Jord Posted October 8 Posted October 8 Has anyone installed a Eclisse single pocket door with a finished wall thickness of 95mm? About to create a new ensuite with 36x63 stud work but worried the wall might be flimsy? Especially if tiling onto it once complete. I was going to use 38 x 89mm stud work but want to maximise the dimensions of the ensuite as much as possible. Thanks in advance.
Mike Posted October 8 Posted October 8 (edited) Not a direct answer, but I'd avoid pocket doors. They tend to be harder to clean & maintain, make more noise than regular doors, don't seal as closely to the frame, and it's quasi-impossible to fix things to the partition that conceals them as there's no space for fixings / cables / pipes (unless the partition is thick). I'd only use them for a door that rarely had to be closed, using premium kit. Edited October 8 by Mike
markharro Posted October 8 Posted October 8 48 minutes ago, Mike said: using premium kit. We intend to fit 2 sliding doors for space reasons. Can you recommend any brand as "premium kit" @Mike We intended to use rocketdoorframes.com/en/ as we bought their flush door kits and were impressed with the quality.
Jord Posted October 9 Author Posted October 9 On 08/10/2025 at 10:04, Mike said: Not a direct answer, but I'd avoid pocket doors. They tend to be harder to clean & maintain, make more noise than regular doors, don't seal as closely to the frame, and it's quasi-impossible to fix things to the partition that conceals them as there's no space for fixings / cables / pipes (unless the partition is thick). I'd only use them for a door that rarely had to be closed, using premium kit. Hi Mike, Appreciate the info and I know people don't tend to use pocket doors unless necessary. To be honest, the door will hardly ever get used, it's for an ensuite in our bedroom and we almost decided not to even have a door but thought we'd use a pocket door just in case we ever needed too close it. I've designed the ensuite so there's no electrical or plumbing within that void.
Bramco Posted October 9 Posted October 9 On 08/10/2025 at 10:04, Mike said: Not a direct answer, but I'd avoid pocket doors. They tend to be harder to clean & maintain, make more noise than regular doors, don't seal as closely to the frame, and it's quasi-impossible to fix things to the partition that conceals them as there's no space for fixings / cables / pipes (unless the partition is thick). I'd only use them for a door that rarely had to be closed, using premium kit. We have pocket doors leading into en-suites and there's electric sockets on at least a couple of the walls which form the pocket. I'm not sure why this should be difficult, it's just a case of making sure there is enough room. They are great where for example you might get a clash of doors, or you wan to future proof an area for wheelchair use. Ours were Hormann, only really because we used their internal doors for all the other doors. Ours were supposed to retract completely, with one of those pop out handles to get it back out when it is flush. For some reason this didn't get in the spec but if we were to do it again, I'd make sure that this was how they operated. If you have this feature, then when the door is fully in the pocket, it looks as though there's just an opening and no door.
markharro Posted October 10 Posted October 10 Hi @Bramco I cant find any ref to Hormann pocket doors online - do you have a weblink you could share?
AartWessels Posted Saturday at 06:17 Posted Saturday at 06:17 Eclisse is one of the most renowned brands for pocket doors. All our internal doors will be pocket doors, but haven't installed them yet, so no feedback yet.
Nick Laslett Posted Saturday at 07:10 Posted Saturday at 07:10 We have 3 pocket doors, and I spent a lot of time looking at the various options, Eclipsse is very popular and there are some good YouTube installs. Other systems I looked at were from Portman, Ermetika, and Scrigno. https://portman-pocketdoors.co.uk https://www.ermetika.com/en/sliding-doors https://www.scrigno.com/en/categoria/wooden-sliding-doors/ This was something I was going to install myself, so I spent a lot of time looking at the install guides to see which was the easiest to install. You really want a carpenter that has experience with one of these systems or a specialist that deals with these installs specifically. In the end I did a bespoke install using the sliding door product from Smart Systems Aluminium that matched our French doors. Because I was building the stud walls from scratch, it made incorporating the doors a lot easier. The various kit options do have some neat extra features. Hafele also do a kit which gets a lot of positive ratings. https://www.hafele.co.uk/INTERSHOP/web/WFS/Haefele-HUK-Site/en_GB/-/GBP/ViewParametricSearch-Browse?SearchTerm=+pocket+door&SearchParameter=%26Category%3DhmAKAOsFdfwAAAF.B87iJvmA The point of the kits is that it should remove a lot of the issues about getting everything plumb and true.
