Seeking Advice on Strengthening a Pocket Door Wall (Eclisse System)

[finito]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm planning to install a pocket door in my new bathroom using the Eclisse system. The finish will be for a 115mm wall, which the design calls for one layer of 12.5mm plasterboard on each side.

 

Based on my past experience, pocket door walls often don't feel very sturdy. I'm considering replacing the 12.5mm plasterboard with a combination of 9.5mm plasterboard and 3mm plywood to add rigidity.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Would this 9.5mm plasterboard + 3mm plywood combination actually make a noticeable difference in sturdiness, or would it be an ineffective use of time and materials?

2. Does anyone have recommendations for other reliable methods or material combinations to strengthen a pocket door wall?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Simon R]

An alternative you might consider using a glass sliding door surface mounted. It makes finishing a bit easier than a pocket and is much more robust

.

[Nickfromwales]

52 minutes ago, finito said:

Hi everyone,

 

I'm planning to install a pocket door in my new bathroom using the Eclisse system. The finish will be for a 115mm wall, which the design calls for one layer of 12.5mm plasterboard on each side.

 

Based on my past experience, pocket door walls often don't feel very sturdy. I'm considering replacing the 12.5mm plasterboard with a combination of 9.5mm plasterboard and 3mm plywood to add rigidity.

 

My questions are:

 

1. Would this 9.5mm plasterboard + 3mm plywood combination actually make a noticeable difference in sturdiness, or would it be an ineffective use of time and materials?

2. Does anyone have recommendations for other reliable methods or material combinations to strengthen a pocket door wall?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

How long is the wall, and is there a reason you can’t beef it up more and widen the whole wall accordingly? 
 

Alternatively you can use acoustic or FR plasterboard which is tougher / denser.

[finito]

15 minutes ago, Simon R said:

An alternative you might consider using a glass sliding door surface mounted. It makes finishing a bit easier than a pocket and is much more robust

.

Thanks Simon, looks really neat, but the new door would connect the bathroom with the hall so can't have a glass unfortunately. 

[finito]

8 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

How long is the wall, and is there a reason you can’t beef it up more and widen the whole wall accordingly? 
 

Alternatively you can use acoustic or FR plasterboard which is tougher / denser.

Thanks for the advise Nick.

 

The width of the wall is 2m and the actual frame for the pocket door is 1630mm.

I could beef up the wall but them the finish jamb provided won't work for the finish wall thicknes. I didn't think of other types of plasterboard, I guess the acoustic one could do the job with the same thickness. Would the acoustic be better than the fire resistant plasterboard? Thank you 

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

1 minute ago, finito said:

I could beef up the wall but then the finish jamb provided won't work for the finish wall thickness  

Can you explain what you mean? The frame gets added to not reduced? So you could make the wall 500mm wide if you wanted. 
 

3 minutes ago, finito said:

Would the acoustic be better than the fire resistant plasterboard?

Check the weight and choose the densest board type I guess! 

[finito]

4 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Can you explain what you mean? The frame gets added to not reduced? So you could make the wall 500mm wide if you wanted. 
 

Check the weight and choose the densest board type I guess! 

The jamb kit supplied is 115mm and that would fill the pocket frame + plasterboard. If I beef up the wall, I guess it would look nice as the architrave would not meet with the door jamb. 

 

Thanks for your help!!!