A question we get asked every day is ...."what's" the standard size for a door frame", the quick answer is that there really isn't one unless your in a more modern property and even then there's no guarantee.
Differing frames need different measuring techniques, just ask if you're confused.
In order to try and not blow your mind with every possibility it is best I concentrate within this blog on exterior door frame sizes.
It's now up to me to contradict myself and say the most common size is 2090mm high but with much older property having frames that could be anything up to 2850mm and higher if they incorporate what we know in the trade as a "transom" and what the layman may call a fanlight, needless to say there is no fan evident!
The width will totally depend on several factors such as (1) Door sizes, (2) whether the frame legs (Jambs) are rebated or (3) whether the door stops are added and lastly, (4) the frame legs can also be manufactured using different timber thicknesses from one house to another and from different periods in construction where joinery techniques have developed.
I suppose the easiest way to help you understand door frame sizes is to suggest that very old frames (40, 50, 60 years and more) will have rectangular, plain door frame legs with the timber door stop that the door will close against as an extra individual piece of timber whereas the more modern construction will have a "machine" rebated frame that will have the door frame leg and the door stops as one section of timber, clear as mud then!
A typical door frame size for cill and leg (jamb) sections, a style most commonly used in new homes.
The most modern homes (less than 30 years old) today are likely to have frame widths of 80-95mm or narrower as pictured and are more likely to be the rebated type mentioned directly above; the older frames are more likely to be broader and could vary from 145-245mm wide.
The fly in this particular door frame size ointment is that we then have to talk about the door step, cill or threshold, older homes may have raised concrete steps with no timber cill or threshold on top of it where it would be set BETWEEN the door and the concrete step and the frame legs will more than likely go past this raised step all the way to ground level, newer properties will almost certainly have some form of timber threshold or cill as part of the overall frame and are more easy to measure.......just place a tape from the underside of this cill/threshold to the very top of the door frame.
In order to move your project forward and avoid more confusion than necessary we ask customers to supply some photos of their doorway as there are many other things to look out for such as (1) is the external visible frame size different from that of the internal frame sizes, in other words does the frame sit behind the outer/inner walls? and (2) does the cill/threshold sit below the inner floor level.
I realise there is a lot to consider, I suppose that is why I would suggest you will have to be very good at DIY or you should get a tradesman to quote for the job, the old story of it being easy when you know how is never truer in this case.
#doorframesizes #doorframes #framesfordoors #framesizes