How to Install Sliding Wood Doors for Security

Cut a hole about 2 inches wide into the portion of the wall where you plan to have the door slide into. Look around in the wall with a flashlight, looking for plumbing or electrical wiring that would create an obstacle for the installation.

Pull off the trim from the existing doorway and the wall where the door will slide into, using a small pry bar. Measure the width of the sliding door and mark the same distance from the edge of the door opening to the wall, from the top and bottom of the doorway. Hold a carpenter’s square at each end of both lines to ensure they sit level.

Connect the two lines you drew with a vertical line, using the carpenter’s square to make the connecting line straight. Cut along the lines you drew, using a drywall saw. Put on work gloves and goggles, then use the pry bar to pull the drywall out of the cutout area.

Cut through the nails holding the header and the doorjamb to the wall studs, then remove the header and jamb. Cut through the wall studs along the perimeter of the wall cutout, and remove the cut studs.

Measure the width of the doorway plus the cutout. Cut a new 2-by-4 to the same measurement, then nail the board to the wall studs above the cutout and doorway. Measure the width of the cutout area, then cut the sliding door’s track to the same length, using a handsaw.

Hold the door’s track against the header board, inside the cutout. Drive wood screws through the mounting holes on both ends of the track, securing it to the header and wall stud.

Attach the split studs’ mounting brackets to the sill plate at the bottom of the cutout, using wood screws. Space the brackets 6 inches apart from each other. Insert the bottom end of the split studs into the brackets, then swing the other end of the split studs up so they touch the header board. Drive nails at an angle through the split studs and into the header board.

Insert the sliding door’s wheels into the track at the top of the cutout. Slide the door all the way into the cutout to verify it is working properly.

Cut drywall sheets to cover the cutout portion of the wall. Anchor the drywall to the cutout area by driving screws through the drywall and into the split studs. Apply drywall tape to the drywall seams, then spread compound over the tape with a putty knife. After the compound has dried, apply a second coat. Sand the compound after the second coat has dried, then paint the wall.

Pull the sliding door until you can fit a torpedo level between the edge of the door and the doorjamb on the other side of the doorway. Hold the level at the top and bottom of the latch assembly, marking the same levels on the doorjamb. Mark the width of the door’s strike plate on the jamb, between the two horizontal lines.

Cut out the portion of the doorjamb enclosed by the lines you marked, using a hammer and wood chisel. Insert the door’s strike plate in the recess you chiseled out. Drive the screws that came with the strike plate through the anchor holes in the strike plate and into the doorjamb.