Installed Pergo floor...now closet doors dont fit!
     12/30/02 07:43 PM   Edit     Reply    



I installed Pergo floors on top of our existing linoleum in our entryway over the weekend and the install went fine, and everything looks great. But as I went to install the closet doors (bifold) I discovered that they won't fit!

The additional height of the new wood floor made the closet doors too tall to fit into the existing frame. There is a strip of 1/2" drywall on the top of the closet frame. If I rip this out (or channel out a strip for the closet track) the door will fit.

Will doing so violate any obvious building codes? If so, do you have any idea of how to get the closet door in? Thanks in advance for the advice.

You need to mark on the bottom of the door how much you need to trim off.  Wrap a few layers of masking tape around the bottom of the door and then make  a mark by measuring from the top down on the right side and left side of the door.  Connect the marks with a straight edge.  This will be your cut line.  If it's just a little bit you can use a plane, but other wise use a circular saw with the door flat on a pair of saw horses and held securely.  Carefully make the cut.  These are bifold doors so you will have to reinstall the hardare that was attached to the bottom (remove it all before cutting!)  Should be good to go.

The masking tape minimizes splintering.

HTH

Jeff

I'd trim the bottom of the closet doors to fit, not screw around with the track.

I doubt you'll violate any building codes, and believe me, I've seen some pretty bizarre...er..innovative things that trim carpenters will do to finish a job.  Never seen a building inspector write up a closet door, though.

I love this place!  I posted the same question on a home improvement board a couple hours ago and still no response!  Thanks for the info...

If you plane or sand the door ... it will ruin the door. I SAY Sand the pergo down to the linoleum [BD]

I put in Pergo 3 years ago... and I am ALMOST finished putting the baseboard back. Shit if I were a professional flooring guy I would have fired my ass a LONG TIME AGO!

I dont know what your experience with Pergo is but with a dog, two cats and two kids I love that floor. a wet towel gets off the sticky crap and then polish it up with that Pergo cleaner. Looks new EVERYTIME!

You'd have to have one hell of an anal building inspecter to worry about your closet doors.  We had to do the same thing to our kitchen when we put new tile down.  We just cut the bottom of the doors and they look like we did nothing.  We did one door, and two pantry doors if that matters.

Yeah, but does he have to do it bare chested, and then nearly electrocute himself afterwards though?

If youre lucky the doors little rollers are adjustable and will screw into the door tighter. My closet doors do this and are adjustable.  There should be two on the top and one on the bottom.

I'm in the same situation with a dog and two cats.  Does the floor get scratched at all from their claws?  The guy at home depot said it was supposed to be more scratch resistant than real wood but I guess we'll see...

my pergo has been installed about 6 months.
it is in an extremely high traffic area and i can detect no appreciable wear.
the most impressive to me was when one night some jackass spilled a whole pitcher of (red)kool-aid and PGA on the floor and left it there over night.  when i woke up the next day i cleaned it up after getting slightly angry about the perpetrator not informing me.
so this material soaked in red coolaid for about 7 hours.  if anyone is familiar with the dyeing properties of kool-aid, especially red kool-aid, then you will understand how nice it was that there was no stain left at all.  not any.  i wiped it up with a wet paper towel and was done.  the kool-aid test was enough to convince me.  even concrete or a rock floor is more high maintenance than pergo.  yay for technology!

-Spaceman