I don't think it makes that much difference to the eye but two questions.

1. Are your rough openings at 6'8" or 7'. ?

2. Are you paying for 7 ft doors?

i have 7 ft doors in my house (9 ft ceilings) and the price increase was not insignificant.

Use the incorrect height mistake as a bargaining chip in your favor. If he doesn't want to do the right thing on something else make him replace the doors if in fact it is 100% his error. End of the day 4" on the 2nd floor should not be a big deal but a mistake was made and someone needs to be held accountable.

I agree w/ Millworkman! Or use this to get something else you want. FWIW, we have 9' ceilings up with standard doors & it looks fine. The only thing that looks a little "off" to my eye up there is that we specced (sp?) very large trim & door/window casings for the house and (to me) the wide casings seem to overwhelm the 6'8" doors a tad. I feel certain I am the only one who notices this, and upstairs is just the kids rooms, guest suite & playroom anyway so not a big deal.

The problem was that the framer was incompetent and framed the openings upstairs a little bigger than standard but not big enough for7 ft doors, so when it came to ordering doors the door guys assumed that it was framed for standard and not 7. My builder is making up a story that we agreed on standard, which is absolutely not true. My plan says 7 and I've done plenty of research and remember I was always set on 7. I realized all of this once half of the doors upstairs were hung. I have no more patience with my builder and just let this go hoping that it won't be noticeable.

Your builder is incompetent and you need to write up a list of all his mistakes and show them to him. Additionally you should do as millworkman suggested.

We have 9' ceilings (and some higher areas). All our doors are 7' high. Most are 3' wide. We have 4" casings.

I'm wondering about these door frames that you say are larger than standard, but not big enough for 7' doors. You say they've ordered standard doors. How are these going to be hung in larger-than-standard openings?

The casing covered the extra space.

No!

Good luck on your project!

I have always believed that taller doors make ceilings appear lower so I would never make a residential door taller than 7-0 and then only because I want to be prepared if Rob Gronkowski drops by.

Wouldn't that depend on the height of the ceilings? What if there are 10' ceilings? Would you still put in a 6'8" door or an 8' door?

8'-0 here!

We have 9 ft ceilings in most of our home and did 8' doors throughout. This was the standard built into our quote and I got no credit for lowering the doors so we kept it at 8'. Being a short person it's a little bit weird. Plus my kids are little. The doors feel humongous.

I would have been FINE with 7 ft doors. We had 6-8 doors in our last house with 9' ceilings and it was fine.

IMO the design of the height of ceilings and swinging doors should not be a simple rule of taller for taller; it should be a matter of proportion and ceiling design. Whatever the ceiling height, taller swinging doors will make the door openings appear narrower and the ceilings appear lower. If that's what you prefer you should do it.

I don't like narrow doors or windows so I prefer to keep swinging single door heights at 7-0 on the ground floor and 6-8 on the upper floors. All doors are usually 32" wide. When possible, I make paired doors (swinging, sliding and double pocket) taller especially if they are exterior doors.

The house I have owned for 32 years was designed by a notable architectural firm in 1891. The first floor ceilings are 10-0 with 7-0 swinging doors. The second floor ceilings are 9-0 with 6-8 swinging doors. The width of these doors is 32". Between major living spaces there are 3 sets of 6-0 wide double pocket doors that are 7-6 tall. Exterior windows and French doors are also 7-6 tall. The front door is 7-0 tall because it has a fanlight above it.

The door heights allow the ceilings to be treated differently in each of the major living spaces. The Living room ceiling has a large unadorned plaster cove with a picture rail below it; the dining room has formal dark wood beams and the parlor (equivalent to an office or study off the entry today) has painted crown moldings and wall paneling. The house feels quite open but with distinct differences in the feeling of the major spaces.

I have the original plans and renderings. I'll post them one of these days.

JDS..I remember a few yrs ago when you posted the original plan of your wonderful house when we were having an old house discussion.

ILoveRed are you thinking of someone else since I don't think JDS has been around that long?

We have 9' on main floor with standard size doors. Totally fine.