Need idea for 36” tall sliding closet door.

[jkristia]

I have finally started working on turning our bonus /storage room into a playroom for my daughter, and hopefully soon for me to as I have negotiated the end wall as the space for my model train (wanted to start building that for years now).

We still need storage space in the room, so I’m planning on building a small closet in the other end of the room and then build a low storage closet along the end wall which will serve as the base for my train when (if) I get to that.

So my plan is to build something as shown in the sketch, but I’m not sure about the doors. I would like to have sliding doors, but I have not been able to find the top/bottom rail, and I would rather not have to buy real closet doors from Home Depot just to get the rails. I know they have Stanley rails for sliding doors in Home Depot, but it is only the top rail. I would like a bottom rail to.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
Jesper

[twistsol]

Here are a couple of options, but routing a a couple of slots in a rail and slipping in the doors is pretty easy.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...r=door%20slide

Once you look at the this one, building them yourself makes a lot of sense.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...r=door%20slide

[jkristia]

ahh - I was thinking of something more like a regular closet door rail, but this one will work (the first link)

Thanks a lot
Jesper

[cabinetman]

In selecting hardware, either the weight of the doors is carried by the upper track (wheels/trolley), and the lower hardware is just guides. Or, by the lower track, and the upper assembly is a guide. In making that decision, some methods work better when the door is wider than it is tall.

.

[jkristia]

good point. My doors will be about 30x34, so I guess the rockler guides should work. I just ordered a couple of them to give it a try.

Thanks
Jesper

[pelligrini]

The smaller doors for your cabinet will be a lot lighter than big closet doors, so the hardware doesn't need to be as robust.

Cabinetman touched on a good point, "some methods work better when the door is wider than it is tall." If the doors are narrow, a hanging solution usually works better. With bottom bearing narrow doors, especially if they're just in open tracks, the door can bind when being moved. With a high center of gravity the door will tend to tilt and be difficult to move. I've got a medicine cabinet that has 3/16" mirrors sliding in plastic tracks. The doors are taller than wider and sometomes they'll bind or viberate when being slid.

[BobSch]

You might try screen door rollers. Most big box stores carry them.