What hinges it is better to place on the interior doors

Table of contents:

• Types and features of door hinges.
• Selection of hinges for doors.

 

Depending on the material used to produce hinges, they are brassy, steel and brass plated.

• Brass plated hinges are made of aluminum, zinc or steel alloys and have a thin brassy coating with anti-corrosion properties. Brass layer on such hinges provides good glide of their moving parts.
• Brassy hinges are the most popular type of door hardware. Their material is durable, yielding and can withstand rather high loads of heavy door panels. Brassy hinges are often sprayed with a layer of chromium or polished.
• Steel hinges can serve for a long time. This is the most durable, but the most expensive hardware. When installing it on light interior doors financial costs cannot always be justified.

Outer coatings, which are often similar to various metals: copper, gold, chrome, bronze and others, give aesthetic qualities to door hinges. Thinking about what hinges it is better to place and how to select them, you need to take into account weight of a door, its construction features, and then, on the basis of these data, to determine type of the required accessories.

 

Types and features of door hinges

Among a wide variety of door hinges we can define several basic types:

• Surface-mounted hinges. They consist of two plates for fixing to a leaf with a box and of a joint-hinge rod. Such articles have several structural variants. The oldest of them is two leaves of the same type. With the course of time surface-mounted hinges were modernized and one of the sides was made a little bit longer than the other one for easier fixing Modern models are made up of axis and two side plates. They are made so as not to obstruct the operation of doors and to provide a perfect consistence of the door leaf adhesion. Surface-mounted hinges are easy to install, using simple screws.
• Recessed hinges refer to the butt variants of products which are similar to the previous type, but have a difference - they are deepened in the door end. To do this a few millimeters of material are removed according to the shape of a door plate. Then, plates are put in the obtained recession and are fixed with screws. Recessed hinges are used when mounting front and interior doors. The advantage of the hinges is acceptable cost and easy installation.
• Angle hinges differ from straight butt ones by their appearance. Plates are no attached to the central rod but angles. Such parts are installed in the door end by mortise way and fixed with screws. Form of angle hinges allows them to provide convenient position and tight door ledge.
• Blind hinges have a significant difference from the butt models because they are set up in the door leaf and the frame. Due to such installation masking of fixtures, doors aesthetic qualities are provided, the possibility of cutting hinges by intruders is excluded. To place the blind hinges deep niche in the door end and in the frame is cut out. Axis of a hinge is hidden in an iron casing, avoiding the threat of damage. Blind hinges are often used in the front doors.
• Screw hinges are distinguished by their structure. On the hinge axis we fix a number of pins defining the basic method of installation of such models. The hinges are screwed inside the frame and the leaf, and only hinge remains visible. They are not recommended for using when the doors made of soft wood and low-grade materials are installation. This can lead to disruption of leaf structure and cause of cracks or tilts.
• Double-sided hinges are most often used when installing office front and interior doors. The reason for this is the design feature of these hinges. Hinges allow you to open a door leaf on both sides; it is extremely convenient when passing a large flow of people. These products are similar to butt hinges, but except two plates they also have the third, equipped with two rotation axes.

Butt hinges, which are often used for interior doors, can be universal, right and left. For the right and left ones we need to know the direction of the door opening, and for universal hinges it is unimportant. Furthermore, universal hinges fit to all the doors; they have a pair or two of bearings, which considerably increase the durability of models. Simple hinges for interior doors are not equipped with more than one bearing.

 

Selection of hinges for doors

Wondering what hinges is better to place, when choosing we must observe the main condition - the high quality of their models. Cheap goods of handicraft production can never replace the certified products of famous brands, which is almost impossible to bring into complete disrepair. Therefore, choosing the right, left or universal hinges, we should give our preference to predictable quality models with selection of a suitable material. Brassy hinges are resistant to corrosion and wear-proof, but eventually darken; steel butts and metal-plated hinges are very solid, durable and also have anti-corrosion properties.

 

To select the removable hinges, it is necessary to determine the direction of leaf opening. To do this, you should stand in front of an opening so that a leaf opens "inwards" After that, the location of right or left hand will help to select the necessary hinges.

To choose a right hinge, it is necessary to think about their size beforehand. For hollow, frame doors and the doors with honeycomb, weighting 10-25kg, hinge sizes are 7.5 cm by height. For the standard doors, weighting 25-40kg, the size needed is H=10 cm fit, the hinge size H=10cm with D=6 cm are designed for heavy leaves, weighting above 40kg.

 

Above it, a preliminary determination of the hinges locations will help to select their number. Usual location involves two universal right or left hinges for standard leaves - two hinges are installed at the bottom and one at the top, for light doors - three hinges at equal distances. Heavy doors are equipped with four hinges, which are installed in pairs at the top and at the bottom of leaves. The functionality of a door by height of 2.1m can be achieved by setting of four hinges.

It should be noted that the reliability of front doors requires the selection of more robust and complex constructions of leaves. In other cases, you can rely on your taste and matching of accessories to the style and color of the interior.