This is a question I am often asked so I will now explain what we often tell the customer when they ask this question.
My first question is how tall are your ceilings, as this is key to determining the ideal door height. My calculations are usually based on the ceiling height minus the cornicing if they have this detail, minus the width of architrave then minus 200-300mm of wall left between the architrave and the cornice or ceiling. What is left over is a good idea of how tall the doors should be.
For example if you have a standard ceiling height of 2400, cornice of 100 and architrave of 80mm, the following would apply 2400-100-80-200 = 2020. Our standard door heights are 1981 or 2040 so either of these would be fine. If you had no cornicing then a sightly taller door of 2100 may give a more impressive feel to the room.
I’ve supplied and fitted many large residential houses with much taller ceilings typically 2900 on ground, 2600 on first and on upper floors often standard heights of 2400. In this scenario we would often recommend bespoke height doors as follows.
Ground 2900 – 200 cornice – 120 architrave -300 wall = 2280mm. In this instance a 2300 height door would work well possible 2400 if cornicing were smaller or there was no cornicing.
Going up the doors would be shorter in height and proportionally you may want to think about making the architrave and skirting smaller as well.
Second Floor 2600 – 150 cornice – 90mm architrave – 200 wall = 2160.
Top floor 2400 – standard height of 1981.
When you work it out like this and take into account some of the elements like cornicing you need to think about how sometimes the doors don’t need to be as tall as you originally think. We often have enquiries that initially say they want 2700 high doors but after working out the calculation, the final actual door size will come down to around 2400.
Door Proportions
Certain door designs especially classic panelled doors can look different depending on the size and width. I personally believe that a good proportion for a door is height 2.5 -3 times the width. If you come away from these proportions too much and the door is 2:1 or 4:1 the door can look quite odd. When panelled doors change in side it is not everything that changes. What will remain constant sizes are the top rail side stiles and bottom rail and also the mid rail on a 2 or 4 panel door for example. The following photos demonstrate some well proportioned doors and some that are not.
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