Sliding closet doors cover openings that are wider than a standard single door, and they come in a variety of colors and materials. They all function using a series of upper and lower tracks allowing the two panels to slide back and forth over each other. Installing sliding closet doors requires attaching the tracks and slide the panels into position. However, if the flooring has carpeting and concrete, some preparation is required. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Kneel down and measure the bottom of the door opening using a tape measure. Locate the top and bottom tracks for your sliding door kit and lay them on the floor. Measure each track and determine where they require cutting for fitting the door. Mark those locations using a marker.
2. Insert a 2-by4-inch wooden board into both the track's front and back grooves, so that you don't bend them during the cutting process. Cut through each marker line using a hacksaw and a metal cutting blade. Discard the unneeded track portions.
3. Stand on a stepstool and hold the upper track against the ceiling or upper doorjamb, spacing it three-sixteenth inch from the front. Attach it by inserting the provided screws through each screw hole using a power drill.
4. Lay the bottom track in place across the doorframe's width. Hold it firmly in place with one hand and pull the utility knife blade along both sides cutting through the carpet and carpet padding. Set the track aside and grasp the carpet and padding strips, pulling them up revealing the concrete subfloor.
5. Measure the width and the length of the bare floor opening and add one-sixteenth inch to the width. Cut a piece of three-eighths to five-eighths thick board to the same dimensions using the hacksaw.
6. Place the lower track back into position on the concrete and shift it back 1 1/8-inch from the front of the closet doorjamb. Draw a dot inside each screw hole using the marker to designate them on the concrete. Set the track aside.
7. Don safety glasses and insert a one-quarter inch masonry bit into a drill. Drill 1-inch deep holes in each screw location.
8. Place the lower track back into position and insert a masonry screw into each hole using a power drill.
9. Pick up one door panel with the finished side facing you. Tilt the upper rollers into the rear track groove on one side of the opening, and then push the lower rollers into the rear groove on the bottom track. Repeat the process installing the other panel in the front grooves of the track.
10. Attach door handles or hardware if applicable. Some sliding doors have built-in handles that don't require assembly.
Tags: each screw, hole using, into position, back into, back into position