Pocster Posted Saturday at 08:02 Posted Saturday at 08:02 1 hour ago, AartWessels said: Eclisse is one of the most renowned brands for pocket doors. All our internal doors will be pocket doors, but haven't installed them yet, so no feedback yet. The instructions are not much fun . They sent me 7 and apparently I had to “ use the right one “ . Whilst I could eliminate a few it was impossible to know which was the correct one ! . Many annoyed phone calls later I gave up and built the thing not in situ - simply trial and error . Had bits left over of course 😊 . Then installed of course in the wall . For an “elite” product correct and usable instructions would have been nice .
Bramco Posted Saturday at 11:49 Posted Saturday at 11:49 14 hours ago, markharro said: I cant find any ref to Hormann pocket doors online - do you have a weblink you could share? Can't find one - they were sourced from a company in Sheffield by our builders. I'll try to find their name.
markharro Posted Sunday at 07:47 Posted Sunday at 07:47 Actually the Hafele stuff rings a bell ... I remember looking at their acoustic options ages ago. Another used this?
bmj1 Posted Sunday at 07:54 Posted Sunday at 07:54 (edited) We used eclisse pocket doors from portman for 4 openings. They are fabulous. But, complicated, and our builder's carpenter managed to build them all wrong. We brought in a new carpenter who was mostly able to sort it. If doing it, take your time and ensure you get it right. Edited Sunday at 07:54 by bmj1
Tony K Posted Sunday at 13:25 Posted Sunday at 13:25 I used eclisse pocket doors in our SB, for the master bedroom, bathroom, en suite, WC, and utility room. All other doors are standard swinging ones. I went for the pocket doors as it's a small building and I squeezed every inch out of it to get all the rooms I needed in there. Without the pocket doors I couldn't have done it. From that perspective, they are brilliant. I found building the frames easy enough, and it worked well with the rest of the internal walls as I made them all out of metal frame. My internal walls are 100mm thick so as to save on space, and I've found no problem with that, but be aware that slim walls like that prevent you from fitting acoustic insulation in the area the door will occupy. In our case that means that noise from the bathroom shower is noticeable in the adjacent bedroom. Not the end of the world, and not much I could have done differently anyway, but worth thinking about at the design stage. We've been in for almost a year now and so far no signs of maintenance issues, though time will tell. Finally, take care that none of the plasterboard screws go through into the pocket space. We've now got a horizontal scratch on one of the doors due to this! 1
Tony K Posted Sunday at 13:29 Posted Sunday at 13:29 I used eclisse pocket doors in our SB, for the master bedroom, bathroom, en suite, WC, and utility room. All other doors are standard swinging ones. I went for the pocket doors as it's a small building and I squeezed every inch out of it to get all the rooms I needed in there. Without the pocket doors I couldn't have done it. From that perspective, they are brilliant. I found building the frames easy enough, and it worked well with the rest of the internal walls as I made them all out of metal frame. My internal walls are 100mm thick so as to save on space, and I've found no problem with that, but be aware that slim walls like that prevent you from fitting acoustic insulation in the area the door will occupy. In our case that means that noise from the bathroom shower is noticeable in the adjacent bedroom. Not the end of the world, and not much I could have done differently anyway, but worth thinking about at the design stage. We've been in for almost a year now and so far no signs of maintenance issues, though time will tell. Finally, take care that none of the plasterboard screws go through into the pocket space. We've now got a horizontal scratch on one of the doors due to this! 1
Tony K Posted Sunday at 13:36 Posted Sunday at 13:36 Here's a pic of two of my pocket door frames connected to form a right angle. You can see that the pocket prevents insulation being installed. 1
