Whether you’re looking to order a new front door or just get a more accurate quote when shopping, measuring is an essential step. It’s not hard to measure a front door, but it might not be intuitive if you haven’t done it before. Not to worry, we’ll explain what you need to know.

If you’re replacing a front door, the easiest solution is to get a door that’s the exact same size as your current door. This is why you measure the frame size of your current door and use those dimensions when ordering your new door. However, it’s also important to measure the rough opening. This is because doors don't always fit their rough openings well. Understanding if the fit is too tight or too roomy gives you the opportunity to decide if you want to change your door size to better fit the space.

Measuring the panel is a way to uncover two things: One, is your door a non-standard size? If so, you’ll want to match that size. Two, have you measured correctly? If the current door’s panel and new door’s panel vary greatly in size, you probably want to measure again.

Similarly, you want to measure jamb depth to make sure your wall isn’t extra thick. Although there are three industry standard wall thicknesses — 4 9/16”, 5 9/16”, and 6 9/16” — your wall could fall outside of what’s standard for a variety of reasons. If your wall’s a non-standard thickness, you want to make sure your new door is the same.

We sell non-standard size doors in addition to standard size doors, and you can specify the size down to 1/8 of an inch.