Entertainment center question

[Sam Gamgee]

All,
I am designing an EC to house a 39.5" wide T.V. set on a slide w/ 3/4" sliding pocket doors. My question: How much additional room should one alot to account for the pocket doors and the slide? I have heard anywhere from 5" to 10" but, naturally, the more room I alot to the center of the EC the less I have for the bookshelves on each side.
Thanks,
dlb
.

[Al Navas]

... the more room I allot to the center of the EC the less I have for the bookshelves on each side...
Sam,

Thinking out of the box, I wonder if there is something out there that would LOOK just like conventional doors but would swing above the TV? You would give up some height, but it would do away with the shelf width as an issue.

I must admit, I am not familiar with something like I propose... :o . But I hope that others may have seen such a solution somewhere.


Al

[Ben Grunow]

Sam- I have seen these installed and 5" seems like more than I remember. I think the real answer though is that you must design your doors and cabinet around the available hardware for the pocket doors. Find a hinge/slide mechanism and buy it and build around it. Rockler (rockler.com) should have something for you. I'm sure others could suggest more places to find the hardware.

[Charlie Plesums]

I suggest that you go to www.rockler.com/CategoryView.cfm?Cat_ID=207 (http://www.rockler.com/CategoryView.cfm?Cat_ID=207) then pick the general type of hinge, then click on the Details tab, scroll down and you can get the Tech Info or Data Sheet which is the installation instructions for each type of hinge.

Keep in mind that if you are going to have adjustable shelves, etc, inside the doors, you really need to build an outer cabinet to hold the pocket doors and either lean against the alcove or "show," and an almost separate inner cabinet, inside the pocket doors, to hold the shelves, TV, speakers, etc.

With today's shallower TVs this style cabinet is rapidly becoming obsolete... a 40 inch TV (which is becoming routine) needs about a 25 inch door, which requires a 30 inch deep cabinet... for a 10 inch deep TV.

[brent lenthall]

5-10" is a lot of wasted space. I use KV pocket door hardware and allow about 2- 2.5" per side. Adjusting the doors with the TV installed can be tricky, so get your doors set, then install the TV. Also, remember that a 20" slide doesn't give you 20" of travel. A 24" slide should work for you 20" doors.

[Al Killian]

I just measured the space my door needs and it is about 2 1/8", so for two doors five inches will be plenty.

[Sam Gamgee]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my first post. I appreciate the time you took to do so and for the helpful information. Thanks again.
dlb
.