There are thousands upon thousands of properties across the UK that require replacement entrance doors. Although you would think that most doors are a similar size, they can actually vary quite a lot depending on the property.
It could be that you live in a certain type of property – for example Victorian town houses will usually have a very tall entrance opening, and have either a square or arched aperture above the door. Houses built in this era did not have standardised door sizes, so it is not unusual to see a row of Victorian terrace homes with different sized doors.
Cottages on the other hand, traditionally have a very wide front door that will be smaller than average on the height. In fact, some of the cottages we have replaced doors for have had doors so short they would be more suitable for a hobbit than a human. One customer even asked if he would get a discount as the door was so small – we admired him for trying!
These days there are strict rules and guidelines for builders to follow, but if your house was built before the 1950’s there is always a chance that the opening size may be what we consider ‘non-standard’. This is no bad thing as such, and many customers consider having a larger door a benefit.
So you think your door may be oversized, and you need to know the biggest Global Door you can order?
If we are talking about the width, this is quite simple as the maximum width for every door style is 1015mm. This is quite a wide door, and this size includes the outer frame. (N.B a door at 1015mm will give you an actual door leaf size of 900mm).
Regarding the largest door height available, this is dependant on the threshold type and the external sill. The largest size available on the height would be 2159mm, which would mean ordering a full uPVC threshold with an external sill (note a sill is not always required, but if ordered this increases the overall height by 30mm). Please refer to our Min & Max Sizes document for the full details of each option.
Now that you know the maximum sizes, you may find that the size you require is bigger than the maximum we can make. Lets say for example you have an opening size of 1045mm x 2200mm (we can blame the brick opening size on a questionable builder)…
We know that the maximum door-set (that’s the door and the outer frame) we can order is 1015mm, so we need to find 30mm on the width. This is where the add-ons come in…
Add-ons (or build-ups as they are sometimes referred to as) are PVC extensions that clip onto the outer frame. Some people use them to give the hinges more clearance from the internal plaster line, but their primary function is to help meet a required opening size.
You will notice on the website we have an option of 15mm, 25mm and 50mm add-ons. So, in this instance we simply need to add x2 15mm add-ons to the overall width and we have the perfect size. (N.B we would add one to the left and one to the right, just to keep the frame even. If required you can put more than one add-on to each side).
I am sure you have got the idea now, so the height will be a breeze; the 2159mm max size is obviously no good, so we order the door at 2150mm with a 50mm add-on, making the overall 2200mm – Easy!
If any of that seems too much like hard work, call a member of our sales team who will be happy to assist. Or better still, forget the whole thing and choose our first class installation option – this way you can forget about all measurements and let us take care of it…