My Bathroom Gets a Rolling Door
A before & after makeover showing you how I used a hardware kit to install a rolling door in my bathroom.
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I know you have seen rolling doors all over Pinterest. They add tons of character to a room and my two-story bathroom needs just that! It is just a big cavernous space. With the removal of the swinging door into the room, I have created a better flow between rooms while adding lots of fresh style and character.
before: swinging door
When you walk into my bedroom there are 2 doors that overlap and then a third one behind the second one. Sound confusing? It is!
There are way too many overlapping doors – door to my bedroom, door to bathroom, and the door to the shower all within 3 steps of each other. Not good! The door knobs always touch and the shower door gets linked to the bathroom door knob daily and has to be pulled apart. Ideally pocket doors are what the builder of the house should have put in here.
after: rolling door & hardware installed
With the help of a rolling door and rolling door hardware–removing the swinging door in the bathroom that hid the shower stall and replacing it with a rolling door creates a much better flow and the bonus…
…of adding character and style to my cavernous two-story bathroom. Bold and big accessories are needed to create balance in here. The addition of the rolling door is like adding a piece of large art. I chose to paint the door a fun color – the name of the color is Celestial #A1403 from Glidden.
View of doorway with the rolling door hardware installed from the bedroom. I painted the outside of the door white and the inside – blue.
The bathroom door no longer swings into the room, blocking the shower door, but silently glides along the rail that is attached above and along the wall with 4 brackets.
Here is how it looks open.
and closed.
Adding the door was so easy to do!! It looks hard, but it took longer to paint the door, then to hang it. Getting the rail up and level took the most time. This is best done with two people. I had Ed help me do this. The rest, I did myself.
Each door kit comes with:
- 2 roller straps
- Rail
- Mounting brackets
- 2 Rail end stops
- Floor door stop
- Floor center guide
- Rail tap and splice kit (when necessary)
You will also need:
- Door – A solid, not hollow-core door that is at least 6-inches wider than door opening. It can also be taller. My original swinging door was 30” wide. I bought a new door that was 36” wide and about 1-inch taller. You need the overlap so the doorway opening will be completely covered when closed.
- 2 Door Pulls
Roller Strap Installation on Door
Paint the door on both sides before attaching the roller straps.
1. Install the roller straps onto the top edge of the door. The location of these straps is critical for the proper, safe use of the rolling door.
2. The distance between the top of the door and the outer diameter of the back of the wheel (measured from the back of the door) should be 13/16” – 7/8” (this will achieve approximately 3/32” gap between the top of the door and the rail when these measurements are achieved).
3. Using the screws provided, attach the strap to the door. It is very important that the screws are installed into solid wood, not hollow-core doors with thin veneer skins. It is also recommended that you pre-drill the screw holes. Make sure that proper vertical alignment of the strap is achieved before fastening the strap to the door.
Rail Installation
1. The location of the rail is dependent on the height of the door, desired gap between the floor and bottom of door and desired overlay of top of the door to door opening.
2. Recommended spacing for the wall mounted brackets is 16”
3. The Short Bracket will accommodate doors up to 1-1/2” thick, the Long Bracket will accommodate doors up to 2-1/4” thick.
4. Wall brackets must be mounted securely into the studs behind the sheetrock. If the brackets are to be mounted to the molding surrounding the opening, the molding must be firmly secured to the wall framework
When attaching the brackets, I ran into a problem. The molding around my door is not flat. I could not mount the brackets on it. Rolling Door Designs sells two different bracket depths – long and short. Neither was right.
You know me, I was not going to let this stop me from having a rolling door. My solution was a 1/4-inch thick piece of plywood cut to the size of the back of the bracket. I pre-drilled holes in them to match the holes on the brackets.
I used one behind each bracket. This added the right depth so the door would glide over the molding freely. I could have added one long- 1/4” thick board above the door to hold the brackets, but I wanted to keep the look above the door clean-lined.
How to Attach the Rolling Door to the Rail
This is best done with two people or as I like to call it a 4-hands needed DIY :) Remove the rail from the brackets. There is a groove along the back of the rail that slides over the bracket tips. Once it is off – slide the rail under the rollers that you attached to the door. Once the rail is under both rollers, slide the rail back over the tips on the brackets. Attach an end cap onto each end of the rail.
1. After installing the door onto the rail, slide the door to the desired opened position.
2. Install the End Stop bracket to the floor or wall so that the door stops in the desired opened position.
3. Install the Center Guide bracket so that the door will always be captured by this bracket in the fully opened and fully closed position.
4. Repeat step #2 for installation of the other End Stop bracket when the door is in the closed position.
I bought two types of pulls at the hardware store. A flush mounted cap pull for the outside of the door. (This is needed since this side of the door will roll back along the bathroom wall.) A pull style handle is fine for the inside of the door.
To attach the flush mounted cap pull, I needed a drill bit that would cut out a circle into the door so I could push the round metal pull into it.
If you are looking for other rolling door variations, see how I added a trifold rolling door in my Studioffice.