How to Measure Your Door for a Pull Handle

Three measurements decide whether a pull handle will fit your door. Get all three right and the installation is a 20-minute job with a drill. Get one wrong and you've ordered the wrong product. Here's the order to measure them in.

1. Door thickness

Measure the thickness of the door at the edge where the latch sits, not the hinges. Common NZ thicknesses:

  • Aluminium entrance doors: typically 38–45 mm
  • Solid timber entrance doors: typically 40–50 mm
  • Pivot doors and feature doors: 50–80 mm

Tell us this number when you order back-to-back fixings, because the through-bolts have to be cut to your exact door thickness. We supply standard 40 mm and 50 mm by default; anything else, just let us know.

2. Overall handle length

This is the dimension you order by — the full top-to-bottom length of the handle. For an entrance door, the convention is:

  • Single door under 2040 mm: 450–600 mm handle
  • Single door 2040–2400 mm: 600–800 mm handle
  • Pivot or feature door over 2400 mm: 1000 mm or longer

For double doors, see our double-door sizing guide.

3. Fixing centres

The fixing centre distance is the gap between the two through-bolt holes. This determines where you drill the door. For our handles, the fixing centres are 80–100 mm shorter than overall length on straight handles, and around 80 mm shorter on offset handles.

The exact fixing centres for every size are listed on each product page. Measure from the centre of one bolt hole to the centre of the other — not edge to edge.

Common mistakes

  • Measuring the door slab including the weatherstrip. Measure the door itself, not any attached seal or threshold piece.
  • Confusing fixing centres with overall length. They're not the same number. Order by overall length but drill to fixing centres.
  • Forgetting glass doors need pre-drilled holes. Glass holes have to be cut before the glass is tempered. Send us your fixing centres at the quote stage.

Still not sure?

Email us a photo of your door with a tape measure across it and we'll tell you exactly which handle and size to order. hello@entrancehandles.co.nz

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