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Posted: 2nd November 2022 | Author: Nationwide Supplies | Category: Doors
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If you’re in the market for an internal door, you’ve probably already measured your door frame to check which size door you need. But when you start shopping around for the right door, you’ll likely notice none of them are exactly the right size - unless you’re very lucky. So how do you go about buying an internal door?
A one size fits all approach to internal doors would be very wasteful. All doors would have to be the largest possible size and, in many cases, lots of wood would have to be taken off in order to fit the door frame. Instead, internal doors are sold in a range of standard sizes. This way, while it may not be a perfect fit for your door frame, your internal door shouldn’t need too much adjusting. The most common internal door size is 762mm by 1981mm. This is roughly 2’6” wide and 6’6” tall and covers the majority of doors to bedrooms, living areas and kitchens. Other standard door sizes are usually used for things such as bathrooms, toilets and store cupboards, but they can also be used for other rooms if the door frame is the right size. When shopping for internal doors you should always choose a size up from your measurements. For example, if your door frame measures 800mm by 2025mm, you should get a 813mm by 2032mm door. This is because choosing a door that is too small will mean large gaps between the door and the frame, which can make a room draughty as well as being visually unappealing.
Generally speaking, the smallest standard internal door you’re likely to find on the market is 1981mm tall, or 6’6”. Although there are exceptions, of course, this size of door is usually tall enough to let most people enter without having to stoop or risk banging their head on the frame. It’s also ideal to allow space above the door frame and under the ceiling - most ceilings are 2400mm from the floor, or roughly 7’8”. If you’re planning to replace your door frame and are considering a larger size, consider the height of your ceilings. Remember, you’ll need to add the width of your architrave and frame to the height of your door. Having about a foot of space between the architrave and the ceiling is the common choice. For this reason, people with high ceilings often have larger doors to make the room seem more proportional.
Although 762mm or 2’6” is a common width for an internal door, you can buy doors ranging from 457mm wide to 926mm. Naturally, the size of door you choose will be dependent on the size of your door frame. You might find narrower doors on period properties or those that are smaller. Sometimes architects intentionally design narrow doorways to make the most of space or for aesthetic purposes.
The thickness of a door is a measurement that many people forget to consider. While partly dependent on the door frame’s thickness, you do have some leeway to make your choice which can be very important. In the event of a fire, closing an internal door puts a physical barrier between you and the fire and can give you vital time to escape the building. Thicker doors will give you more time as it will take longer for the fire to burn through them. Therefore, some people choose thicker doors for safety reasons. It’s easy to tell what the thickness of your door means in terms of fire protection. Fire doors have a rating that tells you how long they should protect you for. For example, an FD30-rated internal door has been shown to provide 30 minutes of protection during testing. FD60 doors provide 60 minutes, and so on and so forth. You might also see a fire rating along the lines of FD30S. This means that the door will give you 30 minutes protection against fire and smoke. It will have a special seal that helps to keep smoke out of a room with the door closed, which can be life-saving in an emergency.
The weight of an internal door can range from as little as 15kg to as much as 45kg, depending on the material inside. Thick fire doors are usually at the heavier end of the scale, which is why it’s advisable not to try and lift or carry them alone. This can result in injury and damage to the door or surroundings if dropped. It is also best to use the appropriate supports when hanging an internal door, as allowing a single hinge to take the entire weight of a door - even if it isn’t a fire door - can damage both the hinge and the frame and make future repairs more likely.
Internal doors come in standard sizes, but unfortunately, houses don’t. It’s not something to worry about if your door frames aren’t a standard size, as this can be easily rectified. Buy a door larger than you need and you or a professional joiner can trim down the edges to make it hang well in the door frame.
Top tip! Trim the same amount from the top and the bottom of moulded doors to ensure the design doesn’t end up looking lopsided. Alternatively, if your frames are particularly difficult to find doors for, it may be easier to get bespoke, made to measure doors instead. This is common if you live in a period property or one designed to a one-off specification.
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