Doorway Widening

Widening a doorway is on the City of Ottawa's building permit list: "enlarging or relocating a window or door". If the doorway is in a load-bearing wall, the work is also a structural alteration, which is on the permit list too. Ask for the permit to be named in the quote.

For houses, the Building Code's door table sets minimum door sizes, not clear openings: 810 mm for the main entrance, 760 mm for most rooms, and 610 mm for a bathroom. The wider clear widths in the barrier-free section (850 mm) are written for public buildings and do not apply to a house.

Swapping a swing door for a sliding or folding door is another way to gain width. The March of Dimes program lists "Widening of doors and/or replacement of conventional doors with sliding or folding doors". The CRA's medical expense rules name "enlarging halls and doorways" as an example renovation, and the Home Accessibility Tax Credit covers renovations that help an eligible person move around their home. Each program decides eligibility, and the March of Dimes program will not repay work done before it approves it.

Published guides put widening a doorway in a non-load-bearing wall at about $500 to $2,500 per door. Load-bearing walls cost more.