| By Greg Vanden Berge
In some older houses you will find a 30 inch back
door. Have you ever tried to move a refrigerator or some large
furniture through a 30 inch door? Keep in mind most bedroom doors are
30 inches wide and are in 36 inch hallways. 30 inch doors and bedrooms
make it tough to move some furniture in too.
Let's start with the price difference between a 30
inch door and a 32 inch door. The cost difference is usually going to
be around $20. If you are building a hundred homes this could become
quite an additional expense. So we can understand why the home builder
installed a 30 inch door in the back of our home.
He got the extra money in his pocket, you got a
headache.
Here's the big problem. If you ever want to
install a larger door you will need to replace the structural door
framing. Now this is where you could run into a little bit of an
expense. Changing the framing for a wider door could become quite
costly. It could actually cost over $1000 in some cases.
Now if the homebuilder would have originally
installed a 32 inch door in your house it might have ran him as high as
an additional $45. How can this be? I will give you the first clue.
There is a good chance the homebuilder will not be moving into any of
these houses. If for some strange instance he did move into the house,
he would learn the same lesson whenever he needed to move a large item
into the house.
I’m a contactor and learned this lesson in a long
time ago.
If you are building a new home you might even want
to consider installing a 36 inch back door. This door will give you
plenty of room when it comes to moving large items in or out of your
house. The cost difference between a 36 inch door and a 32 inch door is
usually around $20 also.
When building a new home most people don't give
very much thought about their interior or exterior doors. Here's a
simple chart I made to help with some basic door decisions.
Bathroom Doors Should Be 28 Inches Wide Minimum.
Bedroom Doors Should Be 30 Inches Wide Minimum.
Front Doors Should Be At Least 36 Inches Wide
Back Doors and Garage Doors Should Be At Least
32 Inches Wide
If you are a professional football or basketball
player don't use these numbers above.
If you have large sliding glass doors or French
doors throughout your home and can use them to move large items into the
house you can install whatever size doors you choose that are
comfortable to walk through.
Give some thought when installing a new door on
your next project and keep some of the above tips in mind..
If you are designing a home give some thought to
the stairways and hallways in the home as well.
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