Pocket Doors...

In the seven years that I have been in business, I have fully serviced two pocket doors and made adjustments on a few more. Pocket doors are great in situations where a normal door would require too much space to swing open and closed, but they might be the worst interior door option due to the level of difficulty when servicing them. Unlike bifold and bypass doors, in order to gain access to the roller assemblies, a number of pieces of trim board need to be removed to allow for the removal of the door. The main reason, in my opinion, that they are difficult to service is that drywall needs to be cut to gain access to the track if it needs to be replaced.
 
The first pocket door that I fully serviced was around ten years old and the one the I serviced yesterday was over fifty years old. Both doors functioned in similar ways, but the roller and track designs were different. The newer door needed to be removed due to an issue with the screws pulling out of the heavy MDF door and removal of the door was the only ways to gain access to the screws. The older door (the job performed yesterday) required the removal of the door due to the rollers wearing down over time allowing a metal part of the roller assembly to come in contact with the track. That contact caused the door to bind when operating it. If you ask me, not be able to easily access the roller assemblies is a poor design; but one that is still used today.
 
There is one seemingly obvious issue that I think most people don’t realize when they have a pocket door… wall anchors. I have come across a few pocket doors that have damage and/or functionality issues due to wall anchors being used to hang art or home decor items. In most cases around our homes, the depth of a wall anchor is not a concern so long as it doesn’t hit a pipe, a wire, or penetrate the other side of the wall. On a wall with a picket door inside, many wall anchors can come into contact with the door causing a problem with the door. If you have a pocket door and need to use a wall anchor, I would say that it should be under 1” in length or just do not use one at all.

If you do decide to install a pocket door, keep in mind how you would gain access to the roller assemblies, if needed. I think that a little thought up front when installing the door would allow for a cleaner and easier process to service that style of door. For a low use door, maybe it is not much of a concern; but if a pocket door is used in a high traffic area, I could see needing to service it more often.