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Sliding closet doors always seem to be the first doors to break down in a home. Fortunately, installing new closet doors is fairly easy. Sliding closet doors can be purchased at most home improvement centers or off the internet in a wide variety of colors and construction materials. It is best to purchase heavier closet doors made of wood which will slide more easily in their tracks and are less likely to fall off the tracks all together. Sliding closet doors made of metal have a tendency to bend and warp after years of pulling them along the track and it is harder to paint them to match a redecorated room.
To install sliding closet doors, you only need a few tools that you probably already have around the house. You will need a screwdriver, maybe a handsaw, and, of course, your new closet doors. Then follow these steps: 1. Measure the old closet doors. 2. If the new closet doors you have chosen are unfinished. Stain them before hanging them. You should do this at least eight hours in advance of hanging, and ideally you should stain the doors 24 for 48 hours in advance. 3. Remove each closet door from the track. Most closet doors can be removed by lifting them up and out of the track. Some doors have a locking mechanism that you can easily get around by having someone hold down the lock while you lift the doors. Some have cutouts along the track, and the doors must be positioned so that when you life them the wheels fit into these cutouts and then slide out. 4. Remove the old track from the door opening with a screwdriver. You don’t need to keep any of the old hardware except for the door guides on the floor. However, if the guides are visibly damaged, you should replace them. 5. Measure the new track against the old one to be sure the length is correct. If the new track is too long, cut it size with a handsaw. 6. Mount the new bracket in the same location as the old bracket. Make sure the screws are flush against the track so as not to interfere with the motion of the closet doors. Make sure not to over-tighten the screws, however, as doing so will warp the track and also interfere with motion of the doors. 7. If your closet doors already have the rollers mounted, skip this step. If not, mount the rollers on the inside, upper edge of the door tops according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 8. Hang the new closet doors in the track. You may have to re-hang sliding closet doors in a few years because, as mentioned above, they always seem to be falling off. Fortunately, installing sliding closet doors isn’t very hard. There is, though, one reliable way to avoid this chore: install regular swing open closet doors. |
Closets