I haven't found 36" interior doors to be common, but we insisted on wide doors when we built and they were a real positive feature for resale. I've had to use a wheelchair several times over the years, and those wide doors made it much easier. Even simple chores like carrying a laundry basket to bedrooms/closets for delivery is easier with wide doors. Movers do love them, too.

I think it was Allison who once posted a photo of a terrific extra-wide door from her garage into her house. IIRC, it was 42" (maybe more?) and very sturdy looking. I've never seen my dh get excited about a door, but when I showed him that picture he was like a little kid, "Oh, man! I want one of those!" : )

We put 36" doors throughout our house and I'm glad we did.

Unless you're living in a castle, three feet will look ridiculous, except for the front door. In public buildings, ADA requires 32" clear width for wheelchairs, meaning a 34" door. Don't forget bathrooms. Traditionally they have had smaller doors.

Higher-end homes often now include elevators or shafts for future elevator installation.

Here is a link that might be useful: ADA Requirements

We have all 3' wide on the ground floor except for the door to the basement stairs. It helped recently when the ambulance crew moved a family member to the hospital and will help if they are able to return home from the rehab facility. I am glad we did it.

I don't think our 3' doors look stupid at all. Closets, 1/2 bath and pantry doors are smaller, but bedrooms, and full bathrooms are 3', as well as all exterior doors, and the open doorway between laundry and kitchen. (our master bath has 2-18" doors) Hallway is 48" and stairs are 42".

Clearly I disagree with Worthy's opinion. The house we had custom built w/ 3 ft. doors (or 5 ft. french doors in some places) was no castle, but was a very attractive and gracious low-country style house with about 3400SF on the main floor and a 600+ SF bonus room over the garage. The next house (a builder's spec) had 3 ft. doors on the main floor only, and we wished they were throughout the house.
I'll use them again, regardless of house size.

3' doors will not look ridiculous. Visually they're not a huge a difference from the more standard 30". We have a mix of 30 and 36 and it's fine.

It's certainly not a must for me, but where I could fit in the new build, we did. All other doors are 32" just because a lot of 'things' end up at 30" it seems and moving them in and out of rooms is that much easier with a few extra inches.

I think it was Allison who once posted a photo of a terrific extra-wide door from her garage into her house. IIRC, it was 42" (maybe more?) and very sturdy looking. I've never seen my dh get excited about a door, but when I showed him that picture he was like a little kid, "Oh, man! I want one of those!" : )

You made my DH's day. He loves the garage door, and so do I. No bumping around when bringing in groceries, larger accessories or furniture. It's 48" wide.

Here's the door from inside the garage:

It looks huge when inside the house - almost the width of the back hallway. I wouldn't care for it if it could be seen from anywhere else in the house. It's only seen when in small hallway off kitchen. I only see when going to lower level stairway or laundry room. The movers loved us.

All of our interior door ways are 36" wide. None of them look ridiculous. That's one of the first things we changed when I first set of drawings arrived. Nothing is worse than having to squeeze through a doorway when carrying a baby, laundry basket or something bulky. We also wanted to be sure they were all wide enough in case we were ever in need of a wheelchair.

It's very common here for upper level homes to have 36" wide doorways.

Here is a link that might be useful: House Tour

I will vote with Worthy on this one although ridiculous might be a bit strong....I do think that garage door reaches the ridiculous level though. But different strokes...

It has to be harder to level and keep level a larger door. I'd imagine that garage door costs more than all my interior doors combined.

Around here - I have never seen a 36in door except on universal design houses. Maybe they were there and I didn't notice on some houses. I think if rooms are large and ceilings/doors are tall, it would be less noticeable. I do think that a 3 ft wide, 6'8" door would look pretty funny.

It has to be harder to level and keep level a larger door. I'd imagine that garage door costs more than all my interior doors combined.

You're referring to my garage door? It was only a tad more than the 36" wide doors used in our home. It was not harder to level when installing and we've had no problems with it staying level since we built our home over 5 years ago.

fwiw, the door looks much wider to me in a photo than in person.

Some nice "cottage" Allison!

(Thanks for making my point.)

As others have noted, there is, too, a distinction between "public" and "private" areas. The common style now is to wide-open great rooms, hallways etc. while--for the moment, at least--bedrooms are less accessible. Anybody seen a walk-through bedroom lately?

BTW, framed openings and archways are not the same as doors. And double doors are just that--double. All these 36"+ openings are common, even in smaller homes. Here, double entry master bedroom doors are de rigueur.

Before anyone rushes to pen in oversized apertures strictly for the ease of the movers, think of what oversized doors do to wall space in the room, weight (if they are solid core units), cost and, dare I mention it, aesthetics. Even in this culture where the gospel is that everyone's opinion is equal, your sense of proportion and balance may still be askew. (Of course, that's only my opinion.)

