Eclisse pocket doors

[Chrisquig]

Hi,
I'm about to start an en suite project and my bathroom guy says his joiner only has bad stuff to say about eclisse pocket doors. I'm thinking of getting this system but as its quite expensive I am now wary. Could this be a case of joiner not up to the fitting or a genuine complaint about the pocket door system. I can't find a bad review about them anywhere.

Much appreciated any feedback in advance.

 

[Trevanion]

Let me tell you honestly and truthfully my opinion as a consummate professional:

F*ck Pocket Doors, a very stupid and very expensive idea, especially when something goes completely wrong and you have to tear the wall down to fix it. It's a novelty and nothing more, just get a regular bloody door, people!

The same goes for bi-folding doors! What a waste of time and money when 99% of people only use the one door to go in and out and hardly ever open the whole bi-fold. I wholeheartedly blame Kevin Mcloud.

Rant over :lol:

 

[loot]

I’ve put in quite a few Eclisse pocket door kits - they’re more expensive then other options but I think it’s worth it. Lots of the other kits require you to make parts of the pocket with studwork whereas the eclisse ones are a complete metal frame (which you can’t hang anything like a radiator or towel rail on, or put light switches/sockets in). They do require a bit of thinking the first time you do one but the instructions are decent enough. There’s 2 main thing to remember which the instructions don’t really make clear enough which can certainly lead to a lot of mucking about (might explain why someone could hate them after fitting one). Firstly use the very short plasterboard screws it comes with when you fix plasterboard to avoid scratching your new door! Secondly once you’ve put on the timber trim/liner bits on you cannot easily take the door out again or adjust it. So put the vertical jam the door closes into on first then get the door to shut against it right, then check it’s high enough to clear any floor coverings, then put on the small guide for the bottom on before the rest of the trim. I use a few blobs of silicone the timber trim to the metal in case you ever have to get the door out!

Actually thirdly if you don’t want to cut the door down pack the frame up to allow for floor coverings.

If you do all this then it’s pretty straight forward and you won’t have to trim the door at all - there are just 2 brackets that fix to the top of the door which hook onto the rollers in the mechanism.

To be fair to your bathroom guys, lots of carpenters would probably take one look at it and brick themselves and they’re certainly more complicated than fitting a normal door and frame. Also as per the previous comment a normal door and frame is almost always better unless space is a real issue! You can also easily replace a normal door in the future, whereas with the eclisse system you will have to remove and redecorate at least the top and one side of the architrave and the top trim.

Hope that made some sense - it’s not as complicated as i’ve made it sound!

Loo

 

[Chrisquig]

Cheers for your input. It was the glass door system I was looking to get but I think a few bad comments and uncertainty has put me off investing a grand on the door system although I've struggled to find any bad comments so far online about them.

 

[MikeG.]

It's the current fashion item. Hardly a client fails to mention them. Ridiculous idea........and I blame Grand designs.

 

[Marineboy]

I didn’t know such things as pocket doors existed. Seems a daft concept to me. Not only is the running gear hidden away so very difficult to maintain/repair, but I’d have thought that the physical effort required to open and close it is not as natural or easy as with a hinged door.

 

[Racers]

They worked fine on the starship enterprise...



Pete

 

[lurker]

Let me tell you honestly and truthfully my opinion as a consummate professional:

F*ck Pocket Doors, a very stupid and very expensive idea, especially when something goes completely wrong and you have to tear the wall down to fix it. It's a novelty and nothing more, just get a regular bloody door, people!

The same goes for bi-folding doors! What a waste of time and money when 99% of people only use the one door to go in and out and hardly ever open the whole bi-fold. I wholeheartedly blame Kevin Mcloud.

Rant over :lol:

People like like you, who sit on the fence, are not being helpful :lol: :lol:


Two Telly people who I just cannot watch....... Kevin mcloud and jay blades :evil: :evil:

 

[DougPearman]

I’ve put in quite a few Eclisse pocket door kits - they’re more expensive then other options but I think it’s worth it. Lots of the other kits require you to make parts of the pocket with studwork whereas the eclisse ones are a complete metal frame (which you can’t hang anything like a radiator or towel rail on, or put light switches/sockets in). They do require a bit of thinking the first time you do one but the instructions are decent enough. There’s 2 main thing to remember which the instructions don’t really make clear enough which can certainly lead to a lot of mucking about (might explain why someone could hate them after fitting one). Firstly use the very short plasterboard screws it comes with when you fix plasterboard to avoid scratching your new door! Secondly once you’ve put on the timber trim/liner bits on you cannot easily take the door out again or adjust it. So put the vertical jam the door closes into on first then get the door to shut against it right, then check it’s high enough to clear any floor coverings, then put on the small guide for the bottom on before the rest of the trim. I use a few blobs of silicone the timber trim to the metal in case you ever have to get the door out!

Actually thirdly if you don’t want to cut the door down pack the frame up to allow for floor coverings.

If you do all this then it’s pretty straight forward and you won’t have to trim the door at all - there are just 2 brackets that fix to the top of the door which hook onto the rollers in the mechanism.

To be fair to your bathroom guys, lots of carpenters would probably take one look at it and brick themselves and they’re certainly more complicated than fitting a normal door and frame. Also as per the previous comment a normal door and frame is almost always better unless space is a real issue! You can also easily replace a normal door in the future, whereas with the eclisse system you will have to remove and redecorate at least the top and one side of the architrave and the top trim.

Hope that made some sense - it’s not as complicated as i’ve made it sound!

Loo

Hi Loo - I have an Eclisse pocket door in Walthamstow that I'd really like someone to fix! I had it fitted 5 years ago as part of a loft conversion, and it's come off its top rail. Any chance you'd be willing to take a look? Thanks! Doug

 

[Spectric]

I didn’t know such things as pocket doors existed. Seems a daft concept to me.

Nothing new really, sliding doors have been around for a very long time and all they have done is to conceal the door when shut within the wall. For sliding kits look at Saheco

https://www.sdslondon.co.uk/saheco-mechanisms-for-sliding-doors.html
I think because you do not want any failures because of access issues what you need to do is use heavier rated trolleys and rather than just the two use three so the load is more than covered.

If you look at the SF-A90 rated at 90Kg, runs within a box section as shown below and use an extra trolley then I would suggest it is going to be durable.

 

[squib]

Very common in Italy, some of the handles are tricky to find though!

 

[MF1000]

Do the Italian ones work in reverse …the wall slides over the door

 

[johnnyb]

I used a rocket pocket door in a tiny bathroom. Fairly easy to fit. I did have to make architraves and the handles/locks seemed fine(by klug) all from ironmongery direct. No callbacks......yet!

 

[squib]

Do the Italian ones work in reverse …the wall slides over the door

No that's the Welsh ones.

 

[2sheds]

I had two Eclisse doors, a single and a double, fitted in our last house - my wife is a wheelchair user and we did not have the space for normal doors in those particular places where we used the Eclisse pocket doors. They worked beautifully and I'd buy them again if we needed them.

But getting someone to fit them was a pain. I could do it myself now but at the time I had a proper job and didn't have the time. Local chippies didn't have a clue but eventually managed it with my decoding the instructions for them. As Loot said above, they are pretty straightforward to fit, you just need to read the instructions and think Italian.

.

 

[imageel]

Back in the day Hendersons - based just east of Romford, were the bees-knees for sliding doors - no doubt popularised by The Only Way is Essex....