Hotel Project Shows How Creative, Space-Saving Design Solution Can Make Any ADA-Compliant Space More Functional

When a historic downtown Chicago office building was recently repurposed to house two new Hilton hotels, the architect chose to install pocket door frame kits from Johnson Hardware to guide pocket doors in the accessible guest rooms.  In the rooms, where space that permits movement is at a premium, the pocket door frame kits allowed for wider door openings enabling wheelchairs and walkers to move through, while making greater use of space because the doors glide inside the wall cavity and completely out of the doorway and surrounding areas.

Johnson Hardware’s Series 2000 Heavy-Duty Pocket Door Frame Kits provided several other benefits as well. Pocket doors in hotels get a great deal of use, and Series 2000 is durable enough to stand up to day-in, day-out use in commercial settings. In addition, the hangers on the track glide easily and smoothly. That means little effort is required to enable the pocket doors to glide open and then closed again. In fact, less than five pounds of force are required to move the door across its track.

The pocket door hardware was installed in bathroom and bedroom areas of ADA-compliant accessible rooms in the Hilton Canopy Hotel at 226 West Jackson St., a Frost and Granger-designed, 15-story landmark structure dating from 1904, in Chicago’s Loop.

It was also used in the bathroom area of ADA rooms in the other hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, housed in the same building.

Easy to install

“Johnson’s pocket door frame kits include everything needed to easily install pocket doors in a rough opening,” said Jeffrey Sauline, project executive for Leopardo Companies, the project’s general contractor. “The kits are high-quality and heavy-duty, which you need in a hotel project where guests will give the door plenty of use.”

As Sauline indicated, Series 2000 Heavy-Duty Pocket Door Frame Kits are designed to carry heavy solid core doors weighing up to 400 pounds each.

What’s more, their adjustable frame is versatile enough to be adapted for use in non-standard wall thickness, as well as block masonry walls. They can also be cut down to accept smaller size doors of virtually any material. Another advantage is trouble-free operation. The nylon-encapsulated ball bearing wheels are quiet and roll smoothly.  The tripod rocker design equalizes door weight across all wheels, helping prevent wheel failure. Finally, the jump-proof design of the hardware helps ensure the door will not jump off its track.

Since 1958, Johnson Hardware has been producing high quality sliding, folding and pocket door hardware that is made in the USA for residential and light commercial applications.

Celebrating 60 years of precision engineering, the Company protects the health and safety of its employees and surrounding communities and ecosystems. It uses natural resources including raw materials, energy and water as efficiently as possible.

For more information, visit johnsonhardware.com, or call (574) 293-5664.

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