Office Wall and Finally a Door!

 Even before the kids took over the old office for a bedroom, I figured the back storage would be something else eventually: most likely some kind of office, homework, or hangout space.  Still, it’s a teeny room that has needed a bit of help in finding its own sea legs as it were.  I started it way back in 2020 when we insulated and framed out for two bedrooms (one the aforementioned office-now bedroom).  It made sense to get the whole span done at once.

In 2021, I wanted to make it fun and functional, no matter what its use was.  So, I added slat wall panels for an entire wall, and painted them in the same “sunset rainbow” that I painted our basement stairs.  I still really love these colors and how well they play off the room.  Then I added bead board on the two remaining walls, painted these SW Midnight (6264), had the water heater relocated to the back corner… and there it’s been.  A flexible dumping ground of storage, office, and freezer space.

There isn’t a great reason for this to have sat for so many years, other than using the office we had and allowing this space to exist in whatever capacity we’ve needed.  Largely it’s been the chaos space as other rooms in the basement have needed the flexibility.  This really is the last little pocket in our basement.  Now it’s the office’s turn!

With a good starting point and all the structural repairs done, I knew getting anything else done would require installing the wall separating the office from the little hall heading to one kid’s bedroom.  When I repaired the joist under the kitchen and added the mini-beam, I knew this would be the next step.

Levelling

As with most old houses, ours isn’t exactly… straight.  This side of the house dips pretty significantly toward the chimney, so a level header was essential for having a door that flows well on its track.  Part of the prep work here was making this already shortened door even shorter.  But I didn’t want to hack more off the bottom or top, since a full 4” was the right size, so I removed the top rail, trimmed the panel and the stiles, and reinstalled the rail.  It was an interesting job, but I also knew the pocket rollers would provide any structure that was needed afterward.  Before installing those, I added some metal strapping to the top just to be sure.

With the door size right, I had to figure out where exactly it would sit so I could float the door in the space.  I found where I wanted it to start and end on the pre-installed top plate, and marked liberally on the adjacent wall and the top plate.  Then I used a level and the door to lock in the best height for the top of the door: just the right amount of space that it wouldn’t bind on the slightly sloped floor, but enough that it would leave a reasonable gap between the floor and the bottom of the door when closed. Finding the level height is one of the most important parts to pocket door installation: without a level header, the door won’t stay put.  It will naturally follow gravity to one end or the other.

Building the Header

To get the header assembled, I cut a second 2x6 to hang level below the top plate.  With cribbing in place, I was able to get this level by using my mark on the wall and starting with two measurements: the one where the door needed to end installed at 6 3/4” below the top plate, and another measurement 4’ away.  This was easy to find by measuring down with my level this landed at 5 1/2” below the top plate.  That’s a 1 1/4” difference over only 4 feet, but it does track even if we’ll rip our joists apart trying to lift the dip out.  With these measurements, I subtracted 3 1/4” for the thickness of the 2x6 at the bottom of the header and the door hardware.

From here I built cribbing in three more spots, and installed the pocket track.  Each piece of cribbing reduced in height by 1/2”. They went from 3 1/2” down to 1 1/2”. Before hanging the door, I still had to get the framing for the surrounding walls in: this is why I used 2x6 for the wall framing: this gave me plenty of space to have flat stud walls along each side of the door.

Hanging the Door

The rest of this process is pretty standard, for me.  I hung the door with the same pocket system used in the kid’s room two years ago, only with one door in the pocket instead of two.  Since I didn’t need to frame in one side of the doorway yet, I left it open to maneuver the hangers onto the door track while these were installed on the door.

Once that was done, I was able to get the last side of the door jamb in, and I used the door to ensure it was plumb before cutting and installing the base plate for that wall. When in doubt, use the thing you have to measure.  It ensured a good fit and the door, along with its casing, is just right.