Non-standard sized (internal) door openings - adjust or get customised doors?

[oranjeboom]

Rightio - about to plasterboard some more rooms but not sure whether to adjust the current door openings (2200 x 930) or leave as is and get chippie to source doors that will fit that size. No idea why architect went with that size bt, but then he often just 'assumed' measurements and this is one I did not spot in time! Door linings will obviously reduce that opening by a bit, but not many online places seem to do doors taller than 2.1 metres. Also leaves me very restricted in their range of doors and i really don't want to be forking out more than £150 for a customised door.

 

Does anyone know of places that do  doors above 1980mm? Ideally I am after a panel door like this:

 

 

or like the one below which goes by various names (Mexicana, geneva, cottage oak...), which @JSHarris and @PeterStarck went for:

 

 

Again, pretty std at 1980mm.

 

I suspect that it will be cheaper to adjust the openings (in the timber framed walls) to accommodate a std door size, but would really prefer taller doors to 'suit' the higher ceilings (2.6m).  I think I've already made up my mind to just got for std 1980 size as I'll be limited in getting ready made door lining kits also....unless someone has a source for a company that does do customised door sizing at a reasonable price??

 

OB

 

[Jeremy Harris]

All our openings were larger than a standard wide (33") door frame, so I just packed them all out.  IIRC, I had to add an additional bit of stud at the top of every frame to get the height down.

[Russell griffiths]

It’s not only about the cost of adjusting the opening verses a different door. 

Wont a taller door look odd compared to any others. 

I would bring the head down to match, very simple job in a timber frame. 

If the opening is already there it just need a couple of noggins and slide the door lining in. 

[joe90]

I have just installed the doors above like Jeremy etc, and they look fab, I used 2’ 9” downstairs and 2’6” upstairs, had to pack all the openings slightly but this enabled me to get the linings accurate to fit the doors as so many doors have very little to plane off nowadays.

Edited May 17, 2018 by joe90
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[oranjeboom]

1 minute ago, Russell griffiths said:

 

Wont a taller door look odd compared to any others. 

I would bring the head down to match, very simple job in a timber frame. 

If the opening is already there it just need a couple of noggins and slide the door lining in. 

 

The extension is pretty much the other side of the house so no direct comparison of differing door sizes. There is a distinct junction between the old and new anyway as the 2.2m ceiling will curve up from the old house into the new house where it's 2.6m, so not too bothered about people noticing the 'old' vs' new' part of the house.

 

But yeah, agree that it's easy enough to do. Just not sure why architect left them so tall - could almost put a window above the doors which we quite liked in our australian house which gave the hallways a lot more light.

[RandAbuild]

@oranjeboom we're looking at doors at the moment. The first one you've pictured looks like a Seville. Deanta do the largest lippings of any door manufacturer, allowing them to be trimmed to the opening. They're a good, solid door whether you have them in 35mm or 45mm fire door thickness.

 

But I would say go for a standard door every time - ideally 1981 tall. You'll get by far the best choice (those Deanta Sevilles can be found online for about £112 each, incl VAT) and for any bespoke ones you'll be paying through the nose and waiting 14+ weeks for them.

 

If only we had followed this advice! We have 2 cupboards on the first floor (airing cupboard and MVHR/plant cupboard) that cut into the sloping roof. These will require double doors 1950 and 1886 high, involving trimming them by 100mm. We are pondering whether to have specials made or get someone to make them. I just wish we had made the linings to fit a 1981 door and made life simple.

[Ferdinand]

I believe metric doors, available from the same suppliers, are 2040mm - 2.5 inches more.

 

Enough?

 

F

 

 

[PeterW]

You can get that Suffolk Oak in 2032x813 as a standard size from

Todds for £81 inc VAT 

 

Its a standard size - add 60mm all round for linings and you’ve not got much to pack out

 

https://www.todd-doors.co.uk/cottage-oak-door

 

 

[oranjeboom]

Thanks all! Looks like I'll go for a 'std' size then.   

 

@PeterW Todd's have no supply at the moment but I'll maybe pre-order them now with some of the other doors I will be needing. Anyone have a voucher code for them?? ?

