Standard French Door Size in Feet: Chart and Rough Opening

Size guide · 5 min read · Updated October 2026

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A pair of exterior French doors in a major maker’s chart is 4, 5 or 6 feet wide and 6 feet 8 inches tall. Taller versions run 6 feet 11 inches and 8 feet.

For a typical patio opening, I would start with the 6-foot-wide, 6-foot-8-inch pair. Its size code is 6068, and the code is simpler to read than it looks.

The hole in the wall is a little bigger than the door, and that second number is the one your framer and installer need. Both are below, in feet and inches.

Infographic showing that the size code 6068 means a door 6 feet 0 inches wide and 6 feet 8 inches tall — The first two digits give the width, the last two the height. Based on: Andersen’s 400 Series sizing guide.

Table of Contents

French door sizes in feet and inches

The sizes below follow Andersen’s sizing guide for hinged inswing French doors, which means a pair of doors in one frame. Widths are measured across the whole frame, so a 6-foot unit is two leaves of about 3 feet each. Also worth a look: What Is the Proper Name for French Doors.

Heights come in three steps: 6 feet 8 inches, 6 feet 11 inches and 8 feet. The guide prints a small tolerance too, so a real frame can land up to about ¾ inch under the nominal width.

Sources: Andersen’s 400 Series hinged French door sizing guide (unit sizes and minimum rough opening rule). Inch conversions and leaf widths are our arithmetic.
Door size	In inches	Each leaf, about	Minimum rough opening
4 ft × 6 ft 8 in	48 × 80	24 in	48.75 × 80.5 in
5 ft × 6 ft 8 in	60 × 80	30 in	60.75 × 80.5 in
6 ft × 6 ft 8 in	72 × 80	36 in	72.75 × 80.5 in
6 ft × 6 ft 11 in	72 × 83	36 in	72.75 × 83.5 in
6 ft × 8 ft	72 × 96	36 in	72.75 × 96.5 in

Other makers publish their own charts. Pella, for one, lists its 250 Series hinged patio doubles from 41½ to 87⅜ inches wide and up to 102 inches tall, so a size between the rows above is often possible.

Ask the dealer what the maker allows before you count on a custom size. Made-to-measure options are in French doors made to measure. It can change the lead time.

The taller heights suit a wall that runs high or a room with glass above the doors. Check the header height first, because a taller door only fits if the opening above it does.

How to read a size code like 6068

In Andersen’s codes, the first two digits are the width in feet and inches, so 60 means 6 feet 0 inches. The last two are the height, so 68 means 6 feet 8 inches. A 6-foot-11-inch door is written 611, and an 8-foot door is 80.

Other brands write sizes their own way, and some quote inches. Read the maker’s own legend instead of guessing from the digits.

What size hole do you need?

The minimum rough opening is the door width plus ¾ inch and the door height plus ½ inch. That is a floor, not a target.

The same guide says the opening may need to grow for building wrap, flashing, a sill pan, brackets and fasteners. Your installer knows which of those apply to your wall.

Diagram showing the minimum rough opening is the door width plus three quarters of an inch and the door height plus half an inch — Add ¾ inch to the width and ½ inch to the height, then allow for flashing and a sill pan. Based on: Andersen’s 400 Series sizing guide.

Here is the calculation for a 72 by 80 inch pair: 72 + 0.75 gives 72.75 inches wide, and 80 + 0.5 gives 80.5 inches tall. Ask the installer how much extra room the flashing and sill pan need before the framer cuts anything.

Will a pair count as your exit door?

The International Residential Code asks for at least one side-hinged exit door with 32 inches of clear width and 78 inches of clear height. Width is taken with the door open 90 degrees, as this summary of IRC R311.2 lays out.

An open leaf never gives its full slab width as clear opening, because the hinge side and the door’s thickness take some. When the pair is the only way out of the room, I would ask the building department how it counts a pair before ordering.

Interior pairs use the same logic

An interior set has lighter slabs and no weather seal, so it never needs the flashing and sill pan allowance. A 60 by 80 inch prehung pair, two 30-inch leaves, is easy to find. JELD-WEN’s woodgrain 15-lite pine pair at Home Depot is one example.

Measure the opening the same way as for an exterior pair, and leave your trim plan out of the numbers until the doors are in.

A pair of green French doors with glass panes framed by garden foliage — Tall glass panes make height as important as width when you pick a pair. Photo: Ayşegül Aytören on Pexels.

How to measure the opening

Measure with the old doors and their trim removed, or measure the rough framing if the wall is open. These steps work for either.

Measure the width at the top, middle and bottom of the opening. Write down the smallest number.
Measure the height at the left, center and right, from the floor or subfloor to the header. Write down the smallest number.
Measure the wall thickness from the inside face to the outside face, so the jamb depth matches.
Check the sill area for rot, damage and level before you order anything.
Compare your numbers with the maker’s minimum rough opening and pick the size whose minimum fits inside your opening.

If your smallest width is a hair under a minimum, the answer is the next size down or a wider opening, not a squeeze.

Pick by the opening · James Davis

I would choose the pair by the opening you already have. A 6068 pair is the safe starting point for a standard patio wall. Widening an opening is a header question, and I would not start that without a pro looking at the wall.