New to Eichlers- Need Closet Door Advice
Hello,
Thought I should explain our sitution, so that all of the purists on the site will have an idea of what we are working on. We bought our first Eichler in August, and immidately began remodeling. I wish we could have lived here for a bit before tearing it up- but it was in desperate need of TLC, so we have jumped right in. (It had been a rental since the early 90s.)
We are doing all of the work ourselves, and are camping out while we do it. I grew up in Marc Mack house, and my husband grew up in an Eichler so we are both committed to maintaining the inergrity of the orginal design, but have missed out on some of the smaller details - such as closet doors!
So hence my questions:
A neighbor mentioned that the closet opening did not provide adquate space to acess items at the back of the closet, and afer looking at the orginal opening, it made sense to open up the closets' openings. We are opening the closet door opening to the maxium width possible, and installing bypass doors.
However, we are not sure whether to make the opening go to the ceiling, or to the orginal height of 81". I can't seem to find pictures of orginal closet doors, so I am not what sure what is more pratcial, or orginal.
Also, other than the grass wallpaper, is there anything to be aware of in terms of size ie width, depth, etc for the doors themselves. Lastly, could I please get recommendations on where to buy doors that would work. You can e-mail me recs at helen_silverberg at yahoo dot com.
Thank you!
Helen
I'm not a purest, nor was mine original when I purchased it.
Mine has bi-fold doors on the closets. These doors are sized for a "standard" height and I built the opening to match and put a ceiling inside to match too. Sheetrock, taped and cedar strips on the back wall. Insulation on the outside walls for those having a common outside wall.
Then the section above is opened up to the room with some kitchen cabinet doors. It's fully insulated, sheetrocked, taped, textured and painted. The bottom or "floor" of one is hardwood flooring (oak) left over from a job at a buddies house. The others are cedar left overs from the rest of the other closets.
Much more dust tight and usable.
Both cavities have electrical outlet and small light bulb (60watt QH) with a voltage regulator (light switch dimmer & timer). Should last a life time and is there to control mildew/etc.
Helen:
It may be helpful to provide some information on the age and model of your house, so those with similar houses may offer their opinions.
In our house, a 1965 J&E A-frame atrium model, all our closets are open from side wall to side wall and up to the ceiling. They all feature by-pass doors (approximately 8 feet tall). The original doors have metal tracks at the top and the bottom and metal framed doors with a "burlap" sort of material in the center panel. Previous owners painted the burlap on our doors.
We wanted to replace some of the doors, but were having a hard time finding something nice that was not mirrored.
In one hall closet, I changed out the doors. I purchased the track hardware at Home Depot, which required only an upper track and a small guide on the floor to keep the doors aligned. I made my own doors with a wood frame and used a semi-opaque plexigless for the center panels. Though the doors are not at all original, I think that they are in keeping with the modern aesthetic. They look a little like shoji screens, but without the small divided "lites".
The doors I made are about 3/4" thick, which is similar to the original doors. I used Stanley hardware:
http://www.stanleyhardware.com/default.asp?TYPE=CATEGORY&CATEGORY=HDW+LD...
Good luck with your projects.
Hi Jeff,
Appreciate the helpful hints. Thanks!
Our Eichler was built in 1954. If one were to look at it from above, it is in the shape of the letter T, capitalized. I am still new to Eichlers, so am not sure of the name of the model, but hope that this will help others who know the models. Also- we don't have an atrium.
Thanks!
Helen
Hi,
Did you find a solution for your door problem? I went through the same type of remodel you are going through, and 3 years later, I still have not found a good solution for replacing my doors.
Thanks for any help you can give,
Jackie
We are using some sort of plexi glass with either wood or metal and they will be the full length of the closet opening. They will be either bi-folding or bypass. Because we are still working away on this project, it is not done yet, otherwise, I could send you pix.
Helen
I never found a model number for the Monta Loma Eichlers. I looked pretty hard out of curiousity! Anyway, the closet openings in the bedrooms are different than many of the other Eichler closets--more like a single door than the big floor-to-ceiling bypass sliding doors. Unless I've never seen one in original shape. The ones we had when we were in the same model Eichler had either bifold doors (the bigger master bedroom closet) or two small doors that opened outward--not sure what they are called, but closed, they look like a single bifold. Not what a Eichler purist might pick, but I thought they were very functional...
