I was in the door biz for a while. ThermaTru. These are some remarks and observations about door sizing, from my experience there.
Door height was standardized to yeild a unit with frame height of 82 inches.
For some reason (genetics, diet, climate? ;-)) the distributors in the NE required that some of their stock shipped at a shorter height. We made them two inches shorter, but bored for a lockset at the same gage distance from the top. The whack was off the bottoms. I guess it didn’t bother those users that their doorknobs were lower.
We studied the competition a lot to make sure we understood sizing issues. While we found most doormakers within a fraction of an inch on 6/8 sizing, when it came to 8/0 heights, sizes were all over the map. Peachtree, for example, built their 8/0 doors to go into a RO height of 96″, almost 3 inches shorter than others with the tallest doors. Means a framer better not assume when doing ROs for tall doors.
Making doors for the Euro market meant prepping them so locksets went in more toward the center of height, thus about 40 inches off floor, rather than the US prep at 36. Additionally, most Euro doors were reinforced so that a deadbolt could be done up at about eye level. That made a whole lotta sense to me. Easier to insert key, especially when it’s dark.
Most all the distributors were prepared to resize doors to height, and generally cut the crop from the bottom. Up to a half inch crop, doors were just whacked, but over that, they got re-railed. Re-railing a steelfaced or fiberglass-skinned door is a job best done by a door shop.
ThermaTru did all the resizing by making the door from scratch to the size requested.
Replies
Door size standardization in the u.s. market you would think would be a given. Could never understand the slight (well, not that slight) differences in windows either.
What about interior doors gene, find odd sizing on the taller ones there too?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
a deadbolt could be done up at about eye level.
Obviously they don't have to deal with the ADA and Bubba the local inspector.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt