North and Central New Jersey, from Bergen and Passaic Counties down through Morris, Essex, Union, Somerset and Middlesex to Monmouth and Ocean
Doorway Widening for Wheelchairs and Walkers in North and Central NJ
Get a wheelchair or walker through the bathroom, bedroom and front doors without scraped knuckles or turning sideways, with the wall behind each opening checked before anyone quotes.
Doorway Widening quote
Tell us which doors are the problem, and send a measurement if you have one. We will check whether a hinge will do before anyone prices a wall. There is no obligation.
$100 off your first job
Credited by us on your first booked job.
- One credit per customer per property, on your first booked job.
- Valid through December 31, 2026.
Mention this offer when you book. Full terms.
Room to get through the house, door by door
What you get is a house a wheelchair or walker can move through: wider openings at the doors that matter, thresholds lowered or removed, lever handles instead of knobs, and enough room to turn in a hallway. It is a bigger job than it looks, and New Jersey's construction code is why. Replacing a door in the same opening is ordinary maintenance, but only when the dimensions and framing of the opening stay as they were. Widening changes the framing, so it is not maintenance, and cutting away a loadbearing wall is work affecting the structure. Older houses tend to have the narrowest doors, and more than a third of New Jersey homes were built before 1960. We work out which openings actually need widening and what is in the wall, then connect you with a registered local contractor, and a licensed electrician if a switch or outlet has to move.
- Widening interior doorways, most often the bathroom and a bedroom, by reframing the opening and hanging a wider door
- Widening the entry door and its frame to meet a new ramp or stoop
- Swing-clear (offset) hinges that swing the door fully out of the opening, gaining clear width without cutting the wall
- Pocket and sliding doors where there is no room for a door to swing
- Removing a door altogether and finishing the opening where privacy allows
- Lowering or removing thresholds and raised sills between rooms and at exterior doors
- Lever handles and easy-grip hardware in place of round knobs
- Moving light switches and outlets that sit in the way of a wider opening, by a licensed electrician
- Opening up a tight hallway turn or a closet wall so a wheelchair can turn
What sits behind a door frame and changes the job
Two doorways of the same width can be very different jobs. What changes it is what the wall is holding up, what runs through it, and how much wider it truly has to be.
Whether the wall is loadbearing
A non-structural partition can be reframed around a wider opening. A loadbearing wall needs a new header sized for what sits above it, and the state code counts cutting away a loadbearing wall as outside ordinary maintenance. The contractor should tell you which it is before pricing anything.
How much width you actually need
The federal accessibility guidance, a reference for private homes rather than a rule, allows a clear opening of 32 inches at a doorway, measured from the stop to the face of the door opened to 90 degrees. Measure the chair or walker, and each door that way, before assuming every opening has to be cut.
What runs through the wall
Switches, outlets, a heating pipe or a duct beside the frame all have to move with a wider opening. Moving wiring is electrical work and relocating piping is plumbing work, and neither is ordinary maintenance, so each brings its own licensed trade.
The age and finish of the house
Plaster walls, original trim and hardwood floors are harder to cut and match than drywall and carpet, and an older door is often narrower to begin with. Across New Jersey, 17.4 percent of homes were built in 1939 or earlier.
How many openings, and in what order
The bathroom door is often the first that matters and the hardest to widen, because a vanity or a toilet sits right beside it. Planning the route from the bed to the bathroom to the front door as one job usually works out better than widening doors one at a time.
The threshold as well as the width
A wider door with a raised sill still stops a wheelchair. Floors that change height between rooms, or an exterior sill above the landing, are often part of the same job.
An inch short, or a wall to cut?
Send the width of the chair or walker and of the door. We will tell you which kind of job it is.
From a tape measure to a finished opening
Map the route through the house
Tell us which doors are the problem: the bathroom, the bedroom, the entry. Measure the clear opening of each and the width of the chair or walker, and send photos of both sides of each door.
We check whether a hinge will do it
Some doors gain enough width from swing-clear hinges, or from taking the door off, with no wall work at all. You hear that before anyone prices a reframe.
A registered contractor checks the wall and prices it
They find out whether each wall is loadbearing and what runs through it, then give you a written price. Over $500 it has to be a signed contract showing their registration number.
Time to decide
Nothing has to be signed at the visit. If you sign, New Jersey lets you cancel for any reason until midnight of the third business day after you receive your copy.
Permits for the framing and any wiring
Because widening changes the framing, it is not ordinary maintenance. The contractor may not start until the permits the job needs have been issued, and any licensed electrician moving wiring is named on the permit application.
Reframed, trimmed and finished
A new header and frame where needed, a wider door hung, trim and floor made good to match, and copies of any inspection certificates to you before the final payment is due.
Doorway Widening work we have arranged
What doorway widening looks like
What is out of scope, and when the wall may not need cutting
When you may not need this at all
- If the door is only an inch or two short, swing-clear hinges may gain enough width by swinging the door fully out of the opening, with no wall work at all.
- If privacy does not matter at that door, taking the door off and finishing the opening may be enough.
- If the person uses a walker rather than a wheelchair, measure first. A walker often fits an opening a wheelchair will not, and the doors that matter may be fewer than you think.
- If the narrow doors are on a floor the person can no longer reach easily, setting up living space downstairs can make more sense than widening doors upstairs.
What is out of scope
- Structural design. Where a loadbearing wall is involved, the contractor brings in whatever design the header needs.
- Moving rooms or renovating a whole floor.
- Hinges or hardware bought for you to fit yourself. We connect you with contractors, not suppliers.
- Common hallways and entry doors in apartment and condominium buildings, which are for the association or the landlord to change.
What people ask about widening a doorway
How wide does a doorway need to be for a wheelchair?
The federal accessibility guidance allows a clear opening of 32 inches at a doorway, measured from the door stop to the face of the door opened to 90 degrees. The ADA does not govern a private house, so that is a reference rather than a requirement, and a narrow chair may get through less. Measure the chair, then the opening.
Can we just use offset hinges?
Sometimes. Swing-clear hinges move the door fully out of the opening and gain roughly the thickness of the door. If that closes the gap, it is much the smallest job on this page.
Does widening a door need a permit in New Jersey?
Plan on it being more than maintenance. The state code lets a door be replaced in the same opening as ordinary maintenance only when the dimensions and framing stay the same. Widening changes both, and cutting a loadbearing wall affects the structure. Ask the contractor what your town requires before work starts.
Can the cost count toward a tax deduction?
It may. IRS Publication 502 lists widening doorways and hallways among changes that usually do not add value to a home, so their reasonable cost can be included as a medical expense, but medical expenses are only deductible above 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. Ask a tax professional about your own return.
Will it make the house look like a hospital?
It should not. A wider opening takes the same trim and door style as the rest of the house, and lever handles come in every ordinary finish. Tell the contractor you want it to match.
Which doors should we widen first?
The ones on the route the person uses every day: bed to bathroom, then out of the house. Widening a door to a room nobody needs to reach spends money for nothing.
Make the house fit the chair, not the other way around
One request, a registered contractor who checks the wall first, a written price and no obligation.