Sliding Bypass Doors
SLIDING BYPASS DOORS ARE A GREAT OPTION WHEN THERE ISN’T ENOUGH WALL SPACE TO ADD A LONG TRACK FOR BARN DOOR HARDWARE.
It seems every house has its design challenges. In mine, we have a set of bifold doors that has stumped me since we’ve lived here. We haven’t replaced them yet because behind those doors is my furnace and hot water heater. And it’s right in my kitchen. Ugh!
I’ve always wanted to relocate the furnace elsewhere and use that as a pantry, but my husband lost interest in that idea when we found out the price.
What makes the doors so difficult to replace is that they have to be vented due to the furnace. I’ve considered barn style sliding doors in this spot since they aren’t really sealed to the wall, however, there isn’t any wall space on either side for a sliding door track.
However, I just came across another option that might work. I thought I’d share it here because this could help in a multitude of situations where there isn’t enough wall space.
They’re called bypass doors and they stack over each other when opened. You can buy the hardware for this type of track and have your doors slide over one another rather than out onto the wall. Brilliant!
The cost of bypass door hardware varies, but it’s is pretty close to the regular sliding door hardware. Here are a few I found.
I like the clean look of this white bypass door hardware*. It also comes in black and is under $200.
This metal door hardware kit is available in a variety of widths and is also under $200.
I love the doors shown on this set of double barn door hardware which is under $150.
This set of bypass door hardware is available in widths from 5 feet up to 10 feet.
The single track bypass door hardware shown below starts at $129 and comes in a variety of sizes from 4 feet all the way up to 20 feet.
And lastly, this simple bypass barn door hardware is the lowest price of them all but only comes in a 6.6 ft length.
I hope this helps give some of you guys options for replacing outdated doors with sliders. You may want to consider bypass doors even if you do have enough wall space, it looks neater than having a track going all the way across the wall.
Unfortunately for me, I realized there’s a big soffit over my ugly bifold doors which would probably not leave enough room for the track. I might run it by my husband anyway to see if he has any creative ideas. 🙂
What are some design challenges that you face in your house? I’d love to hear about them!
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What a wonderful post. This information was so helpful. Thanks for taking the time to search all the different TYPEs and sizes.
You’re welcome, Mary. I’m glad you found it helpful!
That would be great in your kitchen. I think John could PROBABLY come up with a solution. he’s pretty creative. GoOD luck.
This may be a good option for the space that also holds my heater and hot water heater. its in a downstairs hallway and i’m not sure the clearance is enough. I will need to check it out. thanks for the info!
You’re welcome, Jeanne. Good luck!
I also had this problem, but expEnse and headroom forced me to go the accordion door route. That sliding door hardware really does catch the eye, though.
I really liked your article. I, too, have long wanted to put sliding doors in the house. Parallel-sliding and sliding-folding models are used as interior doors. It is sliding and folding doors that are most often confused with folding ones, but their design feature is that the door sections simultaneously fold and slide on rollers along the guides. The design of the parallel-sliding doors is one or more wings that move parallel to the floor along the guides. Sliding doors, regardless of the type of construction, have an almost common set of elements, which consists of flaps framing a decorative frame, fittings and a moving mechanism – guide rails, roller carriages and clamps. Good luck to all!
Thank you for the additional info!
Who sells This hardware?
Where do I buy the sets of bypass doors that you are showing? My door frame in old house us out of square and these would be perfect