Hi All,

I'm about to hang a new front door, and have a query about hinge
positioning.

It's a heavy (55kg-ish) composite wooden door, and I'll use heavy duty
stainless ball bearing 100mm hinges. On almost all doors the top hinge is
traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the lower
10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third hinge,
and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge is placed
approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently the third hinge
has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the top hinge.

I can see that the latter would spit the load between the two top hinges
more effectively, but equally the centre of the door would be less
supported.

Any views on which to go for, plus advantages and disadvantages of the two
styles? Or does it matter....

Thanks,

Charles F



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I think to some extent it depends on the weight distribution in the door.
Also of course you may find that the door or its support warps when loaded
so really look at similar installations that have not given trouble, though
wooden doors seem to hate me when I used to hang them.
Brian

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"Charles F" wrote in message
news
Hi All,

I'm about to hang a new front door, and have a query about hinge
positioning.

It's a heavy (55kg-ish) composite wooden door, and I'll use heavy duty
stainless ball bearing 100mm hinges. On almost all doors the top hinge is
traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the lower
10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third hinge,
and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge is
placed approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently the
third hinge has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the top
hinge.

I can see that the latter would spit the load between the two top hinges
more effectively, but equally the centre of the door would be less
supported.

Any views on which to go for, plus advantages and disadvantages of the two
styles? Or does it matter....

Thanks,

Charles F



---
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Charles F wrote:

On almost all doors the top hinge is
traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the lower
10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third hinge,
and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge is placed
approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently the third hinge
has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the top hinge.
Two hinges nearish the top seems to be the continental way, central
seems to be the more traditional UK way, visually I prefer the central
hinge, not sure the advantages of the two at the top method.

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2018-05-24, Andy Burns wrote:
Charles F wrote:

On almost all doors the top hinge is
traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the lower
10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third
hinge,
and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge is
placed
approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently the third
hinge
has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the top hinge.
Two hinges nearish the top seems to be the continental way, central
seems to be the more traditional UK way, visually I prefer the central
hinge, not sure the advantages of the two at the top method.

Whichever you use, make sure the hinge axes are in line. I've just removed
the central hinge from our front door (which I did not install) because I
could find no other way of stopping the intensely irritating creaking as
it opened and closed and the off-axis loads applied to the hinge made it
move.


I wonder if that's one of the benefits of the two-at-the-top option - it
makes it less likely that they will be significantly out of line, especially
with slightly curved/warped doors.

Charles F


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"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
news
I think to some extent it depends on the weight distribution in the door.
Also of course you may find that the door or its support warps when loaded
so really look at similar installations that have not given trouble, though
wooden doors seem to hate me when I used to hang them.
Brian

--
In our last house we had original 1930's panelled wooden doors, which all
seemed to warp, move, or change size with the weather.

In this 70's house, on moving in ten years ago, I replaced all the original
egg box doors with composite MDF and oak doors - and they still all fit as
well as the day they were hung. So I'm now very much in favour of composite
doors for their stability - and they use a lot less scarce hardwood too.

Charles F


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On 24/05/2018 09:19, Charles F wrote:
Hi All,

I'm about to hang a new front door, and have a query about hinge
positioning.

It's a heavy (55kg-ish) composite wooden door, and I'll use heavy duty
stainless ball bearing 100mm hinges. On almost all doors the top hinge
is traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the
lower 10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third
hinge, and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge
is placed approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently
the third hinge has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the
top hinge.

I can see that the latter would spit the load between the two top hinges
more effectively, but equally the centre of the door would be less
supported.

Any views on which to go for, plus advantages and disadvantages of the
two styles? Or does it matter....

Historically its always been 6" down from the top, 8" (or a bit more) up
from the bottom, and the central hinge midway between the other two. Its
a system that works well, so if doing a door, its what I would go with
unless there was a compelling reason for doing different.

I have noticed that things like hospital swing doors are often done with
the middle hinge much higher. Presumably its in response to the extra
weight of the fire doors, and amount of abuse they get with people
bashing beds and equipment into them every day - gravity would tend to
pull more on the top hinge than the others.

For a normal domestic door, the traditional arrangement is aesthetically
more pleasing IMHO.



--
Cheers,

John.

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\================================================= ================/

On 24/05/2018 11:33, Charles F wrote:

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2018-05-24, Andy Burns wrote:
Charles F wrote:

On almost all doors the top hinge is
traditionally placedÂ* 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the
lower
10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third
hinge,
and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge is
placed
approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently the
third hinge
has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the top hinge.
Two hinges nearish the top seems to be the continental way, central
seems to be the more traditional UK way, visually I prefer the central
hinge, not sure the advantages of the two at the top method.

Whichever you use, make sure the hinge axes are in line. I've just
removed
the central hinge from our front door (which I did not install) because I
could find no other way of stopping the intensely irritating creaking as
it opened and closed and the off-axis loads applied to the hinge made it
move.


I wonder if that's one of the benefits of the two-at-the-top option - it
makes it less likely that they will be significantly out of line,
especially with slightly curved/warped doors.

I had one internal (bathroom) door warp when it was removed and left
propped against a wall for too long. As it matched the rest of the
house, I don't want to replace it, so I fitted a third hinge in the
middle, specifically to force it to straighten out - and it has been
fine for about 8 years now.

SteveW

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 24/05/2018 09:19, Charles F wrote:
Hi All,

I'm about to hang a new front door, and have a query about hinge
positioning.

It's a heavy (55kg-ish) composite wooden door, and I'll use heavy duty
stainless ball bearing 100mm hinges. On almost all doors the top hinge
is traditionally placed 6-8 inches from the top of the door, and the
lower 10-12 inches up from the base. On this door I intend using a third
hinge, and the position of this is my query. On many doors a third hinge
is placed approximately centrally, but I've noticed that more recently
the third hinge has on some doors moved up to 12 inches or so below the
top hinge.

I can see that the latter would spit the load between the two top hinges
more effectively, but equally the centre of the door would be less
supported.

Any views on which to go for, plus advantages and disadvantages of the
two styles? Or does it matter....

Historically its always been 6" down from the top, 8" (or a bit more) up
from the bottom, and the central hinge midway between the other two. Its a
system that works well, so if doing a door, its what I would go with
unless there was a compelling reason for doing different.

I have noticed that things like hospital swing doors are often done with
the middle hinge much higher. Presumably its in response to the extra
weight of the fire doors, and amount of abuse they get with people bashing
beds and equipment into them every day - gravity would tend to pull more
on the top hinge than the others.

For a normal domestic door, the traditional arrangement is aesthetically
more pleasing IMHO.



--
Cheers,

John.

Thanks to all for ideas and info - as it's a new door and frame, and both
are pretty flat, I'll go for centre hinge.

Just as an aside, at a newly refurbished hospital today, the extra wide
doors had three hinges at the top, spaced at about 10" /200mm, and one at
the base. Not seen this layout before....

Charles F


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The likelyhood of all 3 taking their share of the downward thrust is remote
without jig-borer accuracy.

"DerbyBorn" wrote in message
2.236...



The likelyhood of all 3 taking their share of the downward thrust is
remote
without jig-borer accuracy.

I think these doors arrived pre-hung in a substantial frame, with all door
furniture pre-fitted at the factory, so in this case the hinge alignment
accuracy may well have been good enough to split the load evenly. However,
I'm sure you are right about this being a waste of time for doors hung on
site by hand.

Charles F


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DerbyBorn wrote

The likelyhood of all 3 taking their share of the
downward thrust is remote without jig-borer accuracy.

Depends on how adjustable they are.

Wouldn’t take much for them to adjust
themselves so they all share the load.