What are the types of door hinges

The durability of the functioning of swing doors depends on the reliability of the hinges. But the correct choice and installation of hinges mean no less – an error will lead to sagging and skewing of the door leaf. What types of these fittings exist depending on the material of the door and frame, you will learn from our review.

Wooden doors

One of the most “ancient” versions of the door hinge exists today. This is a forged applied front loop, which fully meets the definition of handmade. It is used in wooden construction, and in decorative terms, it is one of the central design elements of an entrance door..

In Soviet times, the most common type was a cut-in split loop.

This model is still being installed. The lower part is attached to the box, and the upper part to the canvas. With the door fully open, if the platbands do not interfere, the canvas can be removed without dismantling the hinges. This makes it possible to lubricate the hinge pin or put a washer on it if the door sagged slightly and began to cling to the floor (as a result of house shrinkage or box shrinkage).

The cut-in universal hinge is of the one-piece type. It consists of five hinges separated by four wide washers.

Part of the hinge (wing) with two extreme and one central hinge is attached to the box. A wing with two hinges is cut into the end of the door leaf. Such a hinge can withstand more significant loads than a split one (with the same finger sizes), but in order to remove the canvas, all hinges must be dismantled.

For interior doors there are models with decorative patterns on hinges and wings.

The one-piece type includes overhead butterfly loops, in which one wing enters the other.

And although the loop got this original name thanks to the curly shape of the inner wing, there are models with a rectangular inner part.

In addition to straight cut-in hinges, there are corner models. In this species, both wings (or one of them) are made in the form of a corner. They are used in a box with a porch, this type can be both one-piece and detachable.

The most difficult to install are hidden hinges.

Unlike conventional cut-in hinges, another recess must be cut in the box and the end of the canvas to hide the hinge mechanism, which has three pivot axes. But this inconvenience is compensated by the special decorative properties of the door (in the closed state, the hinge is not visible at all) and by the wider possibilities of its opening (up to 180 °).

Screw-in hinges have a special installation method: the frame part is screwed into the front surface of the box, and the counterpart is screwed into the end of the door leaf rebate. Therefore, such hinges are not suitable for ordinary doors. By design, they are:

• with one pin and cover plate;
• with two pins;
• with three and four pins.

Moreover, in the latter case, such a loop has a special screw that allows you to adjust the position of the cam and the height of the blade relative to the box.

Pendulum hinges for wooden doors can be distinguished into a separate category..

They are also called “spring-loaded”, since inside each axial cartridge there are springs that return the leaf to the plane of the door frame. Such doors open in both directions, so this mechanism is used for rooms with high traffic (hence the name – “bar”).

Metal doors

For entrance metal doors, three types of hinges are most common.

1. Welded (drip). This is a kind of mortise hinge, each part of which is welded to the box and the canvas. The only drawback is the open view. And although such a hinge has anti-detachable pins, its burglary resistance is lower than that of a concealed hinge.

2. Corner. Classic rebated door hinge. The hidden mounting part of the wings provides higher anti-burglar properties of the hinge.

3. Hidden. A special type of hinge, the mechanism of which is completely hidden in the box. It is absolutely burglar resistant, but long arm and increased bearing loads reduce durability..