A new floor too high for door clearance shows up as a drag at the threshold, a scrape on the finish or a leaf that will not close. The cause is commonly the same: the floor surface rose at the opening and nothing there was adjusted to give the door room. This page stays at the door, covering the build-up height each plank adds, the jamb and casing cut, the door leaf and the closet slider that no longer rolls. The planks named below all come from our stock, and the box prices are the ones listed on each product page, checked in our vinyl flooring collection and the other collections they sit in.
Quick answer: why a door drags after a new floor goes in
- Height added. A new plank adds its full built-up thickness at the doorway: 6mm (0.24 inch) for a thin SPC plank and 19mm (0.75 inch) for a thick engineered board, plus any underlayment. That 13mm spread is the difference between a door that clears and a door that rubs.
- The jamb cut. A casing cut can let flooring slide underneath it instead of being notched around it.
- The door leaf. If the gap is gone, the door itself has to come down. Door shaving is the fix we offer for that, priced at your quote.
- Closet openings. Sliding panels and their track have to come off and go back on. In a condo that runs $50.00 per opening, and $40.00 in a house or basement.
Work through those four lines in order and you will know whether you need a jamb recut, a door shave, a closet rehang or all three.
How much height each plank adds at a doorway
Build-up height, not headline thickness, decides whether a door clears. Take the total thickness of the plank, add whatever sits underneath it, and you have the height the floor gains at the opening. The four planks below cover the thickness range of our stock; price per square foot is the box price divided by the box coverage.
| Product | Build-up height | Box price | Box coverage | Price per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riche Weathered Shore Oak SPC 6mm | 6mm (0.24 inch) | $62.93 | 23.64 sq ft | $2.66 |
| Riche Smoky Timber SPC 10mm | 10mm (0.39 inch) | $59.00 | 11.82 sq ft | $4.99 |
| Goodfellow Revival No.031 laminate 12mm | 12mm (0.47 inch) | $60.54 | 20.18 sq ft | $3.00 |
| European Oak Off White 19mm | 19mm (0.75 inch) | $97.00 | 19.42 sq ft | $4.99 |
Prices checked October 7, 2026. Box prices and coverage come from our current catalogue.
What the box price does not include
Those figures are material only. Installation labour, old-floor removal and delivery are not part of them, and we confirm each at your quote once we know the room, the subfloor and the floor coming out. A thinner box often covers more floor, so a lower box price does not mean a lower price per square foot installed.
Checking the gap under a door before you order
This check is quick and worth doing before the boxes arrive. Open the door part way, slide a scrap of the new plank flat into the gap under the leaf, and see what is left. If the floor needs underlayment, slide a piece of that into the stack as well, because it counts toward the build-up just like the plank does. Take a door with 1/2 inch of clearance over the old floor and see what each of the four planks above leaves:
- With the 6mm plank, 0.26 inch of space is left under the leaf.
- The 10mm plank leaves 0.11 inch, which clears but leaves little room for a seasonal swing in a wood subfloor.
- A 12mm laminate leaves 0.03 inch, effectively touching once the floor settles.
- Go to 19mm engineered and the board is 0.25 inch too tall for that doorway, so the door rubs from the first day.
The swing between the 10mm plank and the 12mm laminate is only 0.08 inch, and that is often all it takes to turn a door that just clears into one that scrapes the finish. Test the actual plank at the doorway where the old floor sits highest, since that is the opening most likely to fail.
Three clearance rules that cover every plank we stock
- Test with the real plank, not a tape measure alone. A 6mm plank leaves 0.26 inch where a 19mm board is 0.25 inch short, so the same opening can pass one floor and fail another.
- Use the example as a comparison, not a universal cutoff. In the 1/2-inch reader scenario above, the 10mm plank leaves 0.11 inch. Check your own doorway and floor build-up before deciding whether the door needs trimming.
- Order the plank you want first, then fit the opening to it. If the door needs work either way, pick the floor you actually want rather than the thinnest plank in the range. Our guide to how SPC thickness labels are built up explains why two planks with the same headline number can sit at different heights.
