How to Restore Historic Pocket Doors | This Old House

[@tazboy79]

Thanks for the video. My 1895 home has two sets of doors with this same hardware. You just taught me how to adjust them

[@erich9111]

Fascinating that they didn't want to use bushings for the wheels. Instead, they roll across a flat track on top of the hanger. This means they don't need any lubrication, and explains how they still work perfectly 120 years later.

[@a.l9313]

Love how things used to be made. How many folks got hollow closet doors falling off them cheap rollers.

[@thatf_inguy8220]

Not me, but my house was built in 1935 :)

[@c.a.mcdivitt9722]

They built them so that they wouldn't have to waste time re-doing the whole thing in just a few years.

[@ImTheJoker4u]

Those cheap rollers are designed to fail. If they lasted 120 years, the company would be out of business - Like this one. EVERYTHING now is designed to fail - for profit. 5-10 years is about the maximum a company wants their products to last. By then they have a "new and improved" version.

[@olafbigandglad]

Don't use cheap hardware. There's lots of good pocket door hardware available. Crowder, Hafele etc..

[@phillully4472]

So glad I watched this episode of this Old House.. my brother's house has some pocket doors.. between his kitchen and the dinning room.. but now I have a working knowledge of how pocket doors work. Thanks Kevin and Tom.. very kool.

[@donnaarmstrong8464]

We've got the same hardware on our track, but the doors were missing when we bought our 1890 home. We are trying to find doors to fit the 72"x 96" space plus the hardware for the tops of the doors. So lovely to see beautiful doors like this restored!

[@stacyyoust]

I'm looking too but I know where to look

[@twaddington]

Very cool old hardware!

[@jimmybritt9537]

That old boy sure is sharp 😉👍👍🇺🇸

[@cory5510]

Cool. I had a similar set-up in my first house which was built in 1917. But I never had the bottom bracket or the doors just the top ones in a metal railing that was framed over. It had similar angled brackets on top but they had rubber type rollers instead. Tore out the frame, reframed for pocket doors and I used a router to make indents on two new glass pane doors at the top where I attached modern brackets and screwed them in to the old ones. Threw some grease on the rollers, they worked like brand new👍. Like a rock, added some pull levers and plastic door guides at the bottom frame. Those rollers were meant for heavy solid wood doors and still worked great.

[@laurreneberry3480]

Love the old pocket doors. These are special.

[@robertbragg9364]

Absolutely amazing 👏

[@SuperMan-xy8ui]

Thanks for posting this!

[@DrDjones]

Another reason why I love your channel, great video.

[@wood2x6]

I love how clean things are in these videos. not a mouse carcass to be found. They should make a censored blooper reel of the wrestling match it took to get that monster out w/ out remove any of the casing. The pd restoration im starting today will certainly include a ton of expletives lol

[@donnahimpler6649]

Surprise they are white and old. It Great to see this House. Thanks favorite shows

[@romanmaksymow853]

Tommy the man👍

[@6996katmom]

I have never seen that. Y'all do an awesome job.

[@MandoFettOG]

Incredible hardware...

[@bosse641]

How cool is that. Very nice doors. Love old houses.

[@davidfinn3771]

Brilliant, love the old hardware

[@clemburke1668]

This was great!

[@heroknaderi]

Very incredible

[@marcodm]

2:45, pretty cool, I love it!

[@Macky4941]

Just had to fix one of our pocket doors, same thing happened to out left one. Our hangers were built in 1896,still in perfect working order, just fell off the track because the set screw worked it's way out over the 100+ years lol. I don't see them breaking for another 100+ years.

[@yaosio]

100 years from now somebody will look up how to attach those wheels, and they'll find this video.

[@idimidodjimi6760]

The Cat Man if KZbin is stil around at that point

[@thomasbonse]

And then be disappointed...

[@clarencetaylor7455]

​@@idimidodjimi6760 "Patent Pending April 23rd, 2005"

[@augustreil]

When things were made to last !

[@tkjazzer]

Awesome video

[@anthonya89]

Looks like a pretty early version of hardware as it didn't seem to have rails and just rode on the wood. I've got a set to fix myself, but they are wheels on a metal track system. Plus the floor has bowed so I need to compensate for that too. Lots to figure out still and not much info on KZbin unfortunately. Hope you do more pocket door fixes in the future!

[@rupe53]

Anthony Adamsky ... my home was built in 1910 and I spent the first few months jacking the floors level from the basement because an old guy said that was the way to go. He was right and everything else was so much easier once the first floor was fairly straight. If it's only some warped floorboards you can secure them with "break-away" screws and make them tight again. (head breaks off when tightened so you don't see it)

[@mikeye1984]

Is pocket door wall typically non load bearing or load bearing? Or it depends on the wall is parallel or perpendicular to floor joist and ceiling joist?

