Construction Door Schedule Preparation Checklist

Write down the reference shown against each door on the plan you hold, and use that same reference every time you mention the door in a note, a sketch or an email.

A reference taken from the drawing keeps your record and the design team's record pointing at the same opening, which matters as soon as more than one person is involved.

Note both rooms each door sits between, because a door one person calls the study door is the hall door to somebody else standing on the other side of it.

Naming both sides removes the most common source of confusion in door discussions and makes handing far easier to describe later.

List cupboard, store, plant-space, loft-access and garage doors as separate entries rather than assuming a general note somewhere covers them.

Secondary doors are the ones most often left off a schedule, and they are also the ones with the most unusual requirements once someone looks at them properly.

Mark which doors are new, which existing doors are being kept and rehung, and which are being kept exactly where they are and left alone.

Retained doors carry existing sizes and existing wear, and mixing them silently into a list of new doors creates problems when someone tries to order from it.

Ask for each entry whether it is intended as a complete doorset delivered with its frame, or a leaf to be hung into a lining formed on site, and record the answer.

The two arrive on site in different states and need different information from you at different points, so it is worth knowing which is being discussed.

Note any opening shown on the plan as a swing line with no door described anywhere, and ask what that entry is meant to become.

An opening drawn without a described door is often an undecided item rather than an omission, and flagging it early is cheaper than discovering it during fit-out.

Write down which way each door swings and say where you were standing when you described it, for example in the corridor looking into the room.

Handing described without a viewpoint is read one way by a joiner and another way by a supplier, and the viewpoint takes a moment to add.

Note where the light switch sits relative to each swing, and whether an open leaf would sit across it when you walk into a dark room.

This is obvious on site and awkward once linings are fixed and cables are buried, and it is easy to establish from a plan while everything is still on paper.

Mark pairs of doors that could swing into one another, particularly at the end of a corridor or where a cupboard door sits next to a room door.

Clashes usually appear at points where the plan is drawn at a smaller scale, so they survive several rounds of drawings before anyone notices.

Record what furniture is intended to stand within reach of each open leaf: a radiator, the corner of a bed, a bin store or the end of a worktop.

The swing zone is dead space, and knowing which rooms cannot spare it is often what decides whether a door is rehung the other way or changed to slide.

Consider which doors you expect to stand open most of the time in ordinary use, and write that down as part of the description.

How a door is used in everyday life changes what makes sense for it, and it is information only you can supply.

Whether a particular door may be held open is not an owner decision on every project; raise it with a qualified professional and confirm locally what applies.

Decide and record which openings you would like considered as sliding or pocket doors, and ask what the wall beside the opening would have to accommodate.

A sliding arrangement moves the problem from the swing zone into the wall, which then has to be free of the things walls normally carry.

What can run inside a wall beside a sliding door is a question for the designer, the engineer and the contractor together, not something to settle from a plan.

Note the intended floor finish on each side of every door, and mark the doors where the finish changes from one side to the other.

A change of finish under a leaf has to be resolved somehow, and the doors where it happens are the ones worth discussing in advance.

Record which floor finishes are still undecided, since the door cannot be finally sized until the build-up under it is known.

Undecided finishes are a common reason doors are trimmed on site, and saying openly which ones are unresolved is more useful than guessing.

Note every door where the floor level differs between the two sides, and ask how that difference is intended to be handled.

Level changes at doorways are frequently discovered during fit-out, when the options left are much narrower than they were at design stage.

How a level change at a threshold is resolved, and what that means for anyone with limited mobility, belongs with a qualified professional and local requirements.

Ask what gap is expected under each door where a room relies on air moving through the house, and record what you are told rather than assuming.

Ventilation arrangements often depend on doors, and the assumption is rarely written on a drawing where an owner would see it.

Ventilation provision is a professional and manufacturer matter; the answer has to come from the design team and be confirmed locally.

For every external door, ask what happens at the threshold in wet weather and who is responsible for that detail.

External thresholds involve weathering, drainage and the finish outside the door, which are decided by several parties rather than one.

Weathering and drainage at an external threshold are professional detailing matters; nothing in an owner schedule should be read as settling them.

Ask whether floor finishes are being laid before or after the doors are hung, and record the answer against the doors it affects.

The order of these two operations determines who trims what, and it is a question that has a clear answer if somebody asks it in time.

Note which walls in the project are thicker than the rest — beside a chimney breast, around a service riser, or where insulation is added — and mark the doors in them.

Linings follow wall thickness, so doors in unusual walls need their own entry rather than being covered by a general note about the others.

Decide whether every door is to have the same architrave treatment, and note the places where you would accept something different.

Consistency is easier to describe than to correct, and rooms that were designed at different moments often drift apart on this point.

Record any door where a flush or shadow-gap detail without architrave has been discussed, and ask what the wall build-up around it would need.

These details depend on how the wall is formed and finished, so they are worth raising while wall construction is still being decided.

Whether a particular detail can be formed in a given wall is a question for the designer and contractor, not something to decide from a schedule.

