What is the Difference between Swinging, Pocket & Sliding Bathroom Doors

There are many people that have limited space in their bathrooms and they need to find the best door solution in order to save space. By reclaiming some door space, the bathroom itself can appear more spacious.

There are many door choices for a bathroom, and they are fitting in three main categories: sliding bathroom doors, pocket bathroom doors and swinging bathroom doors.

So here are the best solutions for your bathroom doors.

 The sliding bathroom doors:

Sliding bathroom doors are a space saver and they are a common solution for small bathrooms. They are mostly used as shower sliding doors.

The sliding bathroom doors have a number of advantages and disadvantages that must be analyzed carefully before choosing the best fit for your needs. Among the main pros in favor of a sliding bathroom or shower door is that this type of door uses no additional space.

While this type of door can be a space saver, the sliding bathroom and shower doors can also have disadvantages. They are not so reliable because they can catch something into their track and stop sliding.

The pocket bathroom doors:

A bathroom pocket door has the same advantages as the sliding bathroom door. A bathroom pocket door takes up no space in the bathroom. The pocket bathroom doors can slide all the way inside the wall.

In case that there are pipes or electrical wires in the wall and a pocket door cannot be directly installed, barn door hardware can be used to make the door slide along the outside of the wall instead sliding inside the wall.

Pocket bathroom doors can make the arrangements of the bathroom space more flexible because they don’t use any floor space. This feature is especially useful for the small bathrooms. In general, pocket doors can be an elegant solution. The disadvantage is that they are not so thick and they provide a little less privacy.

The swinging bathroom doors:

The swinging bathroom doors are a good solution for sealing the bathroom space. They can use quality wood frames. There are two types of swinging bathroom doors: inward swinging doors and outward swinging doors.

Glass or plastic swinging doors can also be used to seal a walk-in bathtub space. In that case an inward swinging door is more appropriate because it is more effective in sealing the door and less prone to accidentally opening.

The main disadvantage of swinging doors is that they are taking from the bathroom or the hallway space. In case that the space is not limited they are good solutions for a bathroom.

Among the advantages of using swinging bathroom doors can be mentioned:

 1. Inward swinging doors make entering or exiting the bathroom easy.

 2. Toilets, vanities or other bathroom appliances are not getting in the way of opening an outward swinging door.

 3. The wood frames available for swinging bathroom doors are diverse in design and they usually look more elegant and stylish.

 4. The thickness of the wood frames used in a swinging door allows more privacy.

 5. The swinging doors are having better locking systems.

 6. There are many models available on the market.