A client has some precise ideas about what they'd like for a large piece of office furniture: at the end of the day they want to be able to close it up with a set of louvre doors, but while at work they want those doors opened up and stashed away in the body of the unit. I've attached a couple of screenshots from the initial plan that they sent.
I'm scratching my head over how to actually build it -- their initial request was for a bifold / pocket system where the door on each side would pull out and then slide shut along a rail, but those are formidably expensive, out of the price range (eg the Blum 'Revego'). It occurred to me that a more standard pocket door system could be installed in a wider pair of openings, and the doors could be hinged to each other without being on bifold rails -- like window shutters instead -- but the various suppliers of pivoting pocket door hardware have said that would be impossible, although I don't understand exactly why.
Standard non-bifold doors are obviously too wide to cover the required space and then sit back into a 600 deep cavity. This brings me to my first question: is there a way to have a pivoting pocket system with folding doors? A friend has suggested something like drawer runners on which a long MDF stretcher is mounted, to which the doors are hinged, but I'm having trouble imagining that working.
Then my second question: The clients have suggested that if necessary they wouldn't mind having the central desk area divided into two, so that a separate pair of pocket doors could cover each half. That's less ideal, and I'd prefer to deliver on their initial request, but at least I can get it successfully built. Can I just check with anyone who has experience of this kind of thing -- how deep does the cavity for the hardware have to be, compared with the door itself? Eg. If the door is 610 wide, does the cavity need to be something like 700 deep to accommodate the hinge and carriage? I've had trouble getting a straight answer out of suppliers.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! J
I'm scratching my head over how to actually build it -- their initial request was for a bifold / pocket system where the door on each side would pull out and then slide shut along a rail, but those are formidably expensive, out of the price range (eg the Blum 'Revego'). It occurred to me that a more standard pocket door system could be installed in a wider pair of openings, and the doors could be hinged to each other without being on bifold rails -- like window shutters instead -- but the various suppliers of pivoting pocket door hardware have said that would be impossible, although I don't understand exactly why.
Standard non-bifold doors are obviously too wide to cover the required space and then sit back into a 600 deep cavity. This brings me to my first question: is there a way to have a pivoting pocket system with folding doors? A friend has suggested something like drawer runners on which a long MDF stretcher is mounted, to which the doors are hinged, but I'm having trouble imagining that working.
Then my second question: The clients have suggested that if necessary they wouldn't mind having the central desk area divided into two, so that a separate pair of pocket doors could cover each half. That's less ideal, and I'd prefer to deliver on their initial request, but at least I can get it successfully built. Can I just check with anyone who has experience of this kind of thing -- how deep does the cavity for the hardware have to be, compared with the door itself? Eg. If the door is 610 wide, does the cavity need to be something like 700 deep to accommodate the hinge and carriage? I've had trouble getting a straight answer out of suppliers.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! J
