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Bathroom pocket or barn door?

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hobie18

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Joined
Apr 29, 2024
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1,181
No door.
Not sure from the drawing. It seems to be a door inside?
 

housewolf

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Feb 3, 2021
Messages
1,144
Location
East Texas
IMO; a barn door is better than a swinging door in a tight spot. Nothing (even a barn door) is worse than an open or partially open door blocking a lav, toilet, or tub. It’s a problem in small spaces. I have a barn door in our guestroom (finished room over detached garage) and it kind of fits in with the design. The “gap” is less than 1/4” and there is an exhaust fan in the bathroom. I have a shower valve in the wall where a pocket door would be. A pocket door would be my first choice, we have one in our laundry room & no problems there. Here’s a pic of the room over the garage. I did all the work myself, with what I was left from a tornado. I would (should) have put dormers in the roof to get more headroom in the bathroom but all my “stuff” was in the garage covered with tarps. I needed to get a roof on quick and building out that space was pretty far down my to do list.
IMG_3901.jpegIMG_2374.jpegIMG_7534.jpeg
 
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Innovate1

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Jul 28, 2014
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4,288
Location
Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri
I agree with the majority here that a pocket door is the way to go. I think barn doors are a fad and it takes a bit of space and limits what can be placed on that wall to very thin things - that may not be a consideration for this particular spot as the toilet paper roll can go on the other side. You don't have to upgrade much to get decent tracks and rollers. We went with basic Johnson ball bearing hardware as I recall and 20 years later they work fine. I see now there are a bunch of variations and a warning on their web site about Chinese knockoffs. If you do heavy doors you may need to move up a bit more.

As for working on pocket doors that is something I don't understand very well. The finish carpenter we used seemed to be used to knocking out basic work with no knowledge of anything out of the ordinary. He framed them in with the top jamb going all the way across and the side pieces going under that. My very limited understanding is that at least one of the top pieces should be screwed in and removable (fitting in after that side pieces) so the rollers can be accessed. Presumably that would require the door to be a bit off the floor so it could be let down to clear the top casing to get the door out if needed. It's not something I have had to mess with and hope I never do but if really needed I suppose I could use and oscillating saw to cut the upper jambs at the ends for removal and cut new pieces to replace them. Then again I could have all this wrong...
 

scfoxman

Active member
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
25
Location
Philippines
Soft close/open is definitely a nice to have on any bedroom or adjacent for a pocket door. I've used this German brand and it was really high quality, combined with the pop out door pull posted earlier
 

chris142

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Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
6,533
Location
apple valley,ca
We have a sliding door on our front bathroom as the area is too small for a swinging door. All it takes is 1 person to shut it too fast and it falls off the rails up in the wall.

That leads to an afternoon of frustration trying to get it back on track.
 

Boatman62

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Mar 20, 2015
Messages
109
Barn doors on 3 bathrooms here. Not an issue at all. One of them where we were concerned with privacy we installed the next wider slab.
 
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trashmanssd

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Oct 31, 2016
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489
Location
Ma
I have had a bunch of pocket doors installed during different renovations at my house. I love pocket doors. No door in the way when it's open (especially on doors that are almost always open). Also every door I replace now I am going as close as I can to 36". Some spots don't have the room for a 36" door. It makes moving furniture way easier, also with a 36" pocket door you can leave the door out a little and still have lots of room getting in and out and its easy to grab the door that way and not need to use the hidden handles.
 

JohnX14

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Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Messages
553
Location
Boston 'burbs
I agree - no way I'd put a barn door on a bathroom. I also agree they are way over-used. People seem to want to find a place to install one. And I see hundreds of new houses/ renovations in my day job.

With that said, I put one in my own house in my basement office, which provides access to the electrical panel. I actually put a double door about 6' wide, but they both slide open in the same direction. Of course these are only opened rarely, and don't remain open. Just to work on the panel, or 'whatever'. I did the same in my sister's basement. There are other places where I think they look and function well, but it's one out of 20 that I see...fwiw.
 

kyrbz

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Joined
Jan 30, 2012
Messages
1,313
Location
midwest US
A hotel I stayed at in Japan recently had a sliding door done a little differently that what you usually see. Not quite a pocket door, not quite a barn door, but kind of a hybrid of the two.

IMG_0480.jpeg

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rsanter

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Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,506
Location
visalia ca
Issues
The barn door blocks access or use of the wall

The pocket door also limits use of the wall in a different way

Which suits you more?

