How to Measure a Door (3 Methods)

Incredibly, measuring a doorway can be really difficult. No matter whether you are replacing or introducing a door to your property, figuring out the right size is crucial. Normally, you could conclude up with a door that basically does not suit.

Nevertheless, there is a quite particular method you want to stick to to ensure that you’re measuring the door accurately. Normally, you’ll finish up not able to correctly match and dangle your doorway.

Underneath, we’ll lay out these measures in a simple measure to make certain you get it proper the first time!

Types of Doors

Even though you are likely to open and close many doorways through your daily life, there are some certain anatomy conditions that are helpful to realize before you leap into measuring. Additionally, the variety of doorway also issues since some arrive with additional components that you need to account for when measuring.

For occasion, a pre-hung exterior doorway frequently arrives with trim, which is required to make it an airtight seal. However, be confident you account for this trim when ordering the doorway, or you are going to finish up with a door that is considerably as well huge.

Outside of this, measuring inside and exterior doors is the identical. Exterior doorways without trim do not need to have this additional width additional to them.

Measuring a Door Slab

A doorway slab is a doorway that doesn’t have any hinges or similar components put on it. It is just the real wooden part of the doorway. If you are just changing the doorway slab, then you only require to measure the doorway slab for reference.

In this part, we’ll demonstrate you how to do just that:

1. Take a Width Measurement

To begin with, you’ll want to measure the length of the door. Typically, you can do this with a tape evaluate. Be confident you near the doorway before you begin measuring. Place one stop of the tape evaluate on the interior aspect of the door, and then stretch it till you strike the other aspect. Be positive to measure 2 times to guarantee that you are appropriate.

Some doors warp right after currently being employed for a while. If you get a number of dimensions on different areas of the door—use the greatest one.


2. Take a Height Measurement

Hold the doorway shut, but this time measure the height. It is frequently best if you stick the finish of the measuring tape underneath the door and then go the measuring tape to the best of the doorway. You will need a action stool or a chair to get an correct measurement in this circumstance.

Don't forget to evaluate the door itself, not the doorway, which must be just a bit even bigger than the real door.


3. Measure the Thickness

Now, you will need to consider a thickness measurement. To do this, simply area your tape measure together the edge of the door to evaluate the thickness. You can do this on possibly aspect of the doorway, and they should give you similar measurements. Again, items may well be off a bit thanks to a typical warp. Always use the biggest measurement.

How to Measure a Door (3 Methods)
Image Credit: Sergey Ryzhov, Shutterstock

Some Points of Contention

While measuring a doorway is quite straightforward, there are some modest difficulties that can mess up your measurements.

Here are some things to keep in mind:
  • Always measure the back of the door, not the front. If one side of the door has warped, it is usually the front side. Therefore, the front of the door may actually be smaller than the back. For an accurate measurement, always measure the back.
  • Older homes may have doors that don’t fit their doorways very well due to warping. In this case, you’ll need to measure the doorway and then size it down a bit. The actual door won’t provide accurate measurements.

Measuring a Pre-hung Door

Measuring a pre-hung door is a little bit distinct than measuring other kinds of doors. The approach is a little bit diverse dependent on specifically what you are performing. If you have not earlier hung a door in that doorway, then the procedure is likely to be a little bit distinct than if you are changing an present doorway.

For doorways that have in no way experienced a doorway ahead of, here’s what you want to do:

Doorways without Previous Doors

1. Measure the Width

Initial, you require to measure the width of the doorway. Preferably, you want to take the measurement in a number of areas because it isn’t odd for the doorway to be off a tiny bit in specific locations. Use the smallest figure for the width that you evaluate.


2. Measure the Height

Subsequent, you want to evaluate the height. Depending on your flooring, this can be a bit far more difficult. Keep in mind, if you have carpet, really do not push into it, as you don’t want the doorway to press into it—instead, evaluate just to the best of the carpet.

As always, measure in a couple of various spots to ensure that you’re getting an precise measurement. Constantly take the smallest measurement.


3. Measure the Thickness

Since there is no doorway to evaluate, you’ll just want to measure the thickness of the doorway. Generally, this is just a tough measurement. You just don’t want the door to be significantly thicker than the doorframe, as this will make it search fairly peculiar.

As constantly, get measurements in numerous locations.

Replacing a Door with a Pre-hung

Now, if you are replacing an existing doorway with a new 1, the procedure is likely to be a little bit different:

1. Remove the Trim

You cannot get an correct measurement for a pre-hung doorway with the trim there. For this reason, you are going to need to have to pop off the trim with a pry bar to ensure that you only measure the door frame.


2. Measure the Width

Not that you’ve eliminated the trim, you can correctly measure the within of the doorframe. You are going to want to measure the true doorway – not the doorway that is in the doorway. As often, decide on the smallest measurement that you get soon after measuring in a number of various locations.

How to Measure a Door (3 Methods)
Image Credit: Pixabay

3. Take Height Measurements

Following, you will require to get the top measurement. Operate a tape evaluate from the quite leading of the doorway to the base. If you’re inside of, begin at the floor. Nonetheless, if you’re outside the house, it is typically much better to commence at the prime and go down. Evaluate in at the very least a few diverse spots to get an precise measurement


4. Measure the Thickness

Not that you have the top and width, you’ll require to decide the thickness. You can do this by measuring the inner edges of the side jamb, which is what catches the door on the aspect of the doorway.

Conclusion

Just put, below are the factors you need to hold in head when measuring for a doorway.

If you measure for a doorway slab, you want to evaluate the doorway alone and use the biggest dimensions. Be positive to get every single measurement in numerous spots, as doorways usually warp and aren’t normally completely shaped. You’ll also want to evaluate the door’s edge to decide the thickness.

However, if you measure for a pre-hung doorway, issues are a little bit various. Firstly, you’ll want to measure the body itself—not the door that’s hanging in it. In other words, you want the doorway measurements—not the measurements of the doorway alone.

By pursuing our basic steps over, you can measure your new doorway properly the first time, making sure that you really don't stop up with the incorrect-sized doorway. As usually, you will need to evaluate in several places to make certain that you get the right measurement.


Showcased Impression Credit rating: TheDigitalArtist, Pixabay

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