Hanging rail height in a walk-in wardrobe
Rail height is the one dimension people get wrong and then live with for years. Too low and coats drag on the bottom shelf; too high and you are standing on a stool to fetch a shirt. There are only a few sensible heights, and which one you use depends on what is hanging under the rail and what is above it.
Start from the garment, not from the carcass
Every rail height is really a garment length plus clearance. A shirt or a folded pair of trousers on a hanger occupies roughly the top third of a wardrobe; a winter coat or a long dress needs most of the height of the room. So decide first whether a column is double hanging (two short rails stacked) or long hanging (one rail high up with the full drop below it), and the number follows.
Measure to the centre of the rail, from the finished floor. Working from the bottom panel of the carcass instead is the classic way to end up 118 mm (4 5/8 in) out — the plinth and the bottom panel are not part of the hanging space.
Double hanging: 1000 mm and 2000 mm
Double hanging doubles the capacity of a column for shirts, blouses, jackets and trousers folded over the bar. The lower rail sits at 1000 mm (39 3/8 in) and the upper at 2000 mm (78 3/4 in). That leaves roughly 900 mm (35 7/16 in) of clear drop under the lower rail and a full metre under the upper one — enough for anything that is not a coat — and it puts the top rail exactly at the reach limit.
The rail runs the full width inside the carcass, so a 600 mm (23 5/8 in) unit gives 564 mm (22 3/16 in) of rail per level once the two 18 mm (23/32 in) sides are taken off. Budget about 25–30 mm (1 – 1 3/16 in) of rail per garment — a shirt on a wire hanger at the bottom of that, a jacket on a shaped hanger at the top — and a 600 mm unit holds roughly twenty things per level. Coats and thick knitwear compress that quickly, so count a long-hanging column at half.
Long hanging: 1600 to 1800 mm
A single rail for coats, suit bags and long dresses goes at 1600–1800 mm (63 – 70 7/8 in). Use the lower end if the column also has a shoe shelf or a drawer stack at the bottom, and the upper end if the drop below the rail is clear to the bottom panel. Above 1800 mm (70 7/8 in) you are buying hanging length you cannot reach comfortably; below 1600 mm (63 in) a full-length coat starts to touch down.
The 2000 mm ceiling on reach
Walk-in Planner clamps every rail to a maximum of 2000 mm (78 3/4 in) above the floor. If you give a hanging zone more height than that — for instance a single hanging zone that runs to the top of a 2250 mm (88 9/16 in) carcass — the rail stays at 2000 mm and the space above it becomes open headroom, dimensioned on the elevation. That space is not wasted: it is where a suitcase or a seasonal box goes, on a shelf you add yourself later.
Clearances the rail needs
Both clearances a rail needs are vertical; there is nothing to keep clear at the ends, because the rail simply spans the carcass. It hangs 80 mm (3 1/8 in) below the underside of the shelf above, which is what a hanger hook needs to swing over the bar without scraping. And wherever you put it, it has to stay at least 40 mm (1 9/16 in) clear of the top and the bottom of its own hanging zone, so a loaded hanger can be lifted straight off rather than dragged out. Set a rail closer than that to the top or the bottom of its zone and the planner flags it as an error instead of drawing it.
Heights at a glance
| Arrangement | Rail height above floor | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| Double hanging — lower rail | 1000 mm (39 3/8 in) | Shirts, blouses, trousers folded over the bar |
| Double hanging — upper rail | 2000 mm (78 3/4 in) | Shirts, jackets, anything under a metre long |
| Long hanging | 1600–1800 mm (63 – 70 7/8 in) | Coats, suits, long dresses |
| Tall zone (planner clamps) | 2000 mm (78 3/4 in) maximum | Anything; the space above becomes open headroom |
| Below the shelf above | 80 mm (3 1/8 in) | Clearance for the hanger hook |
| Clear of the top and bottom of its zone | 40 mm (1 9/16 in) | Room to lift a loaded hanger straight off |
| Rail length in a 600 mm unit | 564 mm (22 3/16 in) | The full width inside the carcass; about twenty garments |
Set the zone heights in the planner and it places every rail for you, applies the clamp and the clearances, and dimensions the result on the wall elevation — so you can check the numbers against your own shoulders before anything is cut.