Door Installation Jamb Tool' title='Door Installation Jamb Tool' />Pocket Door Installation Tips Ask the Builder. Ask the Builder. Pocket Door Installation Tips. The following instructions will help you install just about any pocket door hardware kit. I URGE you to completely read and follow the enclosed instructions you will find with your pocket door hardware. These systems are really easy to install. They require minimal tools and some patience. The Rough Opening. This is the foundation of your system. Get this wrong and you will suffer later. The rough opening will seem huge. Why Because it will be more than twice as wide as a usual one. The width is almost always two times the actual finished door with plus one inch. So if you intend to install a 2 foot 8 inch door 3. The height of the rough opening off the rough floor surface is usually 8. Be sure you measure from the highest point of the subfloor if your floor is out of level. Also, the rough opening needs to be plumb, level and NOT twisted a helix. Warranty Installation Manual AluminArt Products Limited the Company warrants to the original purchaser, the Purchaser that, the aluminum. Web portal for buildingrelated information with a whole building focus provided by the National Institute of Building Sciences. Areas include Design Guidance. Home Repair Parts Garage Door Weather Seals and Insulating Products Rodent Protection Products Garage Door Stop Molding Rodent Guard. When wide open, the door butts against the trim on the hinge side. That clearance is determined by the depth of the bookcase and the location of the pivot, measured. Cutting vinyl siding to install a new exterior door is a tedious job, but its one that most moderately handy homeowners can manage. Vinyl siding comprises long. DSCF5317Jambsaw_hand_new.jpg' alt='Door Installation Jamb Tool' title='Door Installation Jamb Tool' />The top of the rough opening really needs to be level. This is where the track is attached. The side jambs must be plumb. That should be common sense. As for twisting, this means that the bottom plate of the wall before it is cut out must be directly above the top plate. All too often rookies frame the opening without a bottom plate in place. One end or both of the side rough jambs can drift out of plumb this way. Here is how you can check your opening for perfection. Simply string a line tightly from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner. Do the same across the other corners to make an X. The strings should just barely touch one another. If they do not touch or one string presses significantly against the other, your rough opening is a helix Fix it if it is. Installing the Track. Once the rough opening is complete, you can install the track assembly. Each track is slightly different. Follow the individual instructions. Make sure it is level before you proceed with anything elseInstalling the Pocket Uprights. To do this correctly, you need to snap chalk lines that are directly below the top plate. If your rough frame is not a helix, this is easy. Just snap the lines where the bottom plate stops at each end. These chalk lines serve as your reference point so you can properly locate your floor plates that hold the side split jambs. The Side Split Jambs. These are the thin studs that create the pocket. The placement of two of these is critical. They form the beginning of the pocket. Your instructions will tell you precisely where to mount these. The other two jambs simply are placed half way between the first two and the actual wall studs. Finish the Wall. If you installed the frame correctly, you can now add your drywall or plaster. Be sure your nails do not go through the thin side split jambs If they do, they will scratch the door. The Easy Part. To complete the job all you have to do is attach plates to the top of the door and trim it out. Of course you sealed the door on all edges and surfaces didnt you This is critical. You must seal those parts of the door that will disappear in the pocket forever. Without sealing, you will loose your door warranty and it can warp The pocket door wheels are set into the track at this time. The mounting plates on the top of the door allow you to hang the door. Once this is complete, the door will slide in and out of the pocket. You can now install the finish side jambs. Always install the top jambs last. Be sure to install these with finish screws, NOT nails. To remove the door at a later date, you will need to remove at least one top jamb. When you attach the door trim casing, try not to nail into the finish jamb material. This will interfere with the removal of the jambs at a later date. The finish jambs can be tough to fabricate on your own. It requires using a table saw and sanding the rough cut edges. Certain manufacturers sell these materials already sanded and cut to size. It is a tremendous advantage to use these. Installing pocket doors is not as tough as it sounds or looks, especially if you buy a quality hardware set. Remember, the key to a trouble free installation lies in a proper rough opening. If you get the rough opening right, the rest of the job will flow like a smooth vodka and tonic. Once again, read the instructions carefullyHow to Install a Door. Step 1 Measure the old door and order the new one. Photo 1 Pry off the interior trim. Robin thought this was a pretty neat trick. Protecting the wall with a putty knife under the pry bar meant she wouldnt have to repaint the entry. One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is to grab a door off the home center shelf and expect it to fit right. So my first coaching task was to help Robin and Danny measure for and order the door. First we measured the width and height of the door. Then Robin carefully pried off the interior trim Photo 1 so we could measure the rough opening, which is the width between the studs and the height from the floor to the header. Protecting the wall with a putty knife saved the wall paint. Neat trick Robin. Next we measured from the back of the outside trim, or brick molding, to the face of the interior wall to find the jamb width. Ordering the new door with the right jamb width ensures that the interior trim fits without the need for added jamb extensions. Finally we went back outside and measured the width from the outside of the brick molding