Renovation can take quite a toll on your well-being. Apart from the hundred decisions, you’re required to make.
There’s always room for something to go wrong. For example, your walls might end up painted in the wrong shade of white, or your marble floor may not fully complement your furniture.
But these are mistakes that you can fix. You can always paint over a wall or change your floor tiling. However, incorrect size measurement is a mistake that lingers.
Summary
Door opening sizes are usually found by adding 2 inches to the width of the door. A 32-inch door will have a door rough opening of 34 inches. A 36-inch door will have a door rough opening of 34 inches.
In this article, we go into more details about the following:
- How to measure
- How to frame it
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When measuring a rough opening, accuracy and precision should be the top priority because it’s pretty impossible to fit a door into an ill-matched rough. If you set out to fix our error, it will probably cost you more effort and money than you had initially planned.
Therefore, you’ve to be particularly careful with the measurement. But to save you the trouble of figuring out the process on your own, we’ve devised a guide to help you.
Please keep reading, and we assure you that an ill-fitted rough will no longer feel like an alien concept. We’ve also included charts to trace your door size and get the corresponding rough opening.
Door rough opening size chart
| Door Size (Width x Height) | Rough Opening (Width x Height) |
| 28” x 78” | 30” x 80.5” |
| 30” x 78” | 32” x 80.5” |
| 32” x 78” | 34” x 80.5” |
| 34” x 78” | 36” x 80.5” |
| 36” x 78” | 38” x 80.5” |
| 28” x 80” | 30” x 82.5” |
| 30” x 80” | 32” x 82.5” |
| 32” x 80” | 34” x 82.5” |
| 34” x 80” | 36” x 82.5” |
| 36” x 80” | 38” x 82.5” |
Double door
| Door Size (Width x Height) | Rough Opening (Width x Height) |
| 28” x 78” | 30” x 80” |
| 30” x 78” | 32” x 80” |
| 32” x 78” | 34” x 80” |
| 34” x 78” | 36” x 80” |
| 36” x 78” | 38” x 80” |
| 28” x 80” | 30” x 82” |
| 30” x 80” | 32” x 82” |
| 32” x 80” | 34” x 82” |
| 34” x 80” | 36” x 82” |
| 36” x 80” | 38” x 82” |
Measuring rough opening
Remember, a door isn’t supposed to fit into the rough like a missing puzzle piece. Instead, there needs to be enough space for the structure to swing and all the other parts to rest comfortably.
The general rule of thumb is to add two inches to the width of the door to get the rough width. You need to add two and a half inches to the door’s height for the rough height.
The additional space allows the wall to contract and expand during changing seasons. It also leaves enough room for the jamb on each side to rest.
A 32-inch or 36-inch
To measure the rough space for a 32-inch door, you must add a few inches. The rough opening for a 32-inch entrance is 34 wide.
As for the height, you need to add two and a half inches to the door’s height. Typically, most entries are either 78 or 80 inches tall. So it would translate to an 80.5 or 82.5 inches tall rough opening.
For a 36-inch entrance, the same rule applies. Therefore, the rough opening is 38 inches wide and 2.5 above the door’s height.
A 28 or 30-inch door
The general rule to measure the rough opening remains the same, regardless of the structure’s size. It is because it allows enough space for it to go through any seasonal changes and stay intact.
For a 28-inch entrance, a rough opening of 30 inches in width would suffice. As for the height, the rough opening will be 80.5 inches high if the door measures 78 inches. Alternatively, the rough opening will be 82.5 inches tall for a door height of 80 inches.
If you’ve got a 30-inch door, the rough opening will be 32 inches wide and 80.5 or 82.5 inches wide.
Your entrance may have a different height. We’ve used a general assumption. In any case, your rough opening should be 2.5 inches taller than your door’s height.
Bifold door
The rules may be set in stone, but they vary from one design to another. Compared to a standard door, the rough opening for a bifold door is about the same height.
But there is a slight variation in the width. This is because a bifold entrance doesn’t typically come with a door jamb kit, so the rough opening requires about half an inch less in width.
To measure the rough opening for a bifold doorway, add two inches to the height and two to the width. For instance, a 32-inch entrance with 78 in height will have a 34 inches wide and 80 high rough opening.
Pocket door
You might consider installing a pocket door if you’re tired of the conventional swinging design. It’s an excellent way to add a statement piece to your home. A pocket doorway also eliminates the need for extra space that a typical swinging design demands.
However, the pocket entrance comes with its challenges. First, it requires additional space in the wall frame to slide into. It might not seem too demanding but measuring the rough opening gets trickier.
The rough opening height is 85 inches, whereas the width is double plus one of the door width. For instance, the rough opening of a 32-inch pocket doorway will measure 65 inches wide and 85 high.
Alternatively, a 24-inch pocket door will require a rough opening of 49 inches wide and 85 tall.
Standard garage door
Installing a garage or barn door is an easy task. You can take it up on the weekend, and the project will have come to a successful end before the next week starts.
But that doesn’t mean that things can’t go wrong. If you mismeasure the rough opening, you’ll have to spend far more time and money to save the situation.
Therefore, calculate the rough opening with utmost care. For a standard garage entrance, the rough opening is three inches wider and about one and a half inches higher—for example, a 35 inches wide and 81.5 inches taller than the standard 32-inch garage entrance.
And if you’re planning to install a 43-inch door with a height of 84, then a rough opening of a width of 46 inches and a height of 85.5 will be ideal.
