Door handing refer to the specific configuration of a door and it’s lockset. If you select the wrong door handing for your hardware, then your door will fail to perform it’s essential function of allowing or denying individuals access to a space while remaining securely locked when it is required to be. The door handing for a door are established based off the door’s location of its hinges and the swinging direction of its doorleaf.
Before you purchase any door hardware, determine these component of your door. To determine the handing of the door, stand on the key side of the door. The key side of the door is the side from which individuals approaches the door when it is closed.
How to Find Door Handing and Backset
When standing on the key side of the door, examine the location of the doors hinges. If the hinges are on the left side of the door, then it has a left hand configuration. In the opposite case, if the hinges are on the right side of the door, then it has a right hand configuration.
Once you have determined the location of the hinges, determine the swing direction of the door. If the door swings toward you, the door is an inswing door. If the door swings away from you, then the door is a outswing door.
There is four standard types of door handings. Left hand doors have hinges on the left side of the door and swing towards you. Right hand doors have hinges on the right side of the door and swing towards you.
Left hand reverse doors have hinges on the left side but swing away from you. Right hand reverse doors have hinges on the right side of the door but swing away from the door. Use a door handing chart to determine which of these four configurations your door has.
This will ensure that you dont make a mistake when purchasing the lockset. The swing direction of the door will impact the direction of the latch bolt that is install within the door. Inswinge doors use a standard latch bolt.
Outswinge doors require the use of a reversed latch bolt. If you use a standard latch bolt on an outswinge door, it will not allow the door to swing fully into its door leaf or frame. Therefore, you must ensure that the latch bolt point in the appropriate direction based on the swing direction of the door.
The function of the door relate to the handing of the door. Passage and dummy doors do not have a latch bolt. Thus, passage and dummy doors will not have a latch bolt direction.
Entry, privacy, and storeroom doors will have a latch bolt. Because they have a latch bolt, these doors are sensitive to the handing of the door. To ensure the hardware you purchase will function correct, ensure the handing of the door matches the function of the door.
Another important measurement of a door is its backset. The backset is the distance from the edge of the door to the center of the large borehole of the door. Most residential doors has a backset of 2-3/8 inches.
Most commercial doors have a backset of 2-3/4 inches. If the backset is incorrect, the latch bolt will not match the strike plate of the door. To ensure the hardware you select aligns with the strike plate, measure the backset of the door.
One of the most common mistakes individuals make when installing or purchasing door hardware for a building is assuming that all of the doors within that building has the same handing of the door. This isnt true; the doors on one side of a building may have a different handing then the doors on the adjacent rooms of that building. Ensure that you determine the handing of every door in the building.
By doing so, you will avoid having to return the door hardware or order additional hardware for the building. Through determining the handing of every door in your building, you will ensure that the hardware for each door will work as it should of function.