Bypass Doors

If space in your home is at a premium you have the option to install bypass doors over your closet spaces. Bypass doors are usually two door panels that are hung from rails and move together so you can access one side of your space at a time. They are useful when you don't have walls thick enough for pocket doors that would slide back into the walls.

Bypass doors are also used in the bathroom as shower doors or bypass doors can be used to enclose your bathtub so your bathing facility will have the effect of being a separate chamber. This is one of the best places in your home's interior for bypass doors as the grooves your bypass door slide in have an equal size on both the top and the bottom. This same double groove slot can be used effectively on exterior glass bypass doors as well though you will have the raised lower rail to contend with on your stoop. The major advantages of the bypass door are that they take up very little room when opened as they will sit flush with the other half of the bypass and they can be constructed of light hollow core style wood doors or even be constructed with mirrors to make your closet door do double duty as a dressing mirror.

Bypass closet door hardware consists of a metal track along the top of the enclosure where the door is hung with rollers that fit into the groove made by folding the metal around. Some interior bypass doors will also increase their sturdiness with an extra slotted track along the bottom of the door. The dimensions of the bypass closet doors as such that they will overlap a bit in the middle so there is no gap showing between the panels.

Mobile homes use bypass doors in a multitude of places in the interior of the dwelling. Due to the inherent space limitations, you will find closet doors to be almost exclusively bypass doors. It is in mobile homes however, that you will find the major disadvantage to the bypass closet door. The bypass door roller can easily be knocked off track unless gentleness and care is used in opening these types of closet doors. They do not stand up well to use by younger children and while they can be rehung easily, they will just as easily fall off again. Once the roller has bent the flange of its track out a bit you will almost always have to replace the door hardware to reestablish a firm fit.

Bypass closet and other interior bypass doors do fill a need when your budget is too small for heavier styles of sliding doors and their inherent light weight does make them very useful in applications where you need to keep your construction as weightless as possible.