Finally someone has come up with a decent floor guide for pocket doors. In the past, the majority of guides available for pocket doors have really been subpar. Most of them are plastic and prone to breakage. Who likes to get that call? “Something is wrong with the pocket door, we can’t close it.” Or, “Our pocket door is hitting something, now it’s all scratched.” Paint grade door? Fixable. Santos Rosewood door? This is gonna leave a mark.
Glidewell’s Guide System Keeps Doors Straight
Stepping up to the plate is Glidewell’s pocket door guide. Manufactured and distributed in the United States, it’s a two piece system with an aluminum “T” (we’ll call this the male) that screws to the floor inside the pocket frame, and fits into a complimentary piece of aluminum (which of course will be the female). The female is best installed in a dado, routed into the bottom of the door that stops just short of coming out the front of the door. The glides I mentioned earlier are all placed at the front of the pocket door frame. As the door goes into the pocket, there is nothing to stop the door from wobbling or moving off line as it is retracted into the wall pocket. The Glidewell guide keeps the door moving straight and online the whole way back into the opening. The track guide is not meant to be load bearing. In fact, the male should stay at least 1/16” away from the female if he knows what’s good for him. I’m sure all of us have been in that position at one time or another.
But What About All These Other Pocket-Door Problems?
Now that Glidewell solved the guide problem, I hereby call upon them to go the extra mile and come up with systems to prevent these other little pesky problems associated with pocket doors.
The Drywall Guy Pocket-Door Problem
Yes, our friendly neighborhood drywaller who hasn’t the foggiest idea that there’s a door inside the wall where he is putting his drywall screws!
The Tile Guy Pocket-Door Problem
Your cabinets butt up to the wall with the pocket door and you want your splash to wrap around and die at the front of your countertop. Or maybe it’s a floor to ceiling tile job. Whatever. Lath nails or screws are the culprit this time.
The Finish Carpenter Pocket-Door Problem
Even though he is quite a few rungs up on the ladder of life compared to the previous two dudes, he can still have his moments. Casing is the bad guy here. Using small nails, the finish carpenter nails the casing to the edge of the pocket door jamb. But wait, the drywall isn’t flush with the jamb and is tweaking the casing so the miter doesn’t line up. I know what! I’ll get some longer nails and kinda push real hard……
The Baseboard Guy Pocket-Door Problem
Also a finish carpenter, albeit the low man on the totem pole, the baseboard guy can be the biggest culprit of all. He’s the lowest paid guy who has to skirt around on his knees and try to get the baseboard tight to the wall. And how does he do this? Well, Mister I-Don’t-Pay-For-These-Nails, and who is actually Al Capone reincarnated, doesn’t have any qualms about strafing the baseboard with his machine gun aka the Senco FinishPro 42XP using 2-1/2” finish nails.
The Owner Of The Door Pocket-Door Problem
Last but not least, I plead with all of you out there…. Can someone tell me why, when someone goes to that pocket door that is stuck, THEY KEEP PULLING!!!! WHY????? JUST STOP!!!!!!!
Ok, I’ve got a call into Dr. Laura…
With the product being made out of heavy nylon will eliminate any metal to metal shavings getting on the flooring ceramic,wood,carpet etc we all know metal to metal can cause black messy powder…….
Ive installed many, many pocket frames and doors….I remember the 1st one I ever installed….I was a 2nd yr carpenter apprentice scared to death I was going to screw this task up. I fought the installation from start to finish wanting to give up with all the frustration that I was dealing with from the framer not taking his time getting the frame plumb & level. From that day forward any frame I ever set in the framing stages was set dead nuts plumb/square….Cant say Ive ever been pissed at another pocket door that I set the frame on…..
I like the concept of the Guidewell Track system, Im not so sure the track needs to be so wide especially when routing the bottom of the door out…..I would bet the products not cheap…..maybe it could be made not as wide & out of tough nylon to keep the cost down…..
Great concept though….
Thanks for the comments and for sharing you’re early pocket door history! Troy There are definitely a lot of poor performing pocket doors out there (both due to door design and installation issues). Something to prevent metal on metal contact sounds like a no-brainer too.
All well and good. I’d like to try it. BUT< neither you or the web site tell where to buy it!
Bill, you’re absolutely right! We may have jumped the gun with this one in terms of availability. I emailed Glidewell and I’ll post here with any purchase/distribution we receive back for their pocket door tracks.