Alright, so I needed to hang a new interior door in my living room. The old one was all messed up, so I figured, “Hey, I can do this myself!” The door I picked up was a standard 36-inch wide door. Now, the tricky part – figuring out the rough opening.
First, I measured the actual door slab. Yep, it was a true 36 inches wide. That’s the easy part. Then I needed to consider extra room and jambs, which are about 0.5 inches. Then the actual door will need a litte room for moving.
So, here’s how I figured it out:
- Door width: 36 inches (obviously!)
- Added about an inch for each side two jamp.
- Added another inch or so for some wiggle room.
- Added them.
Based on this, I need make the door frame about 38 inches.
I marked everything out on the wall, double-checked my measurements, and then triple-checked ’em (measure twice, cut once, right?). I grabbed my saw and started to cut the frame for installing.
Finally, I have my new installed, and it works well! It is not too hard.