Framing A Pocket Door In A Load Bearing Wall

The width of the door frame trim becomes about 8 which actually looks quite nice.

Framing a pocket door in a load bearing wall.

Doors in these walls will have headers usually laminated beams over their openings. Installing a pocket door in a load bearing wall requires replacing the old header with a longer one. So if you re on the top floor you can use 2 2x4 s unless the building is 36 wide in which case you ll need 2 2x6 s. Just one to support the door hardware.

To install a pocket door you must modify the framing of the wall which is safe to do if the wall isn t bearing any load. Glue and screw together the 2 by 4s to build a pony wall a smaller non load bearing wall for hanging the track for the pocket doors. Attach to the ceiling by screwing through the frame into the ceiling joists. The wall needs to be wide enough to accommodate twice the door s width plus 1 inch 2 54cm.

Obviously this one doesn t need a fancy header. Consulting a structural engineer or building professional is advised when attempting a project where inexperience has the potential to cause property damage bodily harm or death but utilizing the recommendations of a building professional and properly. Make sure the frame is level. The project includes assessing and taking out a section of a load bearing wall a pocket door building framing a wall installing double french doors and semi custom built ins.

I built a 2x4 framed wall parallel to the load bearing wall. For part one you ll watch me demo do some light electrical work build a quick temporary wall install a load bearing header and install a pocket door. You ll also need to know whether or not the wall is load bearing. Part 01 the library renovation pocket door in a load bearing wall follow along and watch me work on my most recent renovation project the library.

Generally load bearing walls will be in a central location and they will be perpendicular to the floor joists. For header spans see tables r502 5 1 and r502 5 2. Well look even if it s a bearing wall you can frame for it but here s what you have to do if your door is 2 feet wide the finished width is say 24 inches the size of the opening that you need for this is double that. You can determine this by the wall s placement in the house.

And our contractor told us that that s a bearing wall and we can t do that.