Halp. Sliding door stuck inside of wall
October 14, 2017 7:26 PM Subscribe
I came back on Friday evening and my boyfriend informed me that our bedroom sliding door was stuck deep inside the two walls.
It normally pops out of the crevice in the wall when you push and release it quickly, but this time it had gone in too deep (about a few feet from the start of the crevice) and won't come back out.
I think one of the wheels has gone of the track? He has been trying various ways to get it to come unstuck, including using raffia string to pull it out.
Here is what it would look like normally. Currently, we are using a piece of plastic as our bedroom door at night and would love to have a real door. He doesn't want to go to the super for some reason and thinks we need to get a new door...
It normally pops out of the crevice in the wall when you push and release it quickly, but this time it had gone in too deep (about a few feet from the start of the crevice) and won't come back out.
I think one of the wheels has gone of the track? He has been trying various ways to get it to come unstuck, including using raffia string to pull it out.
Here is what it would look like normally. Currently, we are using a piece of plastic as our bedroom door at night and would love to have a real door. He doesn't want to go to the super for some reason and thinks we need to get a new door...
Best answer: I bet the back roller is off the far end. The trick is to push the door back from the bottom and pull back at the top. The famous wire coat hanger tool is just the thing for this. You have to get the door angled so the back roller will go up, and back onto the track. Then you have to make a new stop for the back roller with a simple something screw to stop the front roller from going too far. The screw has to have just enough top up to do the job.
posted by Oyéah at 8:04 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 8:04 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: "Pocket Door" is what these are called-- that may help any searching you do.
This does sound like Super territory. Possibly when the door comes out, it'll reveal some damage that your boyfriend did to the door, or possibly he had bad experiences with supervisors in the past.
On preview, I think Oyéah is correct, above, that the roller exceeded the track. I would try lifting the door with a shim (very thin wedge) jammed underneath, essentially rotating the door where the center of rotation is where the shim is. Well, heck, try it without a shim; I live in an apartment and I don't keep shims around. But yeah, rotate the door so the (trapped) back end of the door goes upward.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:09 PM on October 14, 2017
This does sound like Super territory. Possibly when the door comes out, it'll reveal some damage that your boyfriend did to the door, or possibly he had bad experiences with supervisors in the past.
On preview, I think Oyéah is correct, above, that the roller exceeded the track. I would try lifting the door with a shim (very thin wedge) jammed underneath, essentially rotating the door where the center of rotation is where the shim is. Well, heck, try it without a shim; I live in an apartment and I don't keep shims around. But yeah, rotate the door so the (trapped) back end of the door goes upward.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:09 PM on October 14, 2017
Response by poster: Aha pocket doors - that's very helpful. We have been trying to push the bottom of the door back and lift it from the middle because it's a few feet from the opening :S
I came across this useful summary on how to remove pocket doors. I think we might have to go that route... He's agreed to call the super in the morning, thank god.
posted by thesockpuppet at 8:27 PM on October 14, 2017
I came across this useful summary on how to remove pocket doors. I think we might have to go that route... He's agreed to call the super in the morning, thank god.
posted by thesockpuppet at 8:27 PM on October 14, 2017
Best answer: BTW the door isn't supposed to be able to slide so far in that it falls off the track. There is often a rubber bumper mounted on the frame to prevent this. Yours may be damaged or missing. You can see several styles here and this is one I was specifically thinking of.
posted by Mitheral at 9:50 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Mitheral at 9:50 PM on October 14, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:50 PM on October 14, 2017