Look along each corridor or wall on the plan and note whether the door heads are intended to line through with one another and with any nearby opening.

Heads that nearly line up read as a mistake, while heads that clearly do not are usually accepted, so the decision is worth making deliberately.

Ask how each lining is intended to be fixed and who is responsible for making sure the wall behind it can take that fixing.

Fixing arrangements vary between masonry, timber studwork and other constructions, and the answer affects who has to do what and when.

How a lining is fixed is a matter for the contractor and, where relevant, the engineer; record the answer rather than deciding it.

Note every door with a glazed panel beside it, above it, or within the leaf, and ask what glazing requirements apply in those positions.

Glass near a door raises questions that only the design team and the supplier can answer, and they are much easier to raise before manufacture.

Glazing in and around doors is subject to local requirements and manufacturer information; confirm locally with a qualified professional.

Decide and record what each door needs to do when shut: latch only, privacy turn, key lock, bolt, or nothing at all, and write it against the door reference.

This is the single most useful column an owner can fill in, because it comes from how the household lives rather than from the drawings.

Ask how keys are intended to be arranged across the external doors and any outbuilding, and whether the supplier needs to know that before anything is made.

Keying arrangements are usually set at the point of manufacture, and changing them afterwards is a separate exercise nobody plans for.

Note whether anyone in the household would find a particular handle shape difficult, and record it as context for the designer rather than as a specification.

Handles are handled thousands of times, and this is information the design team cannot get from anywhere except you.

Note where a door stop would land on the wall or the floor for each door, and whether that point is a skirting, a tiled surface or somewhere people walk.

Stops are usually chosen last and fixed wherever they fit, which is how they end up in the middle of a floor route or on a fragile finish.

Ask the supplier or installer what a heavy or oversized leaf requires in terms of hinges and frame, and record what you are told against that door.

Heavier leaves change several other things at once, and the requirements come from the manufacturer rather than from a general rule.

Requirements for hanging a heavy leaf come from the manufacturer and installer; take the answer from them rather than from a schedule.

Decide whether ironmongery finish is to be consistent throughout, and note the rooms where you would accept a different finish, such as a utility or plant space.

Mixed finishes are usually the result of ordering in stages rather than a decision, so making the decision explicitly is worthwhile.

List every door where anyone has mentioned fire performance, and ask a qualified professional to confirm what applies to that door and what has to be documented.

Owners frequently hear a comment about a particular door in passing and never see it written down anywhere afterwards.

Fire performance and escape provision are determined by qualified professionals and local requirements; never treat a schedule entry as settling them.

Ask which doors are expected to have closers, seals or particular hardware for reasons other than convenience, and record the reason given.

Hardware chosen for a performance reason is not interchangeable with hardware chosen for appearance, and the distinction is easily lost.

Whether a door needs a closer or seals is a professional determination; ask, record the answer, and confirm locally what applies.

Write down which rooms you want to feel quiet with the door shut, and ask what that means for the door, the frame and the wall around it.

The leaf is only part of what makes a room quiet, and asking the question in those terms usually produces a more honest answer.

Note which doors are external or give access from a garage or outbuilding, and ask what security expectations apply and who has to confirm them.

Security expectations often come from more than one direction, and they are far easier to satisfy before a door is made than afterwards.

Security and insurance expectations are matters to confirm with the relevant parties locally; nothing here establishes what is acceptable.

Ask which doors sit on a route people would use to leave the building, and record that the requirements for those doors come from a qualified professional.

Doors on escape routes are often ordinary-looking doors, and an owner is unlikely to identify them without asking.

Note any door that has to work for a wheelchair, a walking frame or anyone unsteady on their feet, and raise it as a requirement rather than a preference.

Stating this early changes several decisions at once, whereas raising it late usually means accepting a compromise.

Accessibility requirements are determined by qualified professionals and local requirements, and have to be confirmed rather than assumed.

Ask who measures the openings before anything is made, at what stage of the work that happens, and what has to be finished beforehand.

Measurement usually depends on other work being complete, and knowing which work makes it easier to see when decisions become final.

Ask where doors will be stored on site once they arrive and what conditions the manufacturer expects before they are hung.

Timber doors are affected by where they sit before hanging, and storage is often arranged around available space rather than around guidance.

Storage and conditioning requirements come from the manufacturer and installer; ask them rather than deciding what should be acceptable.

Ask who is responsible for finishing the edges of each leaf, including the top and bottom edges, and record the answer in writing.

Edges are the classic gap between the joiner and the decorator, and the top edge in particular is the one nobody sees until much later.

Ask how finished doors are protected once hung, and whether they are hung before or after the rooms are decorated.

Doors hung early are used by everyone on site, which is a reasonable arrangement provided it is a decision rather than an accident.

Agree who checks a delivery against the schedule when it arrives, and how a discrepancy is reported and to whom.

Discrepancies found on arrival are much easier to resolve than discrepancies found when a door is about to be hung.

Agree in writing how a change to one entry is recorded after the order is placed, and who is told when an entry changes.

Late changes to single doors are common, and the schedule only stays useful if the changes reach it as well as the site.