This annoys me

[Thomas Wilson]

The right side of the door frame of a pocket door in the bathroom is horrendously out of plumb.
492708

It bothers me every time I see it. Fixing it would require reframing the wall. It will eventually become necessary because the screws on the rollers on the door are pulling out. It may be that roller bracket was deformed by the carpenter [sic] who installed it to get the left side to line up. Neither side is plumb. How do leave something so obviously bad?

Just venting.

[Lee Schierer]

You probably can pull the trim and door casings and make it plumb when you put them back. You will probably need to touch up the paint on the wall.

[Edward Weber]

The right side of the door frame of a pocket door in the bathroom is horrendously out of plumb.
492708

It bothers me every time I see it. Fixing it would require reframing the wall. It will eventually become necessary because the screws on the rollers on the door are pulling out. It may be that roller bracket was deformed by the carpenter [sic] who installed it to get the left side to line up. Neither side is plumb. How do leave something so obviously bad?

Just venting.

I have a closet door that was framed by the same guy. (I can't say how I refer to him)
It's really more of an annoyance than anything, but it's just irritating to think that someone would work like this. I can reframe the jamb, it's just really far down on the list of things to do and will cause disruption in the home, so it must be done quickly.

[Tom M King]

I agree with Lee. There is no obvious reason to reframe the whole wall. Maybe some longer screws can take care of holding the track in place.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

About 15 yrs ago, we toured a brand new home by what was supposed to be one of the best builders in the area. The gas fireplace was vented onto the 4 ft wide rear porch about 3 ft off the ground. People could easily get scorched just walking part it. The very wide front door or floor of both, were so far out of line, that day light could be seen under the bottom of the knob side of the door. The kitchen heating vent was just came out under one of the cabinets and came through the vent in the kick board only when the cabinet drawers were all closed, One foundation sill on one side of the house was directly at exterior grade and had visible dampness were water carrying mud has seeped in over the sill and down the basement wall. Feeling ever so irascible, I asked the sales rep if he was embarrassed to be there. I could tell by the look on his face, he had no clue. I started to point out the flaws and code violations. Asked how much he thought the draft coming under the front door would cost in heating oil. What insurance was going to cover the burned kids where the gas vent exited.

[Jim Becker]

I'd just redo the door opening as Lee and Tom mention to get things plumb, especially if the door is operating correctly.

[Derek Cohen]

Thomas, we moved onto our property 32 years ago. We purchased the worst house in a great area, one we really wanted to live in. But it was all we could afford, and the house was considered to be a “bowl over”.

It had been self-built in the late 1940’s by a Welsh migrant couple, who faced the problem of limited materials and costs. Keep in mind that houses here are not wooden framed but all brick or concrete blocks. This house was everything they could get their hands on! By the time we moved in, there had been many years of neglect, and holes in the walls that one could pass an arm through. Louvered windows, which were either painted half-open or closed. The plastered brick walls all sloped. The front door was 1” out of plumb, and the front door fitted by panel-sawing a parallelogram! The floors were all suspended Jarrah planks, but slopped as the foundations had sunk in parts.

We could not afford to knock it down and build again, so for 7 years my wife and I “fixed” it all: pulled out and replaced every door and window, leveled the floors, re-plastered the walls, etc, etc. After 7 years we knocked the house down! It needed to be enlarged, and it was cheaper to build again than add on to drek. The replacement is all the original was not.

I hope this makes you feel better about a wonky bathroom door frame. :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John K Jordan]

I’d be inclined to rebuild it even if it meant taking down the wall. My mother liked to say if you want something done right do it yourself.

The builder left something so bad because he probably didn’t care.

The guy who bought our last house said what sold him on the house was the doors. Every door, inside, pocket, and external closed perfectly with a “snick” (And my custom framing and trim were works of art, if I say so myself! :) )

JKJ

[Thomas Wilson]

I’d be inclined to rebuild it even if it meant taking down the wall. My mother liked to say if you want something done right do it yourself.

The builder left something so bad because he probably didn’t care.

