Since they don't close, the noise does come through. You also want to make the door large enough to cover over the casings. Flat casings are better so that the gaps between the door and the opening are smaller.

could you convert to a pocket door?

It will leak noise, but that's not a real deal-breaker for some homes/locations. Another option is to reverse the hinges and have the door open out instead of in. Apparently this breaks some cardinal rule about visible hinges, but, really, it's a small thing that might not matter to you as much as the space it might offer. When I was re-doing my en suite bathroom, I would only consider contractors who would agree to rehang the door so it opened out (into my bedroom) and not in (into my 50 sq ft bathroom)

We just did that....my laundry door swung into my 45 sq ft. laundry and blocked the laundry tub. Couldn't swing out very well because of the location in the hall, and couldn't do pocket door. Yes it may not block noise but I really don't have that much noise coming from in there that it is a problem. I know everyone says barn doors are out but I would not go back at all!! Now I can finally use the laundry tub and it feels like I have more room because

the door is not always in the way.

Most of the time it is open but can be closed to hide the laundry clutter.

I think the barn door is fantastic when you don't have a lot of space. If we just call them "exterior pocket doors" they won't be out :) They are very practical. We just used one to dramatically increase the functionality of our master bath and it has worked out great. We are selling or I would put one on our laundry room also.

Imo barndoors have a real purpose where making a pocket door is expensive and really who does laundry when they have guests so who cares if the noise is not blocked.

On the other side of this barn door is our laundry "room" to the right and a powder room to the left. We had the same problem with a cramped laundry room so we took out a short wall and door that was perpendicular to the window you see through the barn door and used the barn door to separate that whole space instead. We like it a lot and do not find the noise of the laundry bothersome even though it is so close.

You can't put anything on or in front of the bare wall that the door has to slide past when it's open.

>> following- we put a barn door between dr/kitchen area into our mudroom... love it

When you say "in a laundry room", do you mean "on"? Assuming you the latter, I'd say go for it. It solves many problems in small spaces if the wall area that it covers when open does not have obstructions. That said, the one we have on our walk-in closet stands proud of the wall surface the depth of the casing and baseboards which is enough room to hang slim-framed art and an unframed mirror. Pocket doors are harder to place and a total pain in the finger nails to open.

As to whether barn doors are now "out of style", the one we installed almost 10 years ago was original to our 1949-vintage house. It separated the drive-in garage that we have converted to a bedroom, from the rest of the basement. A coat of matt black paint was all it needed before it was re-installed for its starring role as a focal point in this converted room. Good for another 60+ years.

I have a barn door that separates the laundry room/mudroom from the main living area of the house. I absolutely love it and yes it does free up a *lot* of space in the laundry room, which is on the small side. Most of the time I just leave it open, but I do close it when I want to block out the laundry noise or I have guests and want to hide that room. I'm thinking of having one installed in one of my bathrooms, which here again is quite small and a hinged door takes up a lot of space. What I might do here is put two narrow sliders/barns rather than one full-size one (saw that idea in a hotel room and thought it looked great). I like the idea of calling them "exterior pocket doors" instead of barn doors LOL! There are various types of tracks available, you don't have to put in the traditional "barn-y" type of track; there are more contemporary ones.

The two narrow sliders are great. I would do that on my laundry because there is no room on either side of the door opening to accommodate a single door large enough to cover the opening.. The door to our master bath is probably my favorite home improvement. No idea why but the door swung in to this tiny bathroom (right in front of the not-very-large vanity) though the bedroom is very large, even by today's standards. Thought about just reversing the swing, but the barn door just looks so much better and sleek, and quiet. Really happy with it and actually can now comfortably use the master bathroom.

We do have casings on our door and opted not to remove it and it looks fine. We did get a door that was big enough to cover the opening and the casings on each side.

We would just want to ensure you have full access to both the washer and drawer with the correct size barn door.

For Single Bypass or True Bypass system can be great options if you need FULL ACCESS and depends on your laundry room layout. Attached is an example for reference.

CUSTOMER SERVICE - CUSTOM SLIDING BARN DOORS

www.customslidingbarndoors.com