Door Hinges 101

First, I'd like to preface this with an apology for being absent. New computer, new photo editing, it's been pretty busy around The Hut, and of course summertime with vacations and such. But, I'm back in full swing so let's get started......



You don't usually give much thought to door hinges until you go to replace them. Hinges come in a variety of sizes. The typical size for an interior door is 3 1/2" high by 3 1/2" wide. This is not a rule but fairly typical. For an exterior door you usually will have a 4" by 4" although, depending on your door size the hinges can be larger than this. Door hinges will usually go up or down in 1/2" increments. For example, door hinges usually start at 3 1/2"x3 1/2" and go to 4"x4", 4 1/2"x4 1/2", and 5"x5". Occasionally you'll have a 4 1/2"x4" or a 5"x4 1/2" but it doesn't seem to be as common.


Door hinges come in either plain bearing or ball bearing. This refers to the pin or as some people call it, the barrel and how it's put together. Most interior hinges are a plain bearing, meaning the two leaves of the hinge are interlocked around a straight pin and pivot directly onto the pin. A ball bearing hinge is put together the same way but in between pin and the interlocking leaves are ball bearings. The bearings give the hinge a smoother action and they disburse the weight of the door so they can withstand heaver doors and more use.


On a 3 1/2" hinge there will be three screw holes on each leaf, on a 4" or higher there will be four screw holes on each leaf. The hinges that have four screw holes get a little tricky. The hole pattern can be different, so it's wise to double check your holes and measure their placement as well. There is what's called the architectural pattern which is the shape of an arch or what I call a half moon shape. The hole placement for this pattern is pretty consistent from brand to brand. The other pattern is called Staggered. The holes are in a zig-zag pattern, and these can vary. On some hinges the top hole starts closest to the pin, the next hole is closer to the outside edge, third hole is closer to pin, and last hole is closer to the outside. This pattern can be reversed on the other leaf or it can be the same on both leaves. It can also be the exact opposite where the top hole starts on the outside and zig-zags from there.

Lastly, there are the hinge corners. There are three types; a square corner, a 1/4" radius, and a 5/8" radius. Square corners are obvious but the radius isn't so easy to spot. You're geometry might be a little rusty, so most likely you don't remember how to measure a radius. The simplest way to find out which radius you have is to use coins. A quarter or .25 cents when held up the the corner of the hinge is very close to a 5/8" radius. A dime is very close to a 1/4" radius.

Erica
“Leave the Details to Us”

Give Your Home A Face Lift

Curb Appeal is very important when it comes to your home, it's really the first impression that someone gets, whether they are coming to your house or driving by they make a judgment based on the way your house looks. Heck, curb appeal is important enough that HGTV has a whole show dedicated to it.

A fairly inexpensive way to spruce up your entry and give the outside of your house a whole new look is to change your entry hardware. For roughly $300-$500 you can literally change the entire feel of your entry way. Most entrances to homes have these items that can be easily changed. 1. An Entry Handle. 2. Door Hinges. 3. Door Knocker or Door Bell. 4. House Numbers. 5. A Mailbox or Mail Slot. Of course you don't have to have a knocker and a doorbell on the same entry and some of us have a mailbox that is on the street rather than attached to the house. With the pictures below you can at least get an idea of what items can be pulled together to get a specific look and feel.

Satin Nickel with a Modernized Retro feel:


This look has become pretty popular and looks great on mid century homes and contemporary homes with angular shapes. A slight variation on this set would be to get similar items in the polished chrome finish.

Polished Brass with a Traditional flair:


The nice thing about a traditional style is that it fits a number of different home styles and you can make it as "fancy" as you want by adding more items with swirl and leaf motifs rather than something with a plain surface. Polished brass tends to be the most common finish on a traditional style but you could always get the same look in a more subdued finish like antique brass.

Oil Rubbed Bronze with an Old World charm:


Old world is a pretty general term, but it seems to have common themes such as rich dark tones like oil rubbed bronze or a bronze patina. Fixtures tend to be more chunky and substantial. Old world styles fit on houses with stone facings, and natural elements. The style fits on houses that are similar to Spanish and Colonial Revival eras.

Rustic Black with a Craftsman feel:


A lot of people mistake mission style for craftsmen style. Mission is more clean straight lines, and craftsmen style is more of a general term for being of quality and "handmade." The picture above is of a combination of hand forged hardware and items that aren't necessarily handmade but are rustic because of the texture and natural appearance.

Even at $300 that can be kind of steep to shell out at once, the nice thing is you can buy pieces that compliment each other one piece at a time so that it doesn't break the bank. Adding new hardware to your entryway gives your home an updated look that's a great investment in the long run.

Erica
“Leave the Details to Us”

Can I Have A Standard Car Please?

A standard car, what's that? There's no such thing as a standard car, they're all different.
Welcome to hardware 101. The term standard should almost be obsolete in the hardware world because there are very few things that are standard in the industry.

I'm going to discuss door hardware and the options that are available so when you're ready to order you'll be armed with information. On a door there are typically hinges and a lock of some sort. "How many options could there be?" you say, on door hinges for a typical home you have to choose which finish you want, what size you want, and what type of corner you need.

Finishes are pretty easy to figure out, but for the corners you have 3 choices. The self explanatory choice would be square corner, the second choice is a 1/4in. radius, and the last choice is a 5/8in. radius. Here is a drawing that depicts all three options.

Also, a quick easy way to determine your radius is to hold up a dime and a quarter to the corner and see which one fits the best.

On the door locks, it gets a little more complicated. You have to choose which function you need. The different functions for interior doors are Privacy (there is a push button on the inside of the door that allows you to lock it,) Passage (the knob or lever turns but does not lock,) and a Dummy (the knob or lever does not move at all, and it gets screwed onto the face of the door.) Not only do you have to choose the function, but on the locks that move you have to choose the backset. A backset is the measurement of the distance from the edge of your door to the center of the bore hole that your knob or lever goes into. The most common backsets in the US are either 2-3/8in. or 2-3/4in. Here is a diagram to show you where to measure.

For exterior doors the functions are a Keyed knob or lever (there is a key built into the knob or lever and a push/turn button on the inside,) a Single Cylinder Deadbolt (a key on the outside and a turn knob in the inside,) and a Double Cylinder Deadbolt (a key on both the outside and the inside.)

Another option that you will need to know would be the door handing, the easiest way to determine handing is to stand on the outside of the door and look at the hinges. The key is to always be on the outside, if the hinges are on the Right you would order a right hand lock and if the hinges are on the Left you would order a left hand lock. This honestly is the easiest way to figure it out. Many people use different methods, and tell you that the direction the door swings matters but I think it only makes it more complicated.

Last would be door thickness. A "standard" door- scratch that, a "typical" residential door is either 1-3/8in. or 1-3/4in. thick. All residential locks come equipped to fit either of those sizes. Occasionally, you'll have an entry door that will be thicker and some manufacturers make a thick door kit to accommodate those.

Erica
“Leave the Details to Us”