Sizing Guide: If Your Entryway Is Within a Certain Size Range, Here Are Your Options
Searching for a new exterior door for the front entry of your home can be a fun and exciting new venture, especially if you have a good idea of what you’re looking for. This exterior door sizing guide will help you decide on the appropriate entryway to your home.
To begin, you will need to know the exact measurements of your door (or doorway for new builds) before you can begin hunting for new doors. Using a tape measure, find the exact width (thickness) of the door, the door height and be sure to write these measurements down where you will be able to find them, or store them under notes within your smartphone. Based on these measurements, you will know if you need a single door, French doors, double doors, or a single door with sidelites and/or transoms.
Single exterior doors for the front entryway
Reviewing the ETO Doors selection of the most popular single doors, you can quickly determine that in order for this option to work, you will need an entryway that is between 30” x 80” and 42” x 96”, with very few exceptions. Nearly all of the doors within this selection can be ordered in a variety of heights and widths, so if you see a single door option that you like, look for the measurements that work for the rough opening of your exterior entryway—if you do not see the size you need, you can contact ETO Doors by dialing 1-888-DOOR-ETO and find out if the door style you want is available in unlisted sizes, and even have the door custom-made if it is not available in the size required to the structure where it will be fitted.
French exterior doors for the front entryway
When deciding to use exterior French doors for the front entryway of your home, you must ensure the rough opening is not too wide and not too slender. Each side of a French door unit should be between the sizes of 24” x 80” and 42” x 84”, or both doors together, including the doorframe should not exceed between 48” x 160” and 84” x 168”. But, in order for you to know which door sizes will work for your front exterior rough opening, you will have to measure the height and width—also measure the doorframe thickness and have this measurement on hand—if your door thickness is more than 1 and 1/2 inches, discuss it with an ETO Doors phone agent who can explain whether or not this will be an issue for the door model you have selected.
Double doors for the front entryway
ETO Doors brings you several options in exterior double doors that are larger than French doors in almost all instances. These large, imposing doorways should only be ordered or used when you are absolutely certain that the rough opening of your exterior entryway is large enough to house both doors and the doorframe that houses them. Measure the height, width, and thickness of the entryway where you would like to use exterior double doors. Ensure that you have between 60” x 80” and 72” x 96”, which are the measurements of the actual doors themselves offered by ETO Doors. If you have less than this, you will have to consider French exterior doors or a single door with transoms and/or sidelites, which we’ll discuss below.
Single exterior door with sidelites and transoms to fill in the gaps
If you want a single door for your front entryway but have a rough opening that’s simply too wide, you can consider French doors, or if that option doesn’t work for the style of your home, you can also choose a single door that’s somewhat wide and add sidelites for width and a transom for added height if you need it. ETO Doors offers sidelites that measure from 11-3/4” up to 13-3/4” with heights that vary between 79” and 95” inches, and a thickness that is universally 1-3/4”. Keep in mind that you’ll need to double those measurements, as sidelites are made to go on either side of the door. Knowing this, you’ll need to ensure that you have a grand total of 23-1/2” to 27-1/2” total once the door is in place.
If your door and sidelites fit nice and snug but you still have plenty of space overhead, you should absolutely consider a transom from a variety of shapes, including circular, elliptical, and rectangular in sizes that range from 74” x 37-1/2” to 74” x 18”, with a variety of heights and widths between the various transom shapes. If you have questions about how to fit a transom into the space above your doorframe, call ETO Doors at 1-888-DOOR-ETO for further instruction. If you have a wide doorway that needs large side lites and transoms, or if you would rather use these additions in place of double or French doors, there is always a way to make it work!
