Almost all of us here, as well as different walks of people, have a singular dream of having our own house to call home one day. When that time arrives for those people, excitement for building it on their own is a wish that is not easily avoided.
Building a house can be exciting but it can be a tireless journey of many decisions and workloads that need to be meticulously done. Even some things might seem very trivial and not worth a second look but will end up mattering a lot in the foundation of the homestead.
Door knobs and door handles are no exceptions to this rule. This seems like it should be simple but the simple measurement of a door knob can be crucial to the people living inside that house. It could be a safety hazard if the door handle is too low or too high.
Therefore, we have gone ahead and done a great deal of research on this field. We did this in order to help you understand the nuances of having a standard size for almost everything.
Including the simplest of things like the door handle height, you are going to make for your new home.
What Is The Standard Door Handle Height?
Doors are designed for the norm. The athletes are not always taken into consideration when making a door, unless unique circumstances. Therefore, the standard door handle height is usually between 34 and 48 inches above the floor. Usually, the doorknob would be 36 inches above the ground.
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There are a lot of things in our daily lives that have standardized measurements. As to why they have been issued by the government one can argue many reasons as there are plenty of them. However, the fact remains the same door handles have a standard measurement.
The standard measurement of a door handle can vary because of different handle types and therefore there is no exact measurement for it but rather a range of it.
The standard measurement range for a door handle is 34 inches (864 mm, 86.4 cm) minimum and 48 inches (1219 mm, 121.9 cm) maximum.
However, there are exceptions allowed here on these measurements. The exemptions are on pre existing devices or gates as well as the exterior doors. Furthermore, security devices also fall on those exemptions and can be placed at any height.
The main reason for making such standardized door handles is basically for safety purposes and accessibility for a whole bunch of people. When an acceptable height of a door handle is in place, a person’s height will not matter as it will be viable for almost all sizes of people.
Furthermore, along with the height of random people, the people who are handicapped and will be in wheelchairs and such could also open doors with ease. Therefore, a standardized height for a door handle is of that importance.
How high should door handles and knobs be? – Standard door handle height from floor
Door handles do not just serve the purpose of getting inside or outside. They are more than that and they are mainly the main security of your house. The basic level of threat can be avoided with the correct type of door.
Therefore, the making of doors is not as trivial as we might think it is. Door handles or knobs should never be any lesser than 34 inches from the ready floor or the ground. Furthermore, they should not also cross the border of 48 inches from the ground.
Sometimes due to specific needs of a family, there could be other arrangements for the homeowners. The standard height of the door can drastically change according to their individual needs.
What are the codes for door handle heights?
The international building code has established a definite height range for the door handles or door knobs. The aforementioned code is found in the section called 1008.1.9.2 Hardware height.
This includes all sorts of door handles, latches, pulls, locks, and other types of operating devices.
Furthermore, all of them should be installed at the minimum height of 34 inches and 48 inches for the maximum height above the ground or finished floor. However, there is an exclusion to such height requirements.
That exclusion falls for security purposes only and not other usual operations, then they can be placed at any height. However, many people still choose to place them at the standard height of 36 inches, which is in between the international code.
Why are door handle heights standardized?
In our mind doors just appear as simple blockages or temporary walls that can be opened to get to the other side. To us the normal folks the height of a door can be as trivial as the height of a table or chair.
However, there are many reasons why the height of a simple door knob or handle is standardized. Below we are listing a few of those to at least give you a proper idea as to why it is the way it is.
Children:
A lower door handle will make it easier for children of a very young age to easily enter a dangerous area. They are children for a reason, they will not have a proper understanding of areas that could pose danger to them.
Therefore, without the supervision of an adult children can get in harm’s way if they are easily able to reach the door handle. To avoid such dangers and accidents from happening in the future we can raise the door handle between 48-54 inches.
ADA:
ADA is an acronym for the Americans Disability Act. They preach equal consideration for all people, that is beside the point of them being disabled or not. The people’s physical condition matters not to ADA.
They will highlight different accessibility standards for the construction of public, state assets, commercial and other structures within the country. Therefore, this is also why handicapped people are one of the reasons for this standardization.
Where should door handles be placed?
When there is the need to make a door, we are faced with many questions that need to be answered in order to make that simple structure. One of the most common questions among those questions is, “Where should the handles or door knobs go on the door?”.
To answer that we have to first know which type of handle we need, the right-handed or the left-handed. In order to find that out, we can simply stand in front of the door where it closes towards us.
If the door happens to be hinged to the right side, then we require a right-handed lever and if the door hinges to the left, we require a left-handed handle.
Furthermore, we have to specifically put the door handles somewhere between 1 inch and 4 inches from the top or even bottom edge of the door itself.
How do you measure door handle height?
The handle height of a door is simply the distance of the handle hole from the bottom of the door and it cannot include anything else in the process of measuring this.
In order to measure the handle height of a particular door, we might need to be informed that not all handles of doors are the same therefore the process sometimes can differ a little for each one of them.
However, we have briefly discussed below the standard way of getting the measurement of a standard door handle height.
Take out the measuring tape:
We have to measure from the bottom of the door and not include any sweeps or thresholds in the process. So, we take out the measuring tape and proceed to the next step.
Take the length from the bottom edge of the door:
So, then we have to take the length from the bottom edge of the door to the center of the handle hole or the center of the handle.
Measure it up to the little notch:
In the case of multi-point locks, we have to do the same steps as above. But, in this case, you can keep in mind that the measurement can be also viable if we measure it up to the little notch that is present on the metal side of the handle.
Final Thoughts
There is almost a standard measurement for every piece of furniture or building block of a home. Thus, even something like a door handle has a standard height, and that is 34 inches of minimum and 48 inches of maximum height from the ground. This has been issued by the international building code.