Internal Side Panels

An internal side panel is a fixed glazed or solid panel hung alongside a door leaf. It is what you use when the structural opening is wider than a standard door: rather than a custom leaf, the door stays a normal size and the panel makes up the difference.

Planning the opening

Measure the full opening and subtract the door width to size the panel, then decide whether the panel should be glazed to carry light through or solid to keep the wall reading as a wall. The frame has to be ordered to suit both elements together.

Order matching internal frames and choose the leaf from internal doors, in glazed or unglazed form. For entrances, the external equivalents are side panels for external doors and doors with side lights.

Filling an opening wider than a door

A side panel, or side light, is a fixed glazed or solid panel hung alongside a door leaf so a wide structural opening can be closed with one working door instead of an awkward oversized leaf or a pair. It keeps the door itself a comfortable width to use, fills the remainder of the opening properly, and on a glazed panel it borrows light between the two spaces.

Where side panels solve a real problem

They are the standard answer where a knocked-through opening is too wide for a single door but a pair would need too much swing space, and in hallways where a full pair would foul the stairs. Because the panel is fixed, there is no second leaf to catch, no second set of hinges to adjust and no meeting stile to keep aligned. Matching the panel to the leaf from the same range is what makes the finished opening look designed rather than patched.

Measuring and matching

Measure the finished structural opening in three places for both width and height, and set out the lining before ordering so the combined width of leaf, panel and stiles is known. See how to measure a door and choose the lining from internal frames. Pick the leaf from the matching range in internal doors or glazed doors, and if the opening would be better closed by two moving leaves look at room dividers, french doors or pair makers. For external openings use side panels for external doors instead.