Measuring patio doors

Patio doors are very straight forward to measure, and normally just a larger version of a recessed window when fitting interior wood shutters.

You may need to measure the uprights of the window when using Tposts or be aware of large handles protruding.

Further technical drawings and advice can be viewed by registering online.

Large handles

Measure how far the handles protrude from the main frame to calculate the batten size required.  If the door does not have any horizontal rails I would suggest lining up the middle rail of the shutter panel to the door handle.

Width and Height

Measure the width and height in the normal way, but if you have large handles measure in front of the handles in case the window recess angles in slightly. For example, if the handle protrudes 50mm and you are choosing an Elite shutter (as they are light weight) you will need to measure 100mm (4”) away from the door frame as the Elite frame is 50mm thick.

Skirting board

This gets removed or cut away when fitting the interior wood shutters, so do not include this when measuring the width.

T Posts

Doors that are split into sections will require the position of the uprights measured so the Tposts line up with them.  Take all the measurements from the left hand side of the recess to the centre of each vertical upright.   Measure these points at the place you measured the smallest width from.  Double check the sizes add up to the width of the window.

Floor

Make sure if you are renewing any flooring that it has been laid or you have allowed for the extra thickness it may take up.  Will the doorway have a door matt or rug you need to allow for?

Extra support

For wide doorways you can request extra wide side stiles to help provide extra strength and support to the interior wood shutters.

Bottom frame

It’s normal to have a bottom frame on the shutter doors to help support the weight of the shutter doors and frame.  Most patio doors have large bottom sills that you need to step over so having a bottom shutter frame will match.  If your doorway has a flush sill then you can order a 3 sided frame. This option is only guaranteed when ordering 4 shutter panels, 2 folding left and 2 folding right.

Check level

For large openings check the ‘level’ to make sure the shutter doors will fit into the recess.  An easy way to find out if the recess is square or not is to measure across the diagonals of the opening.  If the measurements are different you will tell how far out of the level your opening is.

Choose the right material

For large openings a lightweight (Elite) shutter will be best, although the ‘Standard’ are affordable they will very heavy on large doorways and not always suitable.

Track mounted

Bi-fold panels are guaranteed up to 550mm wide, this means you can fit 4 shutter doors into an opening up to 2200mm wide without a track system.  The Elite shutter can be ordered with a tri-fold (6) or quad-fold (8) shutter panels across an opening, that’s an impressive 4400mm wide opening before you need a track.  By using Tposts, you can share the load across a window and separate how each panel is supported.  Track interior wood shutters will provide more strength on large openings and allow you to fold all the shutter door back to one side or the other.