a link to our site on How to Measure for Doors which will help. If you do find that your framed opening is not square there are ways to work around this.

Uneven Header
If you the header dips to one side or another, or if it has a “bump” in the middle there are a few things you can do. You can try and correct it be removing and re-installing the header. Most likely this will be more difficult and time consuming than the alternative. If you are installing sliding closet doors or bifold doors you can simply shim out the track to make it level. Any resulting gap can be easily covered with a valence or corner moulding. If you are installing hinged doors you have a choice. If the header only dips an 1/8″ or so you may just want to leave it be. However, if the gap is more noticeable you should consider removing the door casing and straightening the door jamb.

Uneven Floor
If your floor is uneven there is not too much that you can do other than rip up and lay down a new floor. Thankfully an uneven floor will not affect the way your doors work. It will just mean that you have more of a gap at one end of the bottom than at the other.

Side Jambs not Plumb
If your house has settled you will mostly likely find that the side jambs will not be plumb. You will treat this similar to how it was explained with the uneven header above; let it be if the gap is small or remove the casing and re-plumb the jamb. If you installing sliding closet doors or bifold doors the simplest thing to do is to let the gap stay and then apply a simple quarter round or corner moulding right in front of the doors along the side jambs. This will hide the gap and not interfere with the way the doors open and close.

Hopefully this post has been helpful. If you still have questions on how to work with your non-square openings for your doors just ask. Give us a call, send us an email or start an online chat. We are happy to help. quote form for custom sized panel doors

When ordering new interior doors having the correct measurements is very important.  Just as important is to also let us know the type of opening.  The type of opening can be either “Rough” or “Finished”.

What is a Rough Opening?

rough opening with drywall
A rough opening is where the wall studs are exposed along the edge of the opening.  You will see a rough opening when you are building a new wall (like you would do when refinishing a basement) or knocking out a wall to put in a new door.  The rough opening still needs to be framed out so that the opening is square and flush with any drywall.  In the picture to the left you can see how the opening has the exposed studs along the edge.

If you plan to install bifold doors or sliding doors you can square and frame out the rough opening with drywall.  However, if you are going to be hinging the doors to the opening you will need a solid wood jamb.  The reason for this is that the screws that hold door hinges need to be sunk directly into wood.  For bifold and sliding door hardware the screws that secure the track are long enough to go through the drywall and into the studs.

What is a Finished Opening?

A finished opening is where the opening has been framed out and is ready for paint or stain.  If you were to go through your home and look at existing closets doors and doorways you will be looking at examples of a finished opening.  The opening can be finished with drywall, wood, metal or any solid, smooth surface.  The idea is that the finished opening is ready for doors.  Just be mindful that the hardware you want to use can be attached to material used to finish your opening.  If you decide that you want to hang a hinged door on an opening that is framed with drywall ( or stone as shown below ) you would first need to install a wood jamb.

rough stone opening for doorsfinished stone opening for doors

Once you have determined the type of opening that you have you can follow our online instructions on how to measure for doors.  We can then use those measurments to make sure that your doors are a perfect fit for your openings.

Sliding closet doors without a bottom trackA common misconception is that closet door hardware, especially hardware for sliding closet doors, requires a bottom track.  The belief is that the bottom track helps support the weight of the doors as well as keep the doors aligned.

Top track wheels for sliding closet doors

The Johnson Hardware, that we supply with our closet doors, is actually designed the other way around.  The top track rollers (shown at right) can support doors up to 200 lbs each for medium rated (3 wheels) and 400 lbs each for the heavy duty rated (4 wheels).  This means that, since the top track supports all of the weight, the optional bottom track is used only to help guide your sliding closet doors and bifold doors.

When should I use a bottom track?

You really only need to use the bottom guide when there is a concern that the doors might be bumped hard enough to swing, front to back.  Some good examples would be if the doors are being be used between rooms or if you have small children or large pets.bottom guide for sliding closet doors  If you have only 2 rows of closet doors in the opening (1 or 2 doors in the front row and 1 or 2 doors in the back row) there is a simple floor guide (shown at left) that keeps the doors separated and from hitting each other.  If you look closely at the top picture, you will see these guides where the front row doors overlap the back row doors.  (a close-up is shown in the image to the right)  bottom guide separating sliding closet doorsIf you have doors in 3 or more rows, then bottom guide tracks are required.

Are bottom tracks only for sliding closet doors?

No.  Larger bi-fold doors are also good candidates for a bottom guide track.  Follow the same rule as with your sliding closet doors.  If you think your bi-fold doors are going to be bumped a lot then a bottom guide track might be helpful.

Do I need to cut into my floor to install the bottom track?

No.  Since the bottom guide tracks do not support any weight they can be surface mounted to your floor.  Wood strips can be placed on either side of the track to give the look of a finished threshold.  If you have not installed your floor you can also use a bottom guide track.  In this case you would simply install your flooring on either side of the bottom guide track.  The nice thing about this method is that the track is submerged below the floor level so there is no concern about tripping.

So while a bottom track is not needed to support the weight or your doors, it can help to guide your doors.

*This post was updated on December 24th, 2019

Kestrel Shutters & Doors

A naturally beautiful and renewable choice – Wood shutters and doors by

Kestrel Shutters & Doors, Inc. www.DIYShutters.com 1-800-494-4321 / sales@diyshutters.com

The choice between installing bifold doors and sliding closet doors depends on a few different factors. The use of the closet, the space around the closet, and, of course, your personal preference, are all considerations.

What is the difference between bifold doors and sliding closet doors? The first thing to do is to look at how these two types of doors function. Bifold doors, just as the name implies, are a pair doors that are hinged together and fold up together. This means that you can take all of the doors and fold them up to the sides so that they are out of the way and you have almost full access to your closet. With sliding closet doors the doors slide back and forth on multiple tracks and can be stacked up, one in front of the others. Since the doors never fold out of the way, fully exposing the entire area, there will always be some part of the closet blocked.

Style 6222 - 2.1/2' ' fixed plantation louver bifold closet doors 

What is in your closet? Will the closet be for clothes, storage of seasonal items, or used as a pantry? If you will only need to get to one part of the closet at any time then a sliding or a bifold will work well for you. If you need full access to the closet, or you just want to be able to open the doors and see everything at once, then bifold doors are your best choice. Keep in mind that sliding doors can be removed if you should need full access once in a while.

Style 6232 - 2.1/2'' fixed plantation louver over colonial raised panel with trimWhat is around your closet? Is there limited space around your closet? Is there the concern that if you open up the doors they might hit furniture or artwork on your walls? Do you want a streamline fit, rather then doors folding out into the room? If this is the case then sliding closet doors are probably your best option.

Which do you prefer? Another point, just as important as those mentioned above is, simply put, which do you prefer? Even if one of the door installation types is not completely ideal for you, it may still be worth it if you really like the look enough. Regardless of which track hardware you choose, you can still pick whichever style of door you like the most. Every style of door that we offer can be mounted with hardware for either bifold doors or sliding doors .

Kestrel Shutters & Doors

A naturally beautiful and renewable choice – Wood shutters and doors by

Kestrel Shutters & Doors, Inc. www.DIYShutters.com 1-800-494-4321 / sales@diyshutters.com

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