Friday, May 29, 2009

Door size label measures the door, not the frame

This weekend I'm going to replace the side door of my garage. I carefully measured the door and opening of the existing door. 31.5 inch wide between the outside of the frame. The rough opening in the wall is 32 inches wide and 81.5 inches high. So far so good.

Yesterday, I went to Home Depot, picked out a door style, and bought the 32x80 inch model, pre-hung, right-hand side. So far so good.

Today I measured the existing door frame again: 32x81.5 rough opening.
I measure the door: 33.5x81.5 ... Huh? Check the sticker. Yup, it says 32x80. Measure the door again: 33.5x81.5 inches.

*sigh*

I should have bought the 30x80 model, like my gut told me to. Another trip to Home Depot coming up. Return the door, buy the smaller version.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello I am in the same boat! I am not sure what to do, but my door is 31.5" wide (door itself that is broken). Its an older style but I noticed the prehung doors at home depot are not 31.5". It seems to be an odd size. Do you know if the 30" pre hung will work?

Thank you.
Daveb1982@gmail.com

Alan Kelm said...

Nominal door sizes, such as 32" x 80" apparently refer to the size of the door opening. The door slab itself is slightly larger than the opening, as in the closed position the side and top edges of the door slab on one side are covered by the frame.