and the height from the bottom of the sill to the top of the exterior trim. Express Scribe Serial Number more. To avoid having to patch siding, its best to order a door assembly that will fill the space. This may mean asking for special exterior trim thats wider than standard 2 in. If youre ordering a door and sidelights, you can adjust the width by substituting a different size sidelight or by adjusting the space between the door and the sidelight. The door and sidelight were assembled at the plant and arrived as a single unit. Installation of a door without a sidelight is the same. With the door size, jamb width and dimensions of the rough and exterior opening in hand, Robin and Danny went door shopping. They discovered that the standard configuration of a 3 ft. The salesperson recommended spending a little extra money to add a spacer between the door and the sidelight. This corrected the width problem. Robin and Danny could have ordered a custom height door and frame for several hundred dollars more, but they decided to live with the height difference and cover the gap with trim later. We decided to add a strip of plywood under the sill to raise the door slightly, so in the end the shorter height worked out perfectly. I was shocked at all the door options available. The choices were limitless. Danny. Robin and Danny wanted a door that looked like wood, minus the maintenance hassles. They chose a Therma Tru fiberglass door with a surprisingly realistic looking oak wood grain. The cost of the door and sidelight unit was 1,3. Fortunately for us, anyway, the door assembly plant wasnt too busy and the door was delivered about 1. Step 2 Remove the old door. Photo 2 Tear off the brick molding. Danny cut the caulk along the edges of the brick molding with a utility knife so it would be easier to remove. But the molding was still stubborn and came off in pieces. Photo 3 Free the door frame. Heres Robin with her brand new recip saw cutting through the nails so the door frame will come out easily. Shes looking forward to the next demolition project so she can hone her sawing skills. Photo 4 Remove the old frame. Danny didnt have any trouble getting the frame out after removing the trim and cutting the nails and screws. The sill was stuck down with caulk, but broke free as Danny tilted the frame. Robin was surprised at how easy the door and frame were to remove, especially after the interior and exterior trim were off Photos 1 and 2. And she got to learn a new skilloperating a reciprocating saw Photo 3. If you dont have a recip saw, you can use a hacksaw blade. Step 3 Prep the opening. Photo 5 Check the sill. Robin was a lot more flexible than Danny, so he let her do most of the low work. Here shes checking the sill area to make sure its level. Theyve already added a layer of plywood to raise the door a little. Working in older houses or where the door is exposed to the weather, I often have to repair a water damaged subfloor or otherwise rebuild the sill area before installing the new door. In this case, the subfloor was in good condition, but we noticed that the new door sill was thinner than the old one. After taking a few measurements, we decided to add a strip of plywood over the subfloor to raise the door so it would clear the entry rug Photo 5. Robin checked to be sure the sill area was level. We could have shimmed under the plywood with strips of building paper or scrap vinyl flooring to level the floor if necessary. Since our door was covered by an overhanging roof, we didnt need additional protection from water, but if you install a door thats exposed to the weather, be sure to add a sill pan to protect the subfloor one brand is Jamsill Guard, jamsill. Step 4 Set the new door in place. Photo 6 Caulk the opening. Dannys done a lot of caulking, so this part was easy. He inspected the bottom of the door frame and did some measuring to be sure the beads of caulk aligned with flat spots on the sill. When Danny finished caulking the sill, he caulked around the perimeter of the opening too. Photo 7 Set the door frame. Robin and Danny could rest easy now. The door frame slid into the opening as planned and the heavy lifting part of the job was done. With the old door out and the opening prepared, we were ready to install the new door and sidelight. Before we started, I explained to Robin and Danny that our goal was to set the new door frame in the opening and then adjust it with shims until the door fit perfectly. First we removed all the packing material from the new door and hoisted it into the opening to check the fit. The width was a little tight. We didnt have much wiggle room between the siding and the brick molding, but it was obvious we could make it work. So we removed the door unit and Danny applied heavy beads of polyurethane caulk to the sill and exterior sheathing Photos 6 and 7. Danny and Robin moved the door to the opening and tilted it into place Photo 7. Step 5 Shim, square and fasten the frame. Photo 8 Tack the top corners. Here Robin is trying out her nailing skills. The 1. 6 penny nails proved a bit much, though, so Danny took over the nailing duty. Photo 9 Plumb the hinge side. Robin was a natural with the level, so shes checking to make sure the jamb is plumb while Danny makes adjustments from the inside. Photo 1. 0 Shim the door frame. Danny slid pairs of shims behind the hinges and along the sidelight on the opposite side. He positioned the shims to create an even gap around the door. Photo 1. 0A Close up of shims. Use pairs of shims to bridge gaps. Photo 1. 1 Secure the frame with screws. After checking to make sure the door was contacting the weather stripping evenly and operating smoothly, Danny drilled countersink holes and drove 3 in. To secure the hinge side, he removed one short screw from each hinge and replaced it with a long screw. Now we were ready to tack it in and add shims. Shimming a door is the most critical part of the installation since its when you tweak the frame to make the door fit perfectly and operate smoothly. I helped Robin and Danny center the top of the door frame with an equal caulk space between the siding and the trim on each side, and then tack the two top corners with 1. Photo 8. Next, Robin held a level to the hinge side trim while Danny pried on the frame until the jamb was plumb Photo 9.