We also always put in 36" doors, wide hallways, lever handles, walk in shower, no steps etc....if you are ever in a wheelchair or walker, you will be thankful you have them. This would be a "must" in our next house also....been there, done that!

David_cary, FWIW, 6'8" doors are not the norm in our neighborhood, nor in the neighborhoods of our last three homes. Interior doors are typically 8 ft., and 36" wide doors don't appear the least bit silly. On the contrary, it's the narrow linen closet doors I've seen that look odd. As for cased openings, of course they're wider than 36" (at least in every home I've seen in the last decade.)

Smart builders ought to be considering the huge potential market of aging baby boomers who intend to "age in place" and have been interested in universal design features for quite some time. As Phoggie stated, she's already built a house using universal design features and expects to do so again. I've lost count of how many people commented on our home and said they wished their builder had made similar suggestions. I don't think that the house-focused people who post here are typical of most home buyers as far as doing research on their own, and I believe that many buyers would love for builders to present such options to them.

BTW, framed openings and archways are not the same as doors.

I don't have any idea how wide any of the arched opening are. I was only referring to room entrances or closets when I referred to doors.

The doors going into the bathrooms of our last home (built in 1956), where we lived for 20 years, were 28". We vowed never to have small doors again.

I don't think men (in general) think about women carrying a baby/toddler on one hip and holding a laundry basket or grocery bag on the other. (Not that men don't do laundry sometimes. ;) )

Some nice "cottage" Allison!

Thanks, I think. Sometimes it's hard to tell if you are being sincere or sarcastic. ;)

De nada!

It used to be "cottage" referred to something suited to enticing little Hansels and Gretels to their doom. The definition has expanded. And with it, the door sizes.

...Which is where DH plans on us moving in a few years.

Our home is from a "cottage collection." Granted, we added the lower level plus added to the main level to suit our needs. Much larger than a typical "cottage." Still, from the front, it appears much smaller than it is, so as long as no one enters...or goes around back, I might get away with it. ;)

It's not just about the size of the passage through the door; in modern homes with large interconnected open spaces there aren't very many walls or doors. Trying to fit 3 ft doors into these plans can be difficult because you must also consider the larger space the door swing requires and the larger wall space it covers when open.

Therefore, the design of the whole house is more important than arbitrary dimension standards. The ADA is a collection of standards that do not apply to your home. A 32" door is quite adequate for passage of a wheelchair and in some ways it is better than a 36" door. A larger door can be more difficult to open and close for someone in a wheelchair but more importantly it can be more difficult for the ambulatory handicapped person because of the larger arc of the swing radius. In both cases, the larger the door the more a person has to step or roll back when opening it depending on the direction of approach which is usually head-on instead of from the knob side. A larger door might strike the toe of an elderly person and cause a fall. People in wheelchairs can usually get through even 30" doors but if an elderly person falls it can be life threatening especially if hey are on anti-coagulation medication. My 90 year old father tripped, fell, broke his hip and died from the after effects of the replacement surgery. If he had been in a wheelchair, he might still be alive. My point is that safety from injury should be considered first, then convenience of passage so experienced judgment is better than arbitrary standards.

I don't have a favorite door size; like most other elements in a house, I design doors to fit the needs of the users and the space they serve.

Sorry to hear about your father.

I design doors to fit the needs of the users and the space they serve.

Which is exactly what we did.

(To semi-quote worthy, thanks for helping me make my point. ;) )

As much as I love large doors, I only have four 36" interior doors in my new house. Like macv pointed out, sometimes it just isn't feasible in terms of door swing and wall space. I ordered 8' true rounded top interior doors for my main floor, and they were the same price regardless of width. I definitely would have felt like I was getting 'more for my money' had I switched all to 36". I guess at the time I was more concerned about giant doors hogging real estate in our modest size rooms. Our house has 10' ceilings on the main level, but the foundation comes in at a measly 1880 sq. ft. Definitely NOT a castle, and as Worthy pointed out, probably no need for all 36"ers.

rock - I don't think we disagree - 3ft wide on an 8 ft door looks pretty reasonable compared to 3ft wide on a 6'8" door. I happen to have 8 ft doors downstairs but that is not the norm on new construction. If you are looking at high end custom homes, then it is the norm (at least around here).

I am sure that this differs in different pats of the country.

I am amazed how worked up people get when the talk turns to building for wheelchairs or similar issues. It really seems to strike a chord.

We planned bigger doors ... 32" in the vacation/rental/second home we are building instead of the 30" that we have in our current house. One, for possible renters in wheelchairs (we will have an elevator as well), and also for moving, and also to help reduce scuffing of suitcases going in & out. With the 30" doors in our current house, I sometimes wish that I had just one or two more inches. But, this new house is designed so tight, we just didn't have room for 36" and 32" seemed like the perfect compromise. Plus, they are a standardly stocked size, so no upcharge ! I am very happy to hear "a 32" door is quite adequate for passage of a wheelchair and in some ways it is better than a 36" door". I was startng to panic a little bit reading the above and thinking my 32" doors wouldn't be big enough for guests in wheelchairs. Two of our bathrooms will have 32" doors, but the rest will not.

wow things are different in different areas.

my contractor looked at me funny when specing 30 inch doors in bathrooms, its not common by me. especially the powderroom, 24" is the standard.

