Sliding Door Kit Systems

A sliding door kit is the track, the rollers, the guides, the stops and the fixings that turn an ordinary door leaf into a sliding one. It is the answer wherever a swinging door would eat floor space it cannot spare, such as an en-suite, a utility room or a narrow landing.

Choosing the right kit

Two numbers decide the kit: the weight of the leaf and the width of the opening. The track has to be at least twice the door width to let the leaf clear the opening fully, and it must be fixed into something structural, not just plasterboard. Barn-style top-hung tracks stay visible; concealed systems hide inside a bulkhead.

Sliding doors take a flush pull handle rather than a lever, and often a magnetic latch to hold them shut. For a fully hidden leaf see pocket doors, and for a folding alternative see bi-fold doors.

What a sliding door kit actually includes

A sliding door is really two purchases: the leaf and the gear that carries it. The kits on this page are the gear: the track, the hangers or rollers, the wall fixings, the end stops and the floor guide that keeps the bottom of the leaf from swinging. The door itself comes from the ranges you would use anywhere else in the house, so a sliding door can match the swing doors on the same landing exactly. Pick the leaf from internal doors and check the kit is rated for that leaf's weight before ordering.

Surface-mounted, pocket or bi-fold

A surface-mounted kit runs the door along the face of the wall on a visible track. It is the simplest to fit into an existing house because it needs no building work, but it needs a clear run of wall as wide as the door beside the opening. A pocket door slides into a cassette inside the wall so nothing is visible when the door is open, but the cassette has to go in while the wall is being built or rebuilt. Bi-fold doors fold rather than slide and need only a fraction of the side wall, which is why they suit small bathrooms and understairs cupboards; how bi-fold doors work explains the geometry. For a wide opening between two living spaces, room dividers are the multi-panel version.

Measuring before you order

Three measurements decide whether a sliding kit will work: the width of the structural opening, the clear wall beside it for the door to park on, and the height from the top of the opening to the ceiling or any bulkhead, because the track sits above the opening. Sliding doors also usually need to overlap the opening on both sides rather than sit flush in it, so the leaf is often wider than the opening. Our how to measure a door guide covers the method.

Hardware for a sliding door

A sliding leaf does not latch, so it takes a pull handle or a flush pull rather than a lever. It has no hinges, so nothing from door hinges applies, and a conventional latch will not work either. Where the door has to close an opening tightly, a brush seal on the leading edge does more for sound than the gear does.

Can any internal door be hung on a sliding kit?

Provided the leaf weight is within the kit rating and the leaf is solid enough at the top edge to take the hangers. Heavy glazed leaves need a heavier kit.

Do sliding doors block sound?

Less than a swing door in a frame, because there is a gap at the top and along the sides by design. For a room where sound matters, use a swing door, or treat the room with acoustic wall panels.

Can a fire door be hung as a sliding door?

Not on a standard sliding kit. Fire performance depends on the leaf closing into a tested frame, so a rated opening needs a swing fire door.