Do you know what is the most common reason for clients complaints? If you have a little bit of experience for sure you can say that those are installation mistakes. How to do the sliding doors measurements well?
The rules of installation are the same for every material such as vinyl, uPVC, aluminum, or wood.
Let’s start with the measurement. The way of measurement is different in each of these three situations:
First situation:
You install the door when the floor is done, and there is no possibility of embedding the threshold in it.
You should measure the width of the door opening from right to left at 3 heights and choose the smallest dimension. Subtract 0.79 in from the left and 0.79 in from the right. In this way, you have the width of the opening in the narrowest place minus 1.57 in.
Determining the height is a more difficult task. It all depends on the installation conditions.
You should measure the width of the door opening from right to left at 3 heights and choose the smallest dimension.
If the floor in the building is finished, and we cannot embed the threshold into the floor, we determine the patio door height from the floor to the lintel line, subtracting 0.8 in – 1.2 in for expansion joints.
The final height of the door will be about 1 in lower than the height from the floor to the lintel at the lowest point.
Remember to order doors with the lowest possible threshold if you can.
For example, in Bifold door or lift and slide patio doors, you can order thresholds not embedded in the floor and meeting the criteria of a low threshold without barriers.
The final height of the door will be about 2.1.97 in lower than the height from the floor to the lintel.
Let us show you an example:
We have a window opening with dimensions declared by the investor as 13 ft 1.48 in in width and 7 ft 2.61 in in height.
It turns out that when measuring the width at the bottom – the real dimension is 13 ft 0.69 in, in the middle 13 ft 1.48 in, and at the lintel 13 ft 1.87 in.
Therefore, our width is the smallest dimension: 13 ft 0.69 in minus 1.57 in equals 12 ft 11.12 in.
The height is similar: for the left jamb – 7 ft 3.01 in, in the middle 7 ft 3.8 in, and for the right 7 ft 4.19 in. We choose the lowest measurement – 7 ft 3.01 in – we subtract 0.79 in and set the door height as 7 ft 2.22 in.
Remember!
To order doors, you should provide the following dimensions: 12 ft 11.12 in and 7 ft 2.22 in. Always remember that the width is given first.
How to measure sliding doors – practical example.
It is more difficult to determine the correct height of the door when the building is under construction, and there is no physically finished floor yet – the so-called level “zero”.
In this case you must require from the investor to indicate and mark on the walls where the floor level is planned.
Once you have determined the “zero level” of the finished floor (with tiles / carpet / plank or anything else) measurement is very simple, but there are two options again.
Second situation:
You install the door with the threshold embedded in the floor, you can do measurements as follows.
Measure the height from level “zero” to the lintel at a minimum of 3 points. Then you subtract 0.79 in from the lowest height obtained. And this is the height of your door from the threshold to the upper part of the frame.
To order the door correctly, you must add the threshold height, which (depending on the model) can be from 20 to 3.54 in!
REMEMBER! To order the door correctly, you must add the threshold height to this height – which, depending on the model, can be from 0.79 in to 3.54 in!
You need to have those parameters:
- The height of the opening from the lintel to the zero level.
- Door model and threshold height, which will be embedded in the floor.
- And height from the bottom frame to the zero level (the lowest of 3 measurements).
The supplier will select a sliding door with an embedded threshold of optimal dimensions and system profiles widening the frame or ground profiles, for example, from XPS or styrodur.
To describe the measurement process accurately, we’ll use an example:
In practice, the width at floor height is 13 ft 1.87 in, at half height it’s 13 ft 1.09 in, and 13 ft 1.48 in near the lintel. The door will therefore be 13 ft 1.09 in minus 1.57 in equals 12 ft 11.51 in wide.
The declared height is 7 ft 10.49 in. However, it turns out that in practice the finished floor will be 7.87 in higher than the current bottom jamb.
After marking it on the walls and using a laser level to measure in 3 places from the sideways, the dimension from the future level zero to the lintel is 7 ft 3.01 in on the left, 7 ft 3.01 in on the right, and 7 ft 2.22 in in the center.
The door will therefore be 13 ft 1.09 in – 1.57 in equals 12 ft 11.51 in wide.
The height from the threshold to the upper frame of the door will be 7 ft 2.22 in minus 0.79 in equals 7 ft 1.43 in.
So as we choose COR Vision Plus doors from Cortizo – the threshold is 2.72 in. The finished height of the shift is 7 ft 1.43 in + 2.72 in threshold equals 7 ft 4.15 in.
Measure the height from level “zero” to the lintel at a minimum of 3 points.
The total size of the sliding doors will be: 12 ft 11.51 in x 7 ft 4.15 in.
For this we choose system extensions to be embedded in the floor. 3 measurements from the level of the finished floor to the current one. 7.87 in on the left, 7.48 in in the middle and 8.27 in on the right.
So the extensions we need are 7.48 in minus 2.72 in threshold equals 4.76 in. The whole measurement is written as follows: Window width: 12 ft 11.51 in Window height: 7 ft 4.15 in + extensions profile 4.76 in high.
Third situation:
If you install BiFold, Sliding door type having a threshold base set at floor height – the measurement is much simpler.
You only need measurements at 3 points in height from the zero level of the finished floor to the lintel. You subtract 0.79 in from the lowest dimension and this is the height of your door.
If you install BiFold, Sliding door type having a threshold base set at floor height – measurement is much simpler.
Extensions in 3 points, as in the previous example (the height from the finished floor level to the bottom jamb).
You give the lowest value to the supplier – as the dimension to which you should choose system profiles expanding the frame or ground profiles.
Let’s put it into practice:
The hole declared by the investor is 13 ft 1.48 in x 7 ft 10.49 in. The finished floor will be 7.87 in higher than the current height of the sill.
The situation with the width is identical to the previous example. The dimensions below are 13 ft 2.03 in in the middle and 13 ft 1.48 in at the top. Therefore, the width is 1 ft 3.71 in minus 0.16 in equals 12 ft 11.51 in.
The size of the finished door is 12 ft 11.51 in x 7 ft 1.83 in.
What about height? With identical assumptions. From the future floor to the drive rail height: from the left: 7 ft 3 in, right 7 ft 3 in, in the middle 7 ft 2.61 in. The door will be 7 ft 2.61 in high minus 0.79 in equals 7 ft 1.83 in high.
Thus, the size of the finished door is 12 ft 11.51 in x 7 ft 1.83 in.
It remains to choose the ground widening – we measure the height from the sill to the finished floor height (zero level) from the left 7.87 in, in the middle 7.48 in, and on the right 8.27 in.
Therefore, we order extensions from the supplier up to 7.48 in, giving the following ordering parameters: Window dimensions: 12 ft 11.51 in x 7 ft 1.83 in + System extensions: 7.48 in.