One frequent cause of confusion for people coming to our website centres around what an ‘architrave set’ is and what the difference is between single and double sets.
A standard internal door frame in the UK requires roughly five linear metres of architrave. Typically, you would need two lengths at 2100mm for the upright pieces, and a ‘crossbar’ or ‘header’ piece cut to around 900mm to run along the top of the door frame and connect the two upright pieces. The exact sizing may vary depending on the door in question, but for the vast majority, this sizing will suffice.
Our standard lengths of architrave are 2440mm, 3050mm and 4200mm- neither of which is sufficient to frame a single internal door without purchasing multiple lengths and potentially creating wastage, so we sell architrave in sets to ensure you can easily order enough architrave for one door as a single product.
A single architrave set is a total of 6 linear metres and consists of 2 architrave lengths at 2400mm long (to be used as the uprights) and one length of architrave for the header or crossbar that is 1200mm long. This is sufficient for any standard internal door and will need cutting to size on site.
A double architrave set is exactly the same as a single set, though the header piece is double the width of the header in the single set. A double architrave set consists of three lengths of architrave that are 2440mm long, so you receive just over 7 linear metres of architrave in total when purchasing this product.
It is important to note that a double architrave set is intended for a double width door. It is not enough for 2 individual doors! It has been known for people to think that a double set means we will send out the equivalent of 2 single sets, but this is not the case so please be aware of this before ordering architrave sets.
If you have a doorway that connects 2 rooms (lets say a bedroom on one side and a landing on the other) and both sides of the door need architrave (the side you look at when in the bedroom being one ‘side’ of the door and the landing being the second ‘side’, you would require 2 single sets or the equivalent of 10 linear metres ordered in lengths. A double set would not be enough for this purpose.
When we receive orders for multiple single sets we do not cut the header pieces to 1200mm, instead, we supply the equivalent amount In 2400mm lengths. So for example, if you were to order 2 single sets, you would receive 5 lengths from us all at 2400mm in length. 4 of the lengths would be uprights, and one of the lengths would need to be cut in half to form the two headers. We do this because we have had instances in the past where we have shipped the header pieces separately in a smaller package and they have been lost in the courier network. Keeping all pieces the same size allows us to wrap everything together in a way that is clear and minimises the risk of loss or damage when shipping via a third party courier. If this is likely to cause a problem for you let us know and we will be happy to ensure your particular single architrave sets have the header pieces cut to 1200mm before leaving the factory.
This can be a confusing topic and it is quite difficult to explain in written form, so if having read this article you still have unanswered questions about our sets or architrave in general, please contact our sales team and they will happily help you order the correct product for the task in hand!
About the Author
Kieron Miller is the Managing Director of Skirting 4 U and has been working in the skirting board and online retail industry since 2012. Kieron has been using his extensive product knowledge and problem-solving experience to help both trade and private consumers all over the country find the perfect skirting board products for their projects. He continues to innovate new solutions and product ideas as the market continues to grow.