Measure the same gap at the closets before you commit, because a slider has less tolerance than a hinged leaf. Our post on the mistakes that bring installers back puts the jamb cut alongside the rest of a well-planned installation.
What should have been done at the jamb
At a door opening there are two pieces of wood to deal with. The casing is the flat trim face on the wall, and the jamb is the piece behind it that the door hinges to and closes against. Both run down to the old floor, and both can be in the way of a new floor that is thicker than the old one. For floating wood-floor installations, the NWFA Wood Flooring Installation Guidelines instruct installers to undercut all door casings 1/16 inch higher than the thickness of the flooring and underlayment material being installed. The guidelines also say to place a scrap piece of plank and a sheet of underlayment against the casing as a guide, then cut the casing with a hand saw or power jamb saw set to the correct height.
If the flooring is already in place, do not guess at a repair from the visible edge alone. Note where the plank meets the jamb and casing, then ask the flooring installer to assess the opening.
Who trims the door, and how our door shaving service works
Undercutting the jamb does not save a door with no clearance above the new surface. That is a separate job on the door leaf. When a door has no clearance over the new floor, we offer a door shaving service that trims the door to fit the higher floor; the price is given at your quote.
Door shaving is priced at quote
We offer door shaving, and the price is confirmed at quote. Compare the floor build-up with the available clearance to decide whether the leaf needs trimming.
Sliding closet doors and the track at the opening
A closet opening fails differently from a hinged door. A bypass slider hangs from a top track and the panels bottom out close to the floor, so a higher surface either stops the panel or forces it to be lifted, and a floor-mounted track has to come up before the planks can run through. Removing and reinstalling the sliding panels and a basic track is $40.00 per opening in a house or basement and $50.00 in a condo.
Run those together and three closet openings come to 3 x $40.00 = $120.00 in a house, or 3 x $50.00 = $150.00 in a condo, on top of the flooring itself. Panels and a basic track are what that covers, so a heavier system or a damaged track is confirmed at your quote. Look at the wall trim at the same time, which our baseboard and trim guide covers separately, since those runs sit at the wall rather than at the opening.
FAQ: doors that rub, jamb cuts and closet openings
Why does my door rub on the new floor?
Because the floor surface rose and the gap under the leaf did not. A new plank adds its own thickness plus any underlayment, and the old floor underneath is gone, so the leaf sits closer to the ground. The fix is to take material off the door, not to shave the plank or force the leaf.
How deep should a door jamb be cut for new flooring?
For floating wood-floor installations, the NWFA guideline's 1/16 inch allowance is measured above the flooring and underlayment. Lay a scrap of the actual plank on the subfloor with the underlayment and use that stack to gauge the cut.
Does the flooring installer trim doors, or do I need a carpenter?
Ask before the work starts, because policies differ between companies and between crews. Top Floorings Depot does handle door shaving, and the cost is confirmed on your quote rather than printed here. If your installer will not touch doors, book the shave separately and keep the floor down until someone measures the cut.
Do closet sliding doors have to come off while the floor goes in?
Yes, if the panels or track sit where the flooring has to run, which is most closets. Taking the panels and a basic track down and putting them back is one line on the same quote as the floor: $40.00 for a house or basement opening, $50.00 for a condo opening.
Can a door be shaved after the floor is already installed?
Yes, and that is usually the better order. Once the planks are down you can see exactly how much clearance you have, take the door off, trim the bottom edge and refit it. Cutting before the floor lands means guessing at the final surface height, and a door trimmed too far cannot be put back.
Get a door and jamb quote in Toronto and the GTA
Door shaving is available and priced at quote. You can request a flooring quote here, or read our flooring installation cost guide. Our post on installing over old hardwood covers what happens to doorway height when the old floor stays in place.
Top Floorings Depot
3781 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 1, Toronto, ON M1W 3K5
www.topfloorings.com
Call: 416-499-0117
Text: 416-770-8819