I guess some people here assumed 8' doors to be the norm. at least by me it is not. 6'8" is the standard here, and you have to be over $1M before you see 8' doors. standard ceiling height for second floors by me is 8' with first floor being 9' most of the time, although some are 8'

My last house had a 36" wide door to the laundry room only. I insisted on it during the remodel, over my dh's objection. He was singing a different tune, though, when the washing machine died -- no problem getting the old one out and the new one in.

I will say that it was noticeably wider and heavier than the other doors in the house and since it was in a hallway, the proportions seemed a bit off. There was also little room for the trim molding. A smaller door, however, would have meant taking the door frame apart to replace the washer.

David, I had to chuckle when I read your comment: "I am amazed how worked up people get when the talk turns to building for wheelchairs or similar issues. It really seems to strike a chord."

Yep. I freely admit it's a hot button issue for me. I've spent some very frustrating months in a wheelchair over the years. The first time, we lived in a builder-spec house (2 floors, approx. 3200 SF total) and it was very difficult to manage getting around. At least the master suite was on the main, otherwise I don't know what I would have done. Then try carrying a laundry basket balanced on one hip while using a cane on the other side. I always had bruises someplace.

As for those 24" powder room doors mentioned above, I doubt that my son could fit through them without turning sideways. He's >6'4" and very broad-shouldered.

Universal design isn't just about old people. I'm very short while dh & ds are quite tall. We all have challenges. I developed arthritis

Longtime lurker . . . who has been made very nervous about building with all 36" doors. Our primary reason for build is pre-teen daughter in and out of wheelchair. We have two other children and are currently looking at 1 1/2 story or cape for two bedrooms up and two down. ALL main level doorways and doors will be at least 36". We are working with builder's in house architect on design ideas right now. We have a very limited budget but are determined to make it all work. What should we be aware of regarding all 36" doors??

Wow, lots to think about. Thanks everyone!
Thanks for the photo Allison (beautiful door!) Does anyone else with 36" doors have any photos to share?

Thanks again!

Allison, my attention wasn't so much caught by the door, as by the fact that you have trim in your garage! Gorgeous, non-MDF trim, at that! WOW!

I'm confused; are we concerned about wheel chair access or groceries? Allison's door from the garage works for one but not the other. Design solutions depend on satisfying the program requirements which are still unclear to me.

juniork, Thank you. The trim is the same clear pine used inside our home. We used HardiePanel in Stucco (painted) on the walls and covered the seams with strips of rough wood. The base was installed about an inch off the floor, so we can hose our the garage if necessary. (Never have.) I lived with a basement garage for 20 years and, from the get-go, I said this one was going to be pretty! No storing or piles of junk!

Macv, some are concerned about groceries, others wheelchairs. We would have room to build a ramp, if needed.

I found Swing Clear offset door hinges which are "designed to swing the door clear of the opening adding about 2" additional clearance for wheelchairs and walkers." I have no idea how good they work - just thought I'd post them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swing Clear door hinges

Wow. I was looking for info on wood doors for a house we're thinking of buying and found your question about 36" doors. I am going to comment on some of the negativity about the wider interior doors.

FWIW, I designed our custom home that we built five years ago. A splurge was having wider doorways and halls. Our home has over 6,300 under roof and upscale. I bought 64 door handles for our home! All single doors are 36" WIDE except for three: my pantry door, attic door, and a broom closet door, which are 24" doors.

I do have some 48" wide double doors for some closets. All hallways are at least 48" wide to 8' wide, depending on where you are in the house. Space is a luxury and my home feels so much larger with the wider doors.

Every single person that is in our home absolutely loves the upgrade of wider doors. People can pass in the halls. My walls are not banged up as in past homes AND I do not have hand prints on doorways or walls where people use to brace themselves or touch walls. I truly do believe it's because of there is more room.

The movers that moved us into the house all commented on the great doorways; as well as my family all love the wider doors and pivot room in the halls. There is not one 'funny' looking thing about our doorways! Someone who would make a statement like that doesn't know what they're talking about.

I am also a real estate agent and see many homes. It amazes me at the ridiculously narrow halls and doorways that builders put in these very expensive, upscale homes. I would love to buy a house already built that I felt I could be comfortable in, but they are not out there. Prices are so low... and it is so frustrating that I cannot find ONE home with all wide doorways like my own. Not one. I'm concerned that I am going to have to build a custom home again. Arggh...