Jord Posted Monday at 10:36 Author Posted Monday at 10:36 21 hours ago, Tony K said: I used eclisse pocket doors in our SB, for the master bedroom, bathroom, en suite, WC, and utility room. All other doors are standard swinging ones. I went for the pocket doors as it's a small building and I squeezed every inch out of it to get all the rooms I needed in there. Without the pocket doors I couldn't have done it. From that perspective, they are brilliant. I found building the frames easy enough, and it worked well with the rest of the internal walls as I made them all out of metal frame. My internal walls are 100mm thick so as to save on space, and I've found no problem with that, but be aware that slim walls like that prevent you from fitting acoustic insulation in the area the door will occupy. In our case that means that noise from the bathroom shower is noticeable in the adjacent bedroom. Not the end of the world, and not much I could have done differently anyway, but worth thinking about at the design stage. We've been in for almost a year now and so far no signs of maintenance issues, though time will tell. Finally, take care that none of the plasterboard screws go through into the pocket space. We've now got a horizontal scratch on one of the doors due to this! Hi Tony, Appreciate your reply, exactly what I was hoping to here! and looks very similar to what I have in mind. 1
Tony K Posted Monday at 11:28 Posted Monday at 11:28 39 minutes ago, Jord said: Hi Tony, Appreciate your reply, exactly what I was hoping to here! and looks very similar to what I have in mind. No worries. A couple of other small things to think about: You can just about tell from the photos that the horizontal bars in the pocket frame sit proud of the width of the metal studwork in the walls. You may have to double line the wall adjacent to the pocket so that it all lines up flush. I think that still allowed me to limit the width of the wall to 100mm, but base your design on the width of the pocket door housing rather than the stud walls, as the former is slightly greater. Also, a lot of the metal stud companies do excellent technical detail sheets for corners, openings, walls etc. Worth looking at.
finito Posted Tuesday at 11:41 Posted Tuesday at 11:41 Has anyone tried using cement board instead of plasterboard to make the door frame more solid? I’m installing one now and thinking about swapping the plasterboard for a 12mm cement board.
Jord Posted Tuesday at 13:14 Author Posted Tuesday at 13:14 On 12/10/2025 at 14:25, Tony K said: I used eclisse pocket doors in our SB, for the master bedroom, bathroom, en suite, WC, and utility room. All other doors are standard swinging ones. I went for the pocket doors as it's a small building and I squeezed every inch out of it to get all the rooms I needed in there. Without the pocket doors I couldn't have done it. From that perspective, they are brilliant. I found building the frames easy enough, and it worked well with the rest of the internal walls as I made them all out of metal frame. My internal walls are 100mm thick so as to save on space, and I've found no problem with that, but be aware that slim walls like that prevent you from fitting acoustic insulation in the area the door will occupy. In our case that means that noise from the bathroom shower is noticeable in the adjacent bedroom. Not the end of the world, and not much I could have done differently anyway, but worth thinking about at the design stage. We've been in for almost a year now and so far no signs of maintenance issues, though time will tell. Finally, take care that none of the plasterboard screws go through into the pocket space. We've now got a horizontal scratch on one of the doors due to this! Hi Tony, Quick question. on the data sheet for the Eclisse pocket door, the overall height installation is 2056. which is top of finished floor level to bottom of header stud work. I'm mounting the system straight onto my floorboards, but once I have my tile backers, adhesive and tiles down (approx. 25mm), the door won't shut. Am I correct with this? If so, whats the solution. Thank you
andyscotland Posted Tuesday at 20:34 Posted Tuesday at 20:34 7 hours ago, Jord said: Hi Tony, Quick question. on the data sheet for the Eclisse pocket door, the overall height installation is 2056. which is top of finished floor level to bottom of header stud work. I'm mounting the system straight onto my floorboards, but once I have my tile backers, adhesive and tiles down (approx. 25mm), the door won't shut. Am I correct with this? If so, whats the solution. Thank you You can either pack the framework up so that it starts where you expect FFL to be (which is IMO the best solution), or once you have it all installed order a door of the appropriate (shorter) height to hang above the flooring.
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