Do a google search on pocket doors coming off the tracks. It sounds like you can simply lift the door up and out to get it off and then back on the track - no wall damage necessary.

Several articles I read said that the problem is usually bad installation or parts - pocket doors are meant to last a long time without issues. I grew up in a house that had three of them that were used every day, and in the 26 years my family was in that house, never once did the doors come off the track. I mention this because I am not sure the blame belongs on a child closing the door.

You do NOT need to rip out the wall - sounds like Dad is just really mad at the little guy. It happened to me on an ordinary closing-of-the-door, so it was probably only that your son was in the wrong place at the right time and gets the blame.

We called our handyman to put ours back on track. I have no idea how he did it, but it took only 20 or 30 minutes. A nylon thing had broken on the track, so the door fell off. He did have to take off the woodwork on one side, but that's all. If you and hub can't do it yourselves, call a handyman.

As hoosiergirl says, good hardware is key. Our handyman replaced our "junk" with good stuff. The whole job cost us less than $40, including labor and hardware.

Good luck. And I hope little guy gets to have his party. He's only 8!

We have a pocket door that constantly falls partly off the track. Generally, we can lift up the door and hook it back onto the track while it's partially open partially closed. You might give that a try.

I guess i will have to play with it. My dh is not wanting any part of it. If I have to, I will hire a handyman. I hope there is a way to work it so that it s not a huge (expensive) problem. I am disappointed that this has failed within the first months. I may tell the kids that we will leave it open unless we have company and to let the adults work it. I do so much laundry that we have had it open most of the time anyway.
I am a bit worried about our master bathroom door because that is not optional much of the time, lol....

Thanks for your replies and for giving me some hope. I think I'll book his party before we hire anyone or get estimates, just in case..... He'll be 8 and this is one of his last good sized ones.

have you checked You Tube? I tried, but Adobe crashed. You might try searching there.

Who installed the pocket door? If you paid somebody to do that I'd call them to come and fix it.

My Old house had pocket doors with the average type hardware and I never had an issue with those after 20 years of daily use more than one a day. I did change out the doors a year before I sold the house and reused the hardware. To change out the door I only needed to remove the insider jam trim on one side.

This is a new door? If you are not able to easily put it back on track, I would call whoever sold or installed the door. Doors and hardware should be designed to withstand a good amount of wear and tear. I think there must have been a problem for it to fail so quickly..really how much damage can an 8 year old do closing it once?

There are two types of tracks.
There is a cheepie that is shaped like a "J". This is the one where the door can come off the track if handled at all with diagonal pressure. Bad choice in tracks, but it's what's sold at the Big Box stores.

Johnson Hardware makes a track that is FANTASTIC. I have 15 pocket doors and have used this exclusively. This is not one of those heavy kits with the studs, etc., but a track that is shaped like an upside down "C". The wheels are not a single wheel that hangs, but rather 3 wheels that run two on one side, one on the other, and there are two sets of wheels.

We bought extra and put 3 sets of wheels on ours because we bought exterior, 6-panel, solid maple doors. I might mention proudly that I changed out 3 of these doors myself for French doors because I wanted more light.

Anyway, if it's the "J" track, you have to lift it up and reseat it like a shower door.

If it's the "C" kind and has been attached properly, there is a free space at the end of the track that will let you remove and reseat the wheels.

mildredpots, an 8 year old is capable of incredible damage. The thing is, if he tried? He'd never be able to accomplish what he can by accident.

Anyway, the co-worker is wrong -- hopefully. You should be able to slide the door forward, use the little wrench and remove and reseat the wheels.

If you could put up some pics, I could help you.
Johnson Hardware is the obvious JohnsonHardware.com.

C.

I'm trying to picture that track CEFreeman, but an upside down "C" would still look like a "C". Do you mean it's laying on it's back or front possibly?

Here is a picture of the Johnson Hardware "C" track.

