Pocket door

[klr650goldwing]

The bathroom pocket door on our 369RL Solitude has suddenly become loose and positioned at an angle to the way it has been. DW found a 1/2 inch long screw lying on the floor nearby, but we can't find where it came from. When we pull the door out of the wall to close it now, it twists like a parallagram in the doorway opening. Once the door is half-way out, it straightens out. But the initial tug on the open door feels like the door will fall off. Can anyone help us out here. What adjustments are possible here?

[time2roll]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

time2roll wrote:
The difficulty with pocket doors is access to the hardware inside the wall.

Nothing wrong with pocket doors if starting with quality hardware and proper track attachment.

Yes I have a home with six of them. Have replaced a few of the rollers over the last 50 years. If the track was to fall I would probably have a hole in the drywall to also repair when done.

[Cummins12V98]

time2roll wrote:
The difficulty with pocket doors is access to the hardware inside the wall.

Nothing wrong with pocket doors if starting with quality hardware and proper track attachment.

[time2roll]

The difficulty with pocket doors is access to the hardware inside the wall.

[Cummins12V98]

You can use the same holes with larger disinter and longer screws. Just pre drill the aluminum track to slightly larger hole than the new screws.

[MFL]

It would be interesting, and informative, if you would post a pic or two of the open hole/track area. If my p-door ever fails, I'd have to do similar.

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

Exactly correct.

[klr650goldwing]

We have decided to cut a rectangular hole (about 6x14) in the wall of the bathroom up near the top. With the hole we'll be able to get tools and our hands in there to place screws in the channel and up into the ceiling. Once the door is repaired we'll cover up the hole with a decorative panel of some sort that will look attractive. Thanks everyone for all your help.

[Wadcutter]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
There is wood framing above any pocket door for the track to screw into. PIZZ poor screw type is the issue. Has ZERO to do with roof joists.

Not every pocket door has a wood framing. I've repaired 2 pocket doors for friends that did not have any wood framing above the track. The track was screwed directly into the ceiling. Just like the OP's track their track was not screwed into the roof truss but only into the ceiling panel. Once the truss was located it was an easy fix.

[Michelle_S]

We had the same issue, turned out that they used such small headed screws that the aluminum track pulled off the screw heads. Got a new track and used larger screws, plus put a length of 2x2 under the door in the pocket to help support it's weight when traveling.

[Cummins12V98]

There is wood framing above any pocket door for the track to screw into. PIZZ poor screw type is the issue. Has ZERO to do with roof joists.

[Wadcutter]

Just replacing the screws will not be a good fix unless you hit a ceiling truss. If you just run screws into the ceiling then they'll just pull out again. The ceiling material is thin and won't hold weight. Most likely you have wooden truss in the ceiling. Could be aluminum. Doesn't matter. First find where the truss crosses the ceiling. That is where you want to run the screw.
Get yourself a flexible drill extension. I don't know how much reach you need but the extensions come in various lengths so get the length you need to reach where the truss is. You may have to first drill a smaller pilot hole to start the screw. You can use the extension to drill the pilot hole then run in a screw.
It's not a major job but can be aggravating.

[Cummins12V98]

Door removal is NOT REQUIRED. You need access on one side or the other to add bigger screws.

[klr650goldwing]

We've now found two screws on the floor down in the pocket area. We think these two screws were used to hold the channel to the ceiling. When the door is fully in the wall/the pocket area and we just begin to close it, the bottom of the door moves first. This is because the full weight of the door is hanging from the channel under the part of the channel where the screws fell out. So not much is holding the door up at that point. So the solution seems to be to remove the door and replace the screws that held the channel to the ceiling. The problem is that I don't think I can get my hand and arm into the pocket opening far enough to replace those screws. Do you all have some good ideas here?

[Cummins12V98]

YES, the track can come loose as the JACK AZZES will use driller screws to attach the track to the header.