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Pocket Door Trim Installation Problems
Sep 6, 2025
Tim Carter wonders if the manufacturer consulted finish carpenters before introducing a new all-metal pocket door stud.
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0:01
I wanted to show you what I think is a a
0:05
classic case of a business that makes a
0:08
wrong decision. They think about the
0:10
primary effects, but they don't think
0:11
about the secondary effects. What you're
0:13
looking at here is a um pocket door. All
0:17
right, this is the pocket for a pocket
0:19
door. If you can see down inside there,
0:20
we're about ready to put in. All right,
0:23
and you know, the pocket door is going
0:25
to be suspended by these trolleys up
0:27
here. Anyway,
0:29
in the old days, this is a steel stud,
0:32
by the way. All right. In the old days,
0:34
the old same company, by the way. Same
0:36
company. If you go back 20, 30 years
0:38
ago, these these steel studs actually
0:41
were reversed. In other words, they used
0:43
to have solid wood. And this is just a
0:45
hollow steel stud right here. But they
0:48
used to have wood and they were
0:49
installed the other way so that the
0:51
drywall so when you screwed the drywall
0:54
in, you actually went into the wood. Now
0:56
you have to use selftapping metal screws
0:58
to attach the drywall to this steel
1:01
stud. All right. And you can see the
1:02
screw coming through right there. All
1:04
right. The problem is when we get ready
1:07
to put the jam, like the door is going
1:09
to be here and you have to put a piece
1:11
of wood here. How are you going to
1:13
attach the wood easily to this steel
1:16
stud? All right. In the old days, they
1:19
had these ovals, like these oval cutouts
1:22
about as long as the top of my finger,
1:24
and you could screw a nice finish screw
1:27
through the wood jam into the wood that
1:31
was on the that was inside here. All
1:32
right. Well, there's no wood now. They
1:34
took all that wood out. So, it's a real
1:36
problem. In other words, did this
1:39
company did they save um $5
1:44
by not putting the wood in these four
1:47
studs? There's four of these studs, by
1:49
the way. One here, one here, there's one
1:51
about here where my hand is, and one on
1:53
the other side. All right. So, did they
1:55
save $5?
1:57
But now, how much effort is it for the
1:59
carpenter to try to attach
2:02
not only attach the jam here, but when
2:06
you go to put the trim on here now, you
2:08
can't use a nail anymore cuz your nail
2:10
is just going to hit that steel and
2:12
bend. All right? So, this is where if
2:15
you own a company, you want to ask
2:18
yourself, is the carpenter willing to
2:22
pay an extra $5 or $10 so that we can
2:26
keep the wood in place? And the answer
2:27
is yes. Cuz imagine how much work it's
2:30
going to be and how ugly it's going to
2:32
be to try to figure out a way to attach
2:34
the wood the wood jams here and then the
2:36
wood trim here. So, it's just when
2:39
businesses do this, it drives me nuts to
2:41
be honest with you.
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