I hate pocket doors. I just moved into a new house and there are three. One works fine, one wants to open on it's own, and one wants to close on it's own. The one that wants to close on it's own is at least 1/2" out of alignment with the latch, so that there is no way to lock it.

I watched a video on installation of a pocket door, so I know how to install one correctly now. But, unless I missed something, I don't see any way to adjust one that is already installed.

For the opening and closing on their own I imagine I can adjust the guides, maybe add some felt, and create enough resistance that they'll require effort to move. For the mis-aligned lock, worst case I can move it by chiseling out the (now) correct location, filling where needed with wood putty, and then sanding and painting.

Does anyone have any experience or insight on adjusting these once installed? Thanks! Did I mention that I hate pocket doors?

My bathroom door is a pocket door. I got tired of dealing with it. I put up a curtain.

The doors may be misaligned because the house settled causing the tracks to tilt. I had pocket doors in a 30's bungalow home, very common then and once I got things jacked level they became easier to operate. Another issue is the tracks themselves sagging, and getting in there to work on them is difficult. Since most of the casework of the opening is trim and not structural - the doors hang from the rail - removing it to reach in to make adjustments may be in order.

On older setups the bearings weren't greased and finally rust causing a lot of friction, too. The doors hang from sliders which may or may not allow vertical adjustment, styles change of over time. Getting them level where they meet to lock is a challenge.

All of this is the same for the newer barn doors, they are just exposed instead of hiding the works.

One answer is to remove them completely if they are uneeded, and replace if a door is required with a matching swing door - which may involve concessions over which way, furniture location, etc. Pocket doors offer the option of decorating with little regard to how doors swing - that's their feature.

You can adjust a pocket door but it takes a little effort taking some trim off. The head jamb (flat wood across the top of the door is split with one piece one each side of the door. One of these pieces of wood will need to be removed, doesn't matter which one. Typically this piece wood has the top piece of casing pinned to it. So the top piece of casing will need to be removed. Once the casing and wood jamb top is removed you can get a flat wrench into the space above the door and adjust the hangers. They do make an offset thin wrench you can purchase for this. Most hardware stores or lumberyards should have them. There are two hangers one at each end of the door. Once adjusted you have to reinstall the top jamb and casing. Sometimes the top piece of jamb might be installed with 2 screws and puttied over. They used to recommend this with pocket doors but since nail guns are normally used everyone pins the wood now.

I too would like to share my hate of pocket doors. Can’t help you on adjusting them, they are space savers, but I would rather have barn sliders in their place.

My old house was a 1950s ranch design that had 4 pocket doors. One of the four was misaligned and difficult to use - of course it was the one most used.

I found an old school trim carpenter who was willing to try. He had to remove the door trim for access and it was a pleasure to watch a craftsman work. He did fix the door properly without causing any significant damage to the trim (couple of unavoidable scratches) and it continued to function until we sold the house in 2017.

Can you see on top of the door if you have an adjustable nut? Takes a small wrench and it might allow you to raise/lower the door to bring it back into balance.

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Originally posted by steelcityfishanddive:
Can you see on top of the door if you have an adjustable nut? Takes a small wrench and it might allow you to raise/lower the door to bring it back into balance.

I can see a nut that I may be able to reach. If so, I'll be able to square the door to the frame, but I don't think that will help with it wanting to close by itself. The track appears to be tight against the top of the frame.

It's just not square and plumb, and I don't think that can be fixed without removing the casing.

Just a clarification. I too hate cheap pocket doors, which is what most homes have installed (including mine). However, if you're building or remodeling and are willing to eat some additional expense, a high quality pocket door will set you back some coin but it will be a thing of beauty, of course assuming the finish guy installing them knows what he's doing.

bukerhammer's post pretty much covered the process for most pocket doors. Cheap pocket doors are a PITA to deal with post installation, so I wish you good luck dealing with them.

I put in 4 pocket doors, all oak when I built our house 22 years ago, they are still in perfect working order.