I've been studying this topic as I am trying to change our bathroom door to a pocket door. Lots of people on here swear by Johnson Hardware. I can see how it is better than typical big box tracks.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Our hardware appears to be by Johnson according to the diagram. I don't know how it went off and how to get it back.
When you say "end of track", do you mean in the doorway opening or back between the walls? I am guessing that when you say slide the door forward, that you mean to where it is almost closed?
I really have no idea how I can fix this, so any further explanation would really help! I am just so glad the walls do not need to be ripped apart.... whew! BTW - I have not gotten to fine tuning the paint in the doorway or painting the door itself yet, so please disregard the messed up primer you can see so clearly. ;)

Hi. I've had a cursed pocket door too. I do agree with the other poster who said to call your installer because it shouldn't be a problem so soon.

But you probably want to try to fix it yourself. So try this:

Get up on a ladder with a good light or flashlight and look down the track to see what you can see. You probably will see a wheel that has popped out of the track, and probably the one furthest inside the wall. Make note of how the track is shaped and on which side the wheels fit into the track because if you have a mental picture of it, it will make more sense as you try to fix it.

Lifting the door is the trick. And you want to lift it as close as you can get to the area where the wheel is off. By lifting it, you can hopefully pop it back into the track.

To lift mine, I used a pry bar at the bottom of the door. The pry bar is long and flat metal with at least one end bent up. Put the bent end (it's short) down on the floor under the door. The long end of the pry bar will be fairly straight up and down, and the short end will be flat on the floor. Step on the long end with your foot to try to leverage the door up. You're trying to get the door to go up so the bad wheel can clear the bottom of the track and drop into it. If it happens, you'll feel the door straighten out and catch. Try up and down a bunch of times to see if you get lucky.

If there is too much space between the floor and the bottom of the door to get the leverage you need, stick something like a scrap of wood or drywall or something on the floor under the door so the pry bar can sit on top of it and be close enough to the bottom of the door to provide leverage.

Is the door stuck in the wall pocket? It would be best if you can drag the door about halfway shut before you try the pry bar/popping in to the track thing. If it's not budging, you might need help so one person can leverage the door with the pry bar and one can try to pull the door part way shut. It might only go a few inches at a time so you just keep doing that, moving the pry bar down towards the far edge of the door and dragging the door shut a little at a time. I say this because if it's stuck in the wall, you can't lift the far edge of the door unless you can get under it, and therefore getting the door part way shut will let you lift and tip the far end of the door.

Good luck. I'm pulling for the little guy and his birthday party.

You do have the C track.

If you use that pry bar thing, make certain you put something down on your floor so you don't mark it up. That takes two people, so you could also just use a book.

Yes, the track in the open part of the pocket (when the door is closed) should have about 2" between the end of the track and the door frame.

Get a little wrench (they come with the door hardware) and lower the door all the way by turning the little nut in wheel mechanism that is used to level the door. When it's down all the way, it's easy to take the door off. You will see which way to tilt the door. Be careful, because if it comes out quickly you'll drop it. But then you can fix the wheels.

If your wheel has popped off the track, someone has used the wrong wheels in the track, or a too big track for the wheels. The system is determined by the weight of the door. Lighter doors have smaller wheels, heavier bigger and the track is stronger. The 2nd "C" you drew was correct. The wheels ride in the curled ends of the C. This is so hard to describe!

This C configuration is made to NOT let the wheels pop out of the track like the J shaped, closet track type stuff does.

If you were close, I'd come help you.

This hardware is fantastic and easy to install. If you do have an installer and end up calling it? Make it (him/her, whatever) show you what they're doing. This is the kind of thing where you slap your forehead and moan, "Oh, that's so easy!" Once someone shows you. :)

Christine

Ok.. thanks to copying and pasting, then printing, I am feeling a bit more ready to tackle this. I will keep this advice in a folder and hopefully, not need it a second time, but you never do know ;)
Thanks so much for being so helpful! I'd have hated to pay someone to do this if it were something we could do. Dh will be so much happier if he knows this is not fatal to the doors.

I'm having problems with my pocket doors. They will not stay closed or opened. When I try to close them, they just roll halfway open. And when I open them they roll half way close. Does anyone know what I need to do to fix this?