Pocket door feasibility

[dontlifttoshift]

I need some guidance.

I have a 2x6 framed, non load bearing wall separating two sections of shop space in a Morton building. I would like to access the other shop without going outside, mostly just walk through but there will be occasions where it would be nice to push a car through this opening. I need the ability to close off that section of shop, that is the fab area, when we are working in there it is dirty and noisy. Minimum size opening would be 7' x 7'.

I have explored other options and none of them seem perfect. A standard garage door always has an ugly side, the need for tracks somewhere (16' ceilings) and too cumbersome to open and close to just walk through.....that last bit is the problem with roll up doors, too. I was leaning towards sliding barn doors, could just open one side and it could stay open as needed, but that eats up 14-16' of wall space on either side of the wall. Wall space is precious to me.

So then I ended up at pocket doors. Are there any reasons not to use a pocket door in this application? Two 3 1/2' doors should be easy enough to manage, right? I understand that the install and fabrication will be invasive and time consuming (costly).....my larger concern is that it won't work.

 

[willy (traer)]

I have a similar scenario in my shop - half of it cold storage and the other half heated shop. I built a 12' wide by 8' tall insulated pocket door in mine. I'll try to remember to get some pictures posted for you....

 

[mygarageone]

What about a roll up door ? They are a great way to go

 

[Ben7203]

What about an industrial shop curtin? We have a couple at work separating the warehouse from the shop, they help allot.

 

[HoosierMark]

Just build a wall to enclose your sliding barn door. Then you will have your wall space back. Open it to whatever size you need or want. Some of the pole barn builders in this area, put the sliding doors on the inside and then frame around them to get the lost wall space back.

 

[Crusarius]

Put the sliding shop door in like normal then just frame a new wall over it. Use standard 2x4's be the same as doing a pocket door. a lot less intrusive. quick and easy to do.

Biggest pain is moving everything off the wall to frame it out.

 

[Crusarius]

doh, you beat me....

 

[dontlifttoshift]

I have a similar scenario in my shop - half of it cold storage and the other half heated shop. I built a 12' wide by 8' tall insulated pocket door in mine. I'll try to remember to get some pictures posted for you....

Pictures would be awesome.

Just build a wall to enclose your sliding barn door. Then you will have your wall space back. Open it to whatever size you need or want. Some of the pole barn builders in this area, put the sliding doors on the inside and then frame around them to get the lost wall space back.

doh, you beat me....

That's why I ask! That is a way better plan, thanks!

So in that case, what about doing it with just one door?

 

[rslaback]

Have you considered just hanging stuff/mounting stuff on the sliding door? You end up with the same net space result as building another wall to make a pocket door. You would just be moving the blank space from the door, to the wall.

 

[LXCam]

I think your idea is fine. Construction wouldn't be as hard as you might think either. You didn't mention what the wall is finished with but obviously either drywall or plywood/osb. Either way strip the area back on one side, cut the framing nails off with a reciprocating saw. Install a header, Then frame the wall back up with 2x flat, toe nail as needed for one side. Anchor the plate to the concrete on both other edges the cut the grove out, frame the access side and cover. Maybe a days work unless you were going to use all prehung stuff then it's a tad more work but no big deal. The sliding barn door and false wall is a good idea too, but not as clean. I have somewhat of the same situation between my shop area and my machine area. I used a roll up.

 

[Voi]

I have a 2x6 framed, non load bearing wall separating two sections of shop space in a Morton building. I would like to access the other shop without going outside, mostly just walk through but there will be occasions where it would be nice to push a car through this opening. I need the ability to close off that section of shop, that is the fab area, when we are working in there it is dirty and noisy. Minimum size opening would be 7' x 7'.

I have explored other options and none of them seem perfect. A standard garage door always has an ugly side, the need for tracks somewhere (16' ceilings) and too cumbersome to open and close to just walk through.....that last bit is the problem with roll up doors, too.

I'd want the product best for blocking noise and dust etc from the fab side. That would be my main reason for not going with a pocket door, at least as my first choice.

I was thinking about doing something like in my shop and a guy at a local lumber yard recommended a metal French door with a handicap threshold. I was only concerned with something like a golf cart or ATV being rolled over it and he felt it would work.

In my case I needed a fire rating and there were French doors with fire rated astragals. If you didn't need a fire rating you could take the threshold off and install taller rubber sweeps at the bottom of the doors.

I priced a 84" wide model (two 42" wide doors) and it seemed affordable but ended up holding off on that project.

I did order a 72" steel French door for another part of my shop where I need occasional full access and it works well for my needs. But I don't ever have to roll anything more bulky than a lawnmower or a piece of wood working equipment on a mobile base across that threshold. From what I recall when installing the door it would be easy to pop the threshold off.

Two downsides to that would be rolling a taller truck through and the swing and wall space a 42" door would take up if you wanted to leave one half open as needed.

I believe an insulated overhead door would have better sound attenuation than a roll up door.

It does have the ugly track issue but with 16' tall ceilings I don't believe vertical lift tracks would bother me too much. A secondary wall could be built over the tracks to hide them and to hang stuff from.

Or if you went with regular tracks you could have the door open up underneath a small storage loft.

I don't know how much they cost but garage doors can be ordered with walk doors. I suppose you could add a walk door next to it as well but that's giving up wall space again.

I'm pretty sure roll up doors can be ordered with walk doors as well. But I assume sound transmission would be worse than a regular overhead door.

 

[HoosierMark]

One door or two doors, it really does not matter. In many ways one is easier to build and pocket frame but they can get heavy depending on how they are made. Amount of track and cost of materials are relatively similar. It all depends how your shop is set up, how often you are really going to use it etc. If you are not going to open it very often what about some old fashioned swinging doors. You could even put a walkthru man door in one if you designed it right.

 

[KEH]

We have a pocket door in the house between the kitchen and DR. Not what you are wanting , but the issue we were told about was having to replace the rollers, track, etc, which will involve a partial tear down of the wall. So far that has not been necessary after 40 + years. Anyway, I would arrange things so that the door mechanism can be repaired or serviced as easily as possible, like leaving one wall blank or at least placing roll around equipment there.

KEH

 

[matt_i]

Depending on how often you want to do this, I'd consider just screwing some 3/4" ply sheets to the opening. They don't need a lot of screws, maybe 3-4 in each top edge. Nothing really necessary if they sit on the indoor pavement, maybe paint them if there's worry about moisture wicking thru the concrete.

 

[shortykorte]

Great idea. Take out the 2x6s, rip them in half and use those to build the pocket. Use the barn door hardware as mentioned. Build the door frame out of 2x4s laid flat, screw together with pocket screws or lap the corners. Make provision for a door like picture. Fill cavity with rigid foam board. Skin with paneling, Masonite or sheet metal.

 

[gahrajmahal]

At our convention center here in Cincy they use accordion doors and can close off a whole half of a football field size space. The tracks are flush in the floor. You might Be able to duplicate that type of system in small scale.

 

[jrb2]

Heres a couple of pictures of the sliding door that separates my wood shop from the rest of the building. The door is a sheet of 3/4 MDF with 1X4's applied to both sides. The wall is framed with 2X6's and the pocket for the door is 2X4's turned side ways. The wall looks thicker than that because I used a weathered 2X4 as trim.