3 hours ago, RandAbuild said:

If only we had followed this advice! We have 2 cupboards on the first floor (airing cupboard and MVHR/plant cupboard) that cut into the sloping roof.

Have a similar situation in one of the vaulted rooms so will check whether I can get a std size in there also.

 

Door lining kits - I've read that some are woeful (e.g. Wickes can be a mixed bag of warpiness). Any decent online suppliers?

 

[Gone West]

Our door openings were too tall so I just put noggins in at the height I wanted.

[RandAbuild]

5 hours ago, oranjeboom said:

Door lining kits - I've read that some are woeful (e.g. Wickes can be a mixed bag of warpiness). Any decent online suppliers?

Don't know of any - we had a local joinery firm put ours together - about £60 each

[oranjeboom]

2 minutes ago, RandAbuild said:

Don't know of any - we had a local joinery firm put ours together - about £60 each

Looks like I will have to make some as the std sized ones will be too small again:

 

12mm pb / 25mm batten / 100mm Timber SIP wall / 25mm batten / 12mm pb

 

so will need approx 180mm door lining.

[AliG]

9 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

I believe metric doors, available from the same suppliers, are 2040mm - 2.5 inches more.

 

Enough?

 

F

 

 

 

This is exactly what I did, I thought with 2.7m ceilings I needed taller doors so I went metric. I would have liked 2.2m doors, but was too tight to pay to have them made.

 

I think our openings were around your size to take a 2040mmx826mm door.

 

It is, however, surprising how few doors are available in metric sizes and even fewer fire or glass doors in metric sizes if you need them.

 

I have the walnut version of this Deanta door and they are very nice with the added benefit that they make them as fire and glass fire doors. They are around £100 ex VAT.

 

https://www.leaderdoors.co.uk/doors-c14/internal-doors-c111/internal-oak-doors-c119/internal-oak-fully-finished-seville-solid-door-p38437#

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by AliG

[Ferdinand]

I used Geneva pattern to add perceived height to openings which were lower.

[Dee J]

Hmmm. I think one of the positives I'm hoping for in a self-build is decent doorway height. Given that I'm pretty much 2m tall, then 2m or lower doors tend towards the health hazard. 2.2 would be nice. I'll have to allow for this in the budget.

[Bitpipe]

We used metric throughout  - ordered ours through http://www.fsndoors.co.uk/ and got a mix of FD 30 doors (including glazed - ouch), different widths and even different thickness (pocket sliders @40mm). They even did a few custom splay head doors for the loft.

 

We got linings from Howdens - the metric ones (especially FD30 version) were few and far between but they were usually able to get enough together each week to keep joiner busy. Only had trouble with one or two out of 18 or so frames.

 

TBH, joiner was 50/50 on just buying the stock timber and making the linings himself.

 

If I was doing it again, I'd have looked more closely at fully hung door sets as the labour cost of doing the linings & hanging doors etc outweighed the extra cost of the door sets and  any savings I made on the ironmongery. That said, we would have had to take the stock architrave which wouldn't have matched our chosen skirting (or chucked what they gave us). Plus, there was some adjustment getting the necessary MVHR gap for each room - we more or less went for 7-8mm per door (860mm wide) - I know @HerbJ (who used same door firm) pre calculated all his floor gaps and used the hung door sets.

[HerbJ]

Yes,  @Bitpipe is correct, we spent a lot time checking and double checking all our openings - windows and doors - as part of our detailed acceptance and approval of the timberframe design.

 

We had a  detailed door schedule, which was used to calculate all the tolerances  and openings for ordering of  door sets, for all the doors except a few doors on the 2nd floor, which were bought from Howdens - in retrospect a mistake, for all the reasons listed by @Bitpipe.  

 

We matched all the ironmongery on these doors and found a really good supplier - the same one used by FSN Doors, who supplied all the doorsets - see https://www.morehandles.co.uk

[divorcingjack]

We have a slightly different approach - we wanted full height doors (to the ceiling, or as close as possible), but it was causing structural issues for the frame and we had problems sourcing them, so we're using standard doors but putting in a matching panel directly above the door to give a similar look.