The guy who bought our last house said what sold him on the house was the doors. Every door, inside, pocket, and external closed perfectly with a “snick” (And my custom framing and trim were works of art, if I say so myself! :) )

JKJ
You’re hired! I have to remove the right side trim inside and out to get it plumb. The top trim has to come off to recut it. The left side is not plumb either, but not as bad as the right. I probably should fix it. The roller bracket is pulling out of the door so the door needs to be removed from the pocket. The door is also dragging in the pocket. The floor is tile so I am limited in where I can line up the opening without making an unsightly hole in the tile. I had not mentioned this earlier but the framing is steel studs. There are probably wood nailers around door frame that I can remove and shim out plumb, but I won’t know until I remove the trim. There is a cabinet on the near side of the wall and a tile shower stall behind the wall to the left of the door that I don’t want to mess up. It may not meet everyone’s definition of re-doing the wall but it is close. I hate jobs like this.

[Tom M King]

Check to see if those metal studs have wood in them. If the framing kit was used for it, that's the way they come. I always used the heavier system with 2 sets of rollers on each side of an upside down T track. I never had any complaints about them, and never needed to even change any rollers.

If the wall is not too badly out of plumb in the wall plane, you should be able to get by without redoing all of that. I might change out the track system though. Here is what I use on solid wood doors. The rollers roll so easily that the track needs to be perfectly level or the door will close itself. I used a lot of the same sort of track with bypass doors for closets over the years.

https://johnsonhardware.com/200pd-pocket-door-hardware

That track is heavy enough that it will support the door if you can get your arm back in the wall to put what screws in that you can reach. Use two jamb trim pieces (on each side of the door if there is space) on one side of the opening, put in with screws so you can take them down and take the door out if you ever need to for any reason.

Almost all of the new houses I built are within a half mile of where I live. About half of the owners have to drive past our house to get to theirs. I've never had a complaint or callback. All my doors close with a single sound too. I never used a prehung door, and cabinets were made onsite.

Recently, the third owner of a house I built in 1981 stopped by when he saw me at the mechanic shop. He introduced himself, and told me how much his family loved the house. He owns several other vacation homes, but admitted to not knowing much about houses. He said he brought an expert with him, and after being in the house for less than a minute, the expert came up to him and said, "Buy this one! Buy it now!" They did, and later brought Pam and me a gift card for meals at the fanciest restaurant in the area. I hadn't been in that house since I sold it in 1981.

[Thomas Wilson]

Thomas, we moved onto our property 32 years ago. We purchased the worst house in a great area, one we really wanted to live in. But it was all we could afford, and the house was considered to be a “bowl over”.

It had been self-built in the late 1940’s by a Welsh migrant couple, who faced the problem of limited materials and costs. Keep in mind that houses here are not wooden framed but all brick or concrete blocks. This house was everything they could get their hands on! By the time we moved in, there had been many years of neglect, and holes in the walls that one could pass an arm through. Louvered windows, which were either painted half-open or closed. The plastered brick walls all sloped. The front door was 1” out of plumb, and the front door fitted by panel-sawing a parallelogram! The floors were all suspended Jarrah planks, but slopped as the foundations had sunk in parts.

We could not afford to knock it down and build again, so for 7 years my wife and I “fixed” it all: pulled out and replaced every door and window, leveled the floors, re-plastered the walls, etc, etc. After 7 years we knocked the house down! It needed to be enlarged, and it was cheaper to build again than add on to drek. The replacement is all the original was not.

I hope this makes you feel better about a wonky bathroom door frame. :)

Regards from Perth

Derek


The bathroom is in a condo complex that has had a number of very expensive problems that trace back to the original construction. All the bay windows in a 40 unit building were incorrectly built and leaked. Some below grade rented office space has had foundation leakage. The repairs and lawsuits have been expensive and are not fully fixed after 20 years. Problems with poor wiring and plastic supply lines have plagued many units including ours. But the neighborhood is great. We stay on. Tearing it down and rebuilding is not an option but it has crossed my mind.

I have had several houses built. I know about construction shortcuts, unforeseen problems, and poor workmanship. I have fixed a lot of mistakes and lived with others. The best building I have ever had built is the shop at the lake house but it too had problems even though I was on site every day. Again, I have had to do a lot of the detail stuff myself. This is life. I am fortunate that I know how to do this stuff myself and can tell the crews what I want.

[Rich Engelhardt]

We just moved into a house we had built.
We had them put in 4 pocket doors.

I hope you find a resolution to this that doesn't entail tearing the wall down.

I will bookmark this thread for future reference & hope I never have to use it....