[@t1n4444]

A splendid testament to the designer and manufacturer all those years ago. Working perfectly for around 120 years. Quite impressed that a screw for that thread was found as if by magic ... and Tommy just happened to have one about his person ...

[@jameskollmann3616]

standard threads have been around forever no metric to worry about even if was an acme thread still available today

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5ofOr, to introduce a hint of pedantry into the topic, your man might have used an Allen key mounted in a "screwdriver" handle. As for a common thread then what is a common thread? In UK we appear to have had a fair few "common" threads over the last few hundred years as doubtless have yourselves and other "engineering countries". I can recall when a mere youth when working on cars you might find Whiteworth threads as well as AF. When Japanese cars and motorcycles arrived all of us had to then buy metric kit ... ditto yourselves no doubt. Nowadays we have settled the on the metric threads system using the "Mn" sizing. However the thread diameters can catch you out as "generally" the diameter sizes are even numbered. I believe there is a little bit of protectionism when some items come with uneven thread diameters. Even so well done to Tommy (researchers??? 😂) for finding a thread (and length) that matched after all that time, even if a socket head or Allen head. (For nerdy engineering folks it is possible to go the some shops where some ancient bloke stocks just about every thread or bolt ever invented. These same blokes will amuse themselves in the summer season by going to various swap meets or country rallies which cater for steam traction engine and vintage cars selling to desparate engineers trying to rebuild a hundred year old plus road going traction engines or showmen's engine. As you might suppose these "antique" fasteners don't come cheap. At all.)

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5of 😂 I had a Frogeye Sprite and the bonnet hinged forward. As I recall for some jobs you could almost sit on a tyre and work on bits. These days I get " the garage man" to sort out the servicing and MOT in one hit. Far too much electronics in cars these days, not to mention too many legalities with respect to emissions. Never need much if anything done as do less than a thousand miles a year these days. Haven't seen my socket set for some time ...

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5of 👍

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5of Given an hour not so difficult ...🤔😂.

[@NorthernChev]

NO contractor will be “reconditioning” and reusing ANY pocket door hardware made these days, one hundred years from now.

[@davidb.fishburn9338]

Tom Silva, i would recommend putting some loctite on those screws. I'd bet the thermal cycling and the movement of the doors caused the original screws to loosen up , work loose and fall out. The loctite will keep those screws in place for a very long time.

[@idimidodjimi6760]

David B. Fishburn tou do know this has been shot like more than 2 years ago

[@fmaz1952]

@@idimidodjimi6760 First time took 100 years to fall off. There is still time to fix it properly.

[@davidb.fishburn9338]

@@idimidodjimi6760 Yes. But a little advice never hurts, no matter when.

[@davidb.fishburn9338]

@@Kevin-mp5of If rust is the loctite, then why did these screws loosen up and fall out? I'm a mechanic, i deal with rust and corrosion everyday. Cars and trucks move, vibrate, and heat up/cool down. These pocket doors are in a building, they don't move much enough to vibrate the screws loose. There is some thermal cycling, so that can be a factor. If they were rusted, they would not have fallen out.

[@jameskollmann3616]

@@davidb.fishburn9338 i agree i think someone tried to adjust the door and took the screws out not knowing what he was doing i've been a carpenter for 34 years and i have never seen that kind of hardware impressive

[@duby149]

I really don't understand why pocket doors isn't like the standard door for all apartments especially small ones, sure you will lose maybe a few inches of space but now you can use all 4 corner of the room and not have to worry about the door taking up way more space because it has to swing into the room.

[@ImTheJoker4u]

Swinging doors are easier to install, cheaper, and quieter.

[@GeeTheBuilder]

Soundproofing. Lots of people think they are being clever by using pocket doors for toilets and bathrooms. To save space. It’s only later they realise how much of a dumb idea this actually is. For separating, say, a living room and a dining room, fine. But also useless for a home office because of lack of sound proofing. Ask me how I know this...... 😐

[@jasonjayalap]

if the pocket door is in the corner, you still dont get that corner. I think that's the bigger issue: doors in corners of rooms.

[@bondpit8750]

@@GeeTheBuilderYou can’t beat a pocket door in certain situations tho’, as an example; a small half bath off a hallway in a utility/laundry area. Obviously, you can’t insulate the pocket for privacy, but by using a solid core door, and installing 5/8’s sheet rock on both sides of the wall, you can make the opening nearly soundproof, as much so as any other doorway in the house. Another way to quiet down the hollow wall AND to make it stronger, is to use a combo of 1/2” plywood covered with 1/4” drywall.

[@lisaln3987]

I have one pocket door that is sorta jammed. I don't have the wall wide open on one side. So does that mean I need to make holes in order to get it working again?

[@steamgent4592]

Awesome

[@nikemuko.164]

My pocket doors bring cold air inside the house in winter how do you fix that.

