Pocket door
A sliding door that disappears into a hollow space inside the wall when it opens. The plan draws the door running into the wall.
This explains what a symbol represents on a drawing. Conventions vary between firms and standards, and a drawing's own legend takes precedence.
How to read it
The Navy's Builder Advanced course describes sliding doors arranged to slide into concealed recesses when opened; the recess is the pocket. Like other door symbols, this one shows the door's shape and the direction it moves (TM 5-704), so the leaf lies along the wall line and partly inside it.
Also searched as: cavity sliding door.
Look-alikes
A sliding door slides past a fixed panel instead of into the wall, so both panels are drawn in the opening.
More blueprint symbols
Sources
- Builder Advanced, NAVEDTRA 14045A, Naval Education and Training Command, U.S. Navy, ch. 6, interior doors
- Construction Print Reading in the Field, TM 5-704 / AFM 85-27, Departments of the Army and the Air Force, para. 2-2a
- Reading Architects' Blueprints, William S. Lowndes, 1922, International Textbook Company, Scranton (Internet Archive), §5, art. 106; §5, first-floor plan, partitions
Last reviewed September 24, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research