How Wide Is A Standard Door

When it comes to building a home for yourself or when doing a house renovation, one of the most important things you will need to know is how wide a standard door is. 

They are in every home, and play an important role in being the first thing a person sees when entering your home. However, they also link connecting rooms, and need to be the right size in order to fit. 

How Wide is a Standard Door

For the interior and the exterior doors, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to how wide it should be. From the thickness of the door itself, to the frame height. 

When it comes to the door’s width measurement, a standard door has a width of 32 inches. It is often described as being a ‘2 foot 8 inch’ door also. An exterior door has a standard width of 36 inches. 

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the standard measurements of a door.

What Are The Standard Measurements Of A Door?

When it comes to buying a door, or making one yourself, you may want to understand the standard widths. Often older houses have bigger door frames, so you may find that buying one from the store is not possible.

A professional will often want to know the width measurement of the door first and the height second. In fact, they tend to look at:

  • Door width
  • Door height
  • Thickness of the door
  • How the above relates to the door jamb thickness (inner frame)

Standard Door Measurements

The standard size for an interior and exterior door is often:

  • Interior Width: 32 inches
  • Exterior Width: 36 inches.
  • Height: 80 inches
  • Door thickness: 1 ⅜ inches
  • Door jamb: 4 9/16 inches

How Wide Should A Standard Door Be?

When it comes to fitting a door into your home, you will need to abide by the building codes. This means that all interior and exterior doors need to be particular sizes. You cannot just build a giant entryway door and that be that.

With this being said, it actually makes it easier for you. There are only so many door sizes available, and that is often 32 inches and 36 inches.

There may be a time when you need to purchase a custom-made door, and that is often for older homes. So if your grandma has recently passed away and you are renovating her old house, you may find that the entryway door is much bigger than the standard size.

If you were to shop for a readymade door, you may also find smaller sized doors at 30 inches or 24 inches. These are for things like a closet.

When May The Building Not Have A Standard Door Size?

How Wide is a Standard Door

There are a number of reasons why the door may not be a standard size:

Entry Door

When looking for doors, you may notice that there are some labeled 36 inches. These are reserved for entry doors. The overall height is the exact same as an interior door at 80 inches. 

The reason these doors are a little wider than interior doors is because you may need to remove furniture and the like outside or into the home. 

The thickness of the door is thicker too at 1 ¾ inches. While it is not a big difference from the thickness of a standard door, it does make a difference if you are looking at the different doors for the home. 

Older Home

While an older home may have a bigger door, it could also have a much narrower door. If accepted by the ADA, you may be able to change the size of the door opening in order to be able to move furniture in and out of the building. 

Often a smaller door requires you to have a custom-made door which can be costly. However, you could save money in the long run if you are successfully able to resize the door to a standard size. 

This is because if you do need to replace it in the future, you will just have to buy a regular standard door rather than having to get a professional to make one for you – though you could also make it yourself. 

How To Measure For A Single Interior Door

If you are only measuring the door (often called a slab) then you will need to take note of the width, height and the thickness of the original door. 

You may also want to measure the width (side-to-side and top-to-bottom) of the frame too. 

Measuring the exterior door takes a lot more steps. You will need to measure the existing door, the outdoor brick-to-brick measurement, the rough opening, and the whole unit size in general. 

It can be a lot more nerve racking to do, but worth it if you are looking to spruce up a tired door and an even tired-looking house. 

Final Thoughts

Whether you are renovating your home, or looking to build a brand new door, you will need to understand the measurements of a standard door. 

A standard accepted door width is 32 inches, but that changes to 36 inches if the door is for the exterior – such as the entry door.

There are other things to take into consideration too, from the height of the door, the thickness of the door, and the overall door jamb thickness.

If you are renovating an older house you might find that the door is either larger than it should be or smaller. In both these cases you will need to opt for a custom-made door.

Another option is to seek approval from the ADA and make the door size a standard 32 inches or 36 inches. The smaller door might be problematic if you find you cannot remove old furniture, or put new furniture in. 

Hopefully you have gained some insight into the width of a standard door and how this can affect the home. 

Joel Adams
Latest posts by Joel Adams (see all)