[@HAMRADIOJOE4178]

COOL

[@garyemorin]

Open the top of the pocket or base board of where the door resides. Might find the screws...????

[@garyemorin]

I say top, to feed a fluoroscope into the cavities of the pocket door’s barn

[@rupe53]

garyemorin ... he said they already looked inside the wall so were probably lost years ago when nobody knew what they were for.

[@jaywolfe1254]

I want to add this hardware to my house does anyone know they still make them

[@littlelady.7vidhyavishal376]

Am trying to remove mine one completely and it not easy.

[@nik1954]

That nice if you can get on top and sawsall into your area... What about if you can't sawsall in....

[@danb.709]

I'm a property manager and there is a door inone of my apartments with the same problem, I've been putting off fixing it and now that I've seen what's involved it will probably just stay broken.

[@kenc2257]

If it's a fairly modern apartment, I doubt it has 100-year-old cast iron sliding-door hardware. Modern sliding-door hardware certainly isn't as durable, or beautifully cast, as the set on that old house, but is still fairly easy/straightforward to work on.

[@danb.709]

@@kenc2257 it's not a modern apartment, built 1904 I believe. Every door and all the trim was built on site. I'm pretty handy but it's a level of carpentry that is beyond me.

[@VeretenoVids]

It may be easier in your apartment. In my house (1910) there is framing that was put on with decorative screws to make it easy to make adjustments to the doors and the hardware. Much easier than having to go through the wall!

[@danb.709]

I'll look into it after the current tenant moves out, but I really don't want to have to tear through the lathe and plaster to get at it.

[@jameskollmann3616]

@@danb.709 with any pocket door old or new removal should be easy there should be a set of door stops that are screwed in once those are off the door will come right out

[@AdamDaley1]

Hope they vacuumed that out before they sealed it up

[@augustreil]

Agree and a little lube probably wouldn't hurt ?

[@GlitchedPepsi]

august oh thats just fine...

[@augustreil]

@@Kevin-mp5of, On the load bearing pins, I'm not saying it should be smeared all over everything. SMH.

[@t1n4444]

@@augustreil Indeed August, SMH. No lube required in last hundred years so won't need any now. I expect the manufacturer was thinking more in terms of "rpc" (revolutions per century).

[@seanliburd3563]

💯

[@alonzojohnson7955]

Bottom open

[@fixitwithzim]

100 years ago...when things were built to last!

[@NorthernChev]

I would have vacuumed the track out before reinstalling, considering it won’t be opened for another hundred years.

[@803mastiff9]

When you look something made 100+ years ago its like it was created by a completely different alien civilization. They weren't distracted by the internet of things and had more time for purpose based thought. It must have been splendid.

[@BiggMo]

Kind of a shame to hide that old hardware up in that box beam. That would make beautiful set of rollers exposed on a barn door (or something)

[@rowebil00]

You took the whole house apart just to fix that door.

[@Varifyable]

no they are rehabing the house and putting up new plaster/drywall anyways. the only inconvenience i would say was the removal of that foot of 1x6 to access the wheels. easy to put back lol.

[@DannySteel18]

Bolts*

[@t1n4444]

Bolts go with nuts. Definitions on-line if interested.

[@patmcbride9853]

Hope you lubed them up before you closed everything off.

[@t1n4444]

Hmm, might be that no lube is required because of attracting dust and debris? Possibly a bit of graphite powder? It's not as if they wheels make many rotations along a three foot track. Probably doors heavy enough so you couldn't push them very quickly either.

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5of 😂😂😂 I will presume that the younger correspondents haven't yet twigged lubricants aren't often "designed" to have a working life of over a century. Plus lubricants in an "open device" would "attract" contaminants and might literally "gum up the works". And of course other devices don't use liquid lubricants such as a lock, on the pins, say. Graphite powder might be employed but sparingly. Sometimes using a very soft pencil lead (9B?) can be used to "draw' the lubricant on the relevant part.

[@t1n4444]

@@Kevin-mp5of Forgot to add that when we were building Stonehenge we used charcoal as a lubricant ... which was weird as there were no moving parts.

[@MichaeltheCrank]

Does anyone make reproduction Hardware like that?

[@drewbush6535]

Still works because they didn’t have engineers back then

[@trafficczar3366]

Not made in China.

[@samsngdevice5103]

Next up: How to lubricate fake pocket Daisy duke short pants on a dance pole.... Donald Tramp.

[@kman-mi7su]

Joe Burden says, "you ain't black" if you don't watch.

[@samsngdevice5103]

@@kman-mi7su Don't be black!

[@augustreil]

TRUMP 2020 !!

[@samsngdevice5103]

@@kman-mi7su Word of the day: Joe b u r d e n

[@augustreil]

@@Kevin-mp5of, Why ? Best President we could ever have, especially at this point in time.