A one-day swap. The client had a built-in wardrobe with sliding mirror doors; one had failed and the homeowner had decided they preferred hinged doors anyway. We changed the type rather than just replacing like-for-like.
The challenge
Sliding doors hang from a top track; hinged doors hang from a side frame. The opening had to be re-framed to take the load in the right place, and the existing carcass had to be trimmed back where the slider hardware used to live. The new door also had to sit plumb in an opening that was never really plumb to start with.
What we did
New hardwood beam fitted across the head of the opening to take hinge load. Frame plumbed and shimmed. Door hung, scribed at the top to a slight downward sag in the ceiling line, then trimmed to swing free without dragging.
The result
A wardrobe that opens the way the homeowner wanted from the start. Cost less than installing a whole new wardrobe and looks more permanent than the original sliding setup ever did.
Materials
- Hardwood beam for new frame
- Replacement hinged door
