Pro Handyman Blog

Pocket doors are not easy. They will save you approximately nine square feet of space, but making adjustments or repairing them will drive you crazy. The problem is that the hardware is tucked away at the top of the jamb. The act of adjusting the door isn’t tough, but getting to the hardware is.

Pocket doors use a split jamb so the door can recede into the wall. The door hangs from rollers that roll along a track secured to the head jamb. There are lots of different designs, but it is pretty likely you will need to remove trim pieces around the door to get access to the hardware. You should only have to remove trim pieces from one side of the door, but choosing which side might prove difficult. Close the door and see if you can determine how the hardware comes off that connects the door to the rollers. Some hardware has an opening on one side that allows you to remove the door. Other hardware allows you to tilt and lift the door.

Start removing the side and top trim pieces carefully. Cut through the caulking and then gently goose the trim away from the door. You will need enough space to get access to the hardware at the top of the door. You may need enough clearance to completely remove the door, and if so snoop around to see if more trim comes out. You can also remove the front hardware and shimmy the door out of the opening.

Some hardware adjusts with a special tool that never seems to be around when you need it, and others use an open ended wrench. Generally, you can adjust the hardware up or down with a wrench. If the door is dragging, you may need to adjust the hardware so that it raises the door, or it may be that the screws holding the hardware to the door have pulled out.