How To Make A Sliding Door Yourself

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

• The advantages of a sliding structure
• Where to start work?
• What is required to create a door frame?
• Preparations for assembling doors
• Installing a sliding mechanism
• Features of mounting the guide

There are different door opening systems, one of the most convenient is the sliding one. Such a system is able to save space in the room, since it does not require a large area for opening, it can fit well into any interior. Making sliding doors with your own hands is an interesting activity that can save money on buying a finished product.

The advantages of a sliding structure

• Sliding doors have many advantages, the main one being the ability to save space.
• Installation of such a door does not cause any difficulties even for a beginner; he does not require to have a complex tool with him or to have special knowledge.
• Installation of such a door will take much less time than installation of a conventional one; the box for it is much easier to assemble.
• You can create sliding doors with your own hands by purchasing suitable fittings and any door leaves that you like.

Where to start work?

Before buying building materials, accessories, tools, you will need to arm yourself with an ordinary tape measure. With its help, you need to measure the width and height of the doorway. If the door already exists, you can measure it. It is worth noting that an ordinary hinged door can easily be turned into a sliding structure using an old door leaf from it.

The dimensions of a standard door leaf are usually as follows: height - 2 meters, width - 80 cm, rarely 60 or 70 cm canvases, sometimes you can find a non-standard door 90 cm.

The main element required to create such a door is a sliding mechanism. It is completely optional to invent it: you can buy a ready-made structure in any store that sells door leaves and accessories for them.

You should know: when choosing a sliding mechanism, you need to know exactly the length of the door (for example, 80 cm). The length of the mechanism should be twice as long. It's okay if you buy a longer mechanism - it can be easily shortened, but problems can arise with a short product. It will not be possible to lengthen it, and if the length is insufficient, the doors will not open to the end.

You can install any mechanisms for sliding doors with your own hands. If it is required that the door does not open simply from a push, you can install handles with a special lock on it. Such a device can come in handy if you want the door to be locked or to prevent animals and children from opening it.

With the help of these mechanisms, any door leaf can be turned into a sliding door. For a more aesthetic look of the structure, you can make a new door frame, specially equipped specifically for the sliding structure.

What is required to create a door frame?

It is not necessary to buy a frame for a door leaf. It is enough to purchase the following materials in order to assemble it yourself. You will need:

• 5 meters of rail; the thickness is selected in accordance with the thickness of the wall in the doorway.
• Platbands
• Plank used to hide the opening mechanism from the eyes.
• The door leaf itself. You can use both new and previously standing.

The new canvas will not have traces from the installation of standard fasteners, so it will look more attractive.

DIY sliding door fittings will be much cheaper than buying a ready-made door assembled. This applies even to the most expensive fittings: the installation does not require hiring specialists, since an amateur can cope with it.

Preparations for assembling doors

In order to prepare the door leaf, you need the following tools:

• Manual frezer; if not, you can get by with the tools below.
• Chisel.
• Bulgarian.
• Drill.

Any tool is suitable for work, but with a hand router, work is faster and more accurate. The preparation of the canvas includes the following points:

• It is required to start work from the bottom end of the door leaf. Clearly in the middle, you will need to cut an even groove, the depth of which should be 3 mm. This recess is necessary for the lower guide to work. It will serve as a stop for the door, which will not allow the canvas to swing during operation. You can cut the groove using a hand router or grinder, on which a special circle for working with wood will be installed: it must have a fine tooth.
• The set of the sliding mechanism contains rollers, brackets. They need to be connected to each other. This can be done easily with nuts. Elements have special holes for connection.
• After fixing, the elements must be attached to the upper part of the door leaf from the end side. You do not need to screw them right away: you will need to circle the contours, then measure the thickness of the metal from which the elements are made, and make grooves equal to this thickness.
• After that, you can screw the rollers to the canvas.
• Making sliding doors can be simplified a little by not cutting the brackets into the door itself. The rollers can be simply screwed onto it. This will affect the external characteristics of the future door, however, if you have little experience, and you only have a chisel and a hammer in your hands, it is better not to make grooves for the rollers at all.
• After the mechanism is almost ready, you can proceed to the installation of the door lock. This structural element is optional, it is placed solely at personal discretion.
• It will be convenient to use the design if you install the handles. If you put the usual ones, the door will not open completely, banging with handles on the doorway. In order to avoid this, you will need to embed a special set of handles. For them, grooves are made on both sides, then a through hole is drilled. The outline for the handles will need to be marked in advance. The most convenient way is to cut out places for them with a jigsaw.

Installing a sliding mechanism

The scheme of sliding doors, as you can see, is not very complicated. After the canvas is ready for installation, you can proceed to further steps.

Before you can install the leaf in the doorway, you need to mount the door opening mechanism. To do this, you need to properly fix the guide profile: it must be located strictly horizontally. When installing it, you must use the level; the guide is placed on the floor. If it is uneven, you will have to carry out work to level the surface. If the profile is curved, the door will not be able to open easily; if the slope is large, the canvas may not be able to move along the guide at all.

Features of mounting the guide

Do-it-yourself sliding door guides must be installed in accordance with some rules, otherwise the structure cannot be expected to work correctly.

• Make sure the edge of the rail protrudes 50 mm from one side of the opening. From the side where the door will roll back, the profile should not protrude. Its length should clearly match the dimensions of the door leaf. If the mechanism is too long, you can always shorten it with a grinder.
• It is necessary to correctly calculate the height to which the door mechanism will be raised. It can be calculated taking into account the following factors: the gap under the door, the resulting height of the canvas, taking into account the rollers already installed on it (the gap can be from 10 to 20 mm, it depends on how even the floor is).

Before making your own sliding doors, you should check how smooth your walls are. If they are too crooked, this problem will have to be solved. It is easy to attach the guide to a flat wall, for this you just need to drill holes in the wall for it. If the walls are very crooked, a wooden batten can be used; you will have to move the guide slightly away from the wall.

In order to put the finished canvas with rollers on the guide, you will need to wind the rollers from the side. After installing the canvas, a special emphasis is placed on the door, which does not allow it to move to the side. For this purpose, a special groove was cut in the canvas from the bottom.

To prevent the inner guides from flying out, they must be fixed with self-tapping screws. This requires opening the door completely. First of all, fix the rubber cushion: it is used as a stop, then you will need to insert an emphasis into the lower groove of the blade. It is attached with dowels. After that, you can close the door, fix the bottom stop completely. If you watch the video, it will be clearer how to make sliding doors yourself.

In order for the installation to be completed, it is necessary to install door trims and a strip that will cover the opening mechanism. It is attached to a rail mounted on the wall. The slots can be closed with polyurethane foam or sealant.

Knowing how to make sliding doors, you can not only significantly save on materials, but also create a unique room design. To do this, you can use any canvases that are sold in stores or old doors that hung on hinges.

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