Make space between header rule and top of page and footer rule and bottom of page equal

Question

I am writing a book document with a rule used in both the header and footer. I want the distance from the top of the text to the rule in the header to be equal to the distance from the bottom of the text to the rule in the footer. Likewise I want the distance from the rule in the header to the top of the page to be equal to the distance from the rule in the footer to the bottom of the page. In other words, the page text should look uniform with no uneven spaces at the top or bottom.

I am using geometry. I do not understand everything but I have tried to best but still cannot achieve what I am after.

MWE here, where these distances are not exactly equal.

\documentclass[10pt,a4paper,twoside,openright]{book}

\usepackage{lipsum}

% Page Layout Packages
\usepackage[top=0.6in, bottom=0.6in, left=1.2in, right=1.2in, headsep=7.5mm, footskip=15.5mm, includeheadfoot, bindingoffset=0.4in, headheight=8mm]{geometry}

% fancyhdr Package (for header/footer)
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead{} % clear all header fields
\fancyhead[RO,LE]{\rule[-2ex]{0pt}{2ex}\large\scshape\MakeLowercase{\leftmark}}
\fancyfoot{} % clear all footer fields
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\rule[5ex]{0pt}{-2ex}\scshape \large \thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{\lowercase{\chaptername}\ \thechapter~–\ #1}{}}

\fancypagestyle{plain}
{\fancyhf{}
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\scshape \large \thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}}

\begin{document}

\chapter{new}

\lipsum

\section{new}

\lipsum

\end{document}

Answer 1

• Not an answer.
• I modified your code so that the layout is shown (showframe option).
• In addition, I added a screenshot from the geometry manual.
• Maybe you can take this information as a start.

---

\documentclass[10pt,a4paper,twoside,openright]{book}

\usepackage{lipsum}

% Page Layout Packages
\usepackage[top=0.6in, 
bottom=0.6in, 
left=1.2in, 
right=1.2in, 
headsep=7.5mm, 
footskip=15.5mm, 
includeheadfoot, 
bindingoffset=0.4in, 
headheight=8mm,
showframe = true]{geometry}

% fancyhdr Package (for header/footer)
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead{} % clear all header fields
\fancyhead[RO,LE]{\rule[-2ex]{0pt}{2ex}\large\scshape\MakeLowercase{\leftmark}}
\fancyfoot{} % clear all footer fields
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\rule[5ex]{0pt}{-2ex}\scshape \large \thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[2]{\markboth{\lowercase{\chaptername}\ \thechapter~–\ #1}{}}

\fancypagestyle{plain}
{\fancyhf{}
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\scshape \large \thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}}

\begin{document}

\chapter{new}

\lipsum

\section{new}

\lipsum

\end{document}