Dual hinges will make it easier to view and access your entire wardrobe.
Create a wall-to-wall closet with loads of flexibility or modify an existing closet for easier access to your wardrobe. Combine the beauty of French doors with the functionality of bi-fold doors to make your closet open and close inward and outward. Pick out an existing wall to use as the back wall for the closet, and then build out the framing. This will eliminate the need to build side walls and your closet will be as wide as your room. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Use a stud finder to locate the framing members for the ceiling joists and wall studs. Mark the stud locations with chalk.
2. Measure out from the back wall to the front edge for the closet with a tape measure. Mark off the front edge of the closet with masking tape to use as a guide line.
3. Use your width measurements to select and order pre-hung two-panel French doors with double hinges. Use a pencil to draw a layout of your closet on paper, including the dimension measurements. Take your layout when you go to order the doors from a lumberyard or home improvement center. This will help the retailer determine the appropriate size and style of hinges so your doors open and close inward and outward without any hindrance.
4. Roll back carpeting (if applicable) to have a clear space for installing the frame for the closet doors, by using a utility knife to cut the carpeting. Start 1 inch in front of the edge of the frame line and continue to roll back carpeting to the back wall. You do not have to remove flat flooring, such as vinyl, laminate or wood.
5. Cut four pieces of lumber 6 ½ feet long with a circular saw, to create the door jambs for the left and right sides and to create a center jamb that will be attached to a bottom plate. Cut one 18-inch piece to create the bottom plate to attach the center jambs.
6. Nail the right and left jambs to the studs on the left and right walls. Nail one center jamb piece to the bottom plate on the left edge, and the other center jamb piece on the right edge of the bottom plate. Nail the bottom plate into the floor.
7. Measure the width from the top of the left doorjamb to the top of the right doorjamb on the edges of the closet to determine the length for the header and top plate pieces for the frame. Cut 2-by-4 lumber pieces according to your measurements.
8. Determine the height for the cripple studs by measuring the height from the header to the ceiling. Subtract 4 inches from the measurement. Cut six cripple studs according your measurement from 2-by-4 lumber. Nail the cripple studs to the header lumber piece, and then nail the top plate to the cripple studs. Attach the header, cripple stud and top plate assembly to the doorjamb pieces and ceiling joists.
9. Stand the closet doors against the doorjambs. Use a carpenter's pencil to outline the position for the screw plates for installing the hinges on all doorjambs. Carve away any recessed area required for the screw plate to fit flush against the wood surface of the doorjambs using a drill and chisel. Mark drill holes using pencil by filling in the circles. Use drill to attach hinges to the doorjambs.
10. Attach drywall to the top section to complete the framing and dual-hinged closet door installation.
Tags: bottom plate, cripple studs, back wall, center jamb, closet with, front edge