Bathroom door in an open area? No way

Bathroom door in a master bathroom? Maybe

I installed a modern barn door for the master bathroom in my girlfriends house. It slides over the wall with the shower plumbing so it was this or a double thick wall (this was a remodel to move the door and remove the swing door.
For her this had worked very well.
Limited privacy issues to begin with plus the door overlaps the trim 2" on each side
 

bb29510

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Joined
Dec 27, 2022
Messages
1,216
if i was redoiing my house i would want 48 door everywhere, even to outside, I got 36 and tire of the door pouching back. I would even do 48 pockets too
 

Sergio86

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Joined
Feb 5, 2025
Messages
1
As for working on pocket doors that is something I don't understand very well. The finish carpenter we used seemed to be used to knocking out basic work with no knowledge of anything out of the ordinary. He framed them in with the top jamb going all the way across and the side pieces going under that. My very limited understanding is that at least one of the top pieces should be screwed in and removable (fitting in after that side pieces) so the rollers can be accessed. Presumably that would require the door to be a bit off the floor so it could be let down to clear the top casing to get the door out if needed. It's not something I have had to mess with and hope I never do but if really needed I suppose I could use and oscillating saw to cut the upper jambs at the ends for removal and cut new pieces to replace them. Then again I could have all this wrong...
I like Napoleon Bonaparte, or rather his quote "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself." When I had to install a pocket door, I came across a video on YouTube with step-by-step instructions: "
" It took some time, but I was pleased with the result. I hope Napoleon will not be offended that I used the tips. And regarding the type of door, I can say that the sounds will be heard no matter which door you choose.
 

Innovate1

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Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
4,288
Location
Illinois near St. Louis, Missouri
I like Napoleon Bonaparte, or rather his quote "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself." When I had to install a pocket door, I came across a video on YouTube with step-by-step instructions: "
" It took some time, but I was pleased with the result. I hope Napoleon will not be offended that I used the tips. And regarding the type of door, I can say that the sounds will be heard no matter which door you choose.
My general guide is that I am just a weekend warrior for most of these things so the person that does it as their job should be as good/knowledgeable as me. I don't consider myself an expert craftsman (far from it) but have had quite a bit of experience starting with helping my dad and doing lots of different things. Overall I consider myself pretty handy. But as I get older (just retired) I don't really want to do everything. I have tempered my guide a bit to just wanting them to be competent and maybe near to my level.

We hired a guy to put trim boards on the sides of the stairs. He is widely regarded as a very good craftsman in the area and charges a bit more than typical. He did some things pretty well, especially fitting around other trim that was there. But he did some things that didn't really make any sense like spending a huge amount of time painting and sanding and polishing the finish until it was nearly perfect. Then nailing them in place and touching up the holes and caulking them making the difference in finish obvious - he could have spent a lot less time making the finish perfect. And the project took weeks to finish. I don't recall his exact cost or hours - a little high on expected hours and lots of away time. We were thinking it would be done quickly - not so much time he wasn't working on it. Don't plan to use him again. Basic grip is he didn't balance his time on needed tasks focusing too much on some so he didn't efficiently use the time (again, not an expert on this myself so willing to give some slack on this but he was over the top).
 

nadogail

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Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
31,941
Location
Coronado, CA
My general guide is that I am just a weekend warrior for most of these things so the person that does it as their job should be as good/knowledgeable as me. I don't consider myself an expert craftsman (far from it) but have had quite a bit of experience starting with helping my dad and doing lots of different things. Overall I consider myself pretty handy. But as I get older (just retired) I don't really want to do everything. I have tempered my guide a bit to just wanting them to be competent and maybe near to my level.

We hired a guy to put trim boards on the sides of the stairs. He is widely regarded as a very good craftsman in the area and charges a bit more than typical. He did some things pretty well, especially fitting around other trim that was there. But he did some things that didn't really make any sense like spending a huge amount of time painting and sanding and polishing the finish until it was nearly perfect. Then nailing them in place and touching up the holes and caulking them making the difference in finish obvious - he could have spent a lot less time making the finish perfect. And the project took weeks to finish. I don't recall his exact cost or hours - a little high on expected hours and lots of away time. We were thinking it would be done quickly - not so much time he wasn't working on it. Don't plan to use him again. Basic grip is he didn't balance his time on needed tasks focusing too much on some so he didn't efficiently use the time (again, not an expert on this myself so willing to give some slack on this but he was over the top).
Try somebody else next time.
 
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