Doorway widening
Doorway widening for New Jersey homes
Doorway widening in NJ starts with one door. If a walker or wheelchair will not fit through it, tell us which one, and we will connect you with a local contractor who can open it up properly.
What doorway widening work can include
Widening an existing opening
The frame is cut back and rebuilt wider, with new trim and a new door. The usual fix for a bathroom or bedroom door that has always been a squeeze.
Swing-clear hinges
Offset hinges let the door swing completely out of the opening, which can add useful width without touching the wall. It is often the least costly change.
Pocket and sliding doors
Where a door swing eats up the room, a door that slides into the wall or along it frees both the opening and the floor space.
Hallways and thresholds
A narrow hallway or a raised threshold can be as much of a barrier as the door, and the contractor can deal with them in the same visit.
Questions people ask
How wide should the doorway be?
A clear opening of 32 inches, measured from the door stop to the face of the door opened to a right angle, is a commonly used reference. A wider chair may need more, so measure your own.
Does a doorway job mean living somewhere else?
Often not. Ask the contractor how long the room will be out of use and how the floors will be covered and the work area sealed off.
Can every wall be widened?
Most can, but a wall that carries load needs a beam, and a wall with pipes or wiring needs them rerouted. The contractor checks before pricing.
Is there a cheaper fix first?
Offset hinges can add a little clear width, which sometimes is enough. Ask the contractor whether a smaller change will do before committing to a bigger one.
Can widening be paid for through a program?
The VA lists doorway widening among adaptations it supports for eligible Veterans, and NJ Medicaid includes it for some members. Eligibility is set by each program.
What changes the price
- What is inside the wall. An empty partition is simple, but pipes, cables or a switch box add work.
- Whether the wall carries load, which needs a properly sized beam above the new opening.
- The number of doors and how many walls the work touches.
- The type of door, with a standard swing door costing less than a pocket door.
- Finishing work, including plaster, paint, flooring patches and trim.
- Permit and inspection fees if structure or wiring is involved.
The permit point
Replacing a door in the same opening, without changing the opening's size or framing, is listed as ordinary maintenance under New Jersey's construction rules. Widening a doorway changes the opening, so it falls outside that category and needs the construction office's view.
Source: NJ Administrative Code
Signs this job fits
- A walker or wheelchair catches on the frame, or you have to fold it to go through.
- Your knuckles brush the frame every time you push a wheel.
- The bathroom door is too narrow for a shower chair or a transport chair.
- Someone else has to lift or turn you through a doorway.
- You are rearranging rooms because one doorway sets the limit.
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Small print: This guarantee covers our planning and introduction service. The contractor's work is covered by your contract with them. Offer terms. Guarantee terms.
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How the job goes
Name the doors that stop you
Tell us which doors cause trouble and what passes through them: a walker, a transport chair, a power chair, a shower chair.
The contractor measures the clear width
They measure the opening that actually remains with the door open, then check what the wall holds: studs, wiring, pipes or a structural beam.
Written price and plan
You get the method, the cost and the finishing details in writing, with $100 off your first project. A cheaper route, like swing-clear hinges, is offered first when it will do.
Cut, frame and finish
The opening is cut, framed and trimmed, the door is hung and the paint is touched up, so the work blends with the rest of the room.
Doorway widening in NJ: how wide is wide enough
Measure the clear opening, not the door. Open the door to a right angle and measure from the door stop to the face of the door. The Access Board treats 32 inches as an acceptable clear width at a doorway for a short run. Your own chair may need more.
Source: U.S. Access Board
Measure the widest part of your walker or chair, including your hands on the wheels. Then check the approach. A chair that fits a doorway head on may not turn into it from a narrow hall.
Write the numbers down. They tell the contractor which fix will do.
Cheaper fixes to try before cutting a wall
Cutting a wall is not always the first move. Smaller changes can gain a few inches, and sometimes that is enough.
- Offset, or swing-clear, hinges let the door sit out of the opening.
- Taking the door off and hanging a curtain works for some bedrooms.
- A pocket or sliding door frees the swing space as well.
- A door that swings the other way may clear a toilet or a vanity.
Ask the contractor to say which of these might work before you pay for a wider frame.
Bearing walls, plaster and what hides inside the wall
About 62.8 percent of New Jersey homes were built before 1980. In those houses a bathroom door is often narrower than the others, and walls may be plaster over lath, which cracks easily when it is cut.
Source: Census Bureau, year built
Before pricing, the contractor should find out whether the wall carries load. If it does, a properly sized beam must go above the new opening. Pipes, wires and switch boxes inside the wall have to be moved.
Ask where the dust will go while the wall is open, and how the rooms beyond it will be protected.
Which doors to widen first
Pick the doors that block daily life. For most households that is the bathroom, then the bedroom, then the entry. A hallway that turns sharply can matter as much as the door itself.
If you are also changing the shower, do the wall work together. The room is open once, and the finishes match. See accessible bathrooms and walk-in showers for the whole-room view, and wheelchair ramps if the front door is the problem.
Permits and inspections for a wider opening
Swapping a door in the same opening, without changing its size or framing, is ordinary maintenance. Widening changes the opening, so it needs your construction office's view. If wiring moves, the electrical work must be done by someone licensed for it.
Sources: NJ Administrative Code, NJ Consumer Affairs
State rules bar a home improvement seller from beginning work before the required permits are issued. See our guide to home modification permits in NJ.
Who may help pay for wider doors
VA disability housing grants name wider doorways among their examples, and NJ Medicaid managed care lists them among residential modifications. The IRS counts widened doorways as a possible medical expense. Each has limits, so ask first. Then send the short form to take $100 off the first project.
Sources: VA housing grants, NJ Medicaid
Older paint and dust: ask before the wall is opened
Federal lead-safe rules reach contractors who are paid to disturb paint in homes from before 1978. That cutoff is 1978, not 1980. According to EPA, roughly three in four homes built before 1978 still have some lead-based paint.
Source: U.S. EPA
Door frames are a spot where paint wears. Ask the contractor how they will follow the lead-safe rules, how the work area will be sealed and how it will be cleaned. A homeowner doing their own work is generally outside the rule, but the paid contractor is not.
Thresholds and the floor at the door
A wider door does not help if the floor trips you. The ADA Standards limit a doorway threshold to 1/2 inch, or up to 3/4 inch if beveled, as a reference. A raised metal strip between a bathroom and a hall is a common culprit.
Source: U.S. Access Board
Ask the contractor to look at the floor on both sides of the opening, and to quote a flush transition in the same job.
Hallways and turning space
A wide door opens onto a hall, and the hall has to let a chair turn. Many older homes have narrow halls that make a right-angle turn hard even with a wide door.
Test it with a cardboard template the size of your chair, or ask a family member to help you rehearse the turn. If a hall is too tight, the contractor may shift a door a few inches or open the wall into a closet. Plan the route from bed to bath, not just the single door.
What a doorway quote should list
Ask for the clear width you will get, written as a number. Ask whether a beam is needed, what trim and paint are included, and what happens if wiring turns up in the wall. Compare quotes on those points, not on the total alone.
Ready to plan it?
$100 off your first project. Call or send a request.