Door Hinges - loose pin v's others?

ali · Post by **ali** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:12 am

Probably being dead naive here....but why doesn't everyone use loose pin hinges rather than fixed ones that need unscrewed every time you want / need to take the door off?

All my hinges at the moment are loose pin and the doors come off in seconds if we need them to (moving furniture or to make it easier to paint etc..etc.)

We're replacing the doors with better quality ones (poss engineered oak) which will be heavier and I need to get new hinges but dont know if I need to get a different kind now?

Are the loose pin type not as strong? Any pointers on what to get would be helpful.

I think we're having solid stainless steel handles .....(unless there's a reason not to that I dont know about!

) so I was going to look for shiny stainless steel hinges too.

I think.

Also do the hinges just sit on the door edge or do they need rebated? Or does that depend on what kind of hinge it is?

Ours just sit on the door edge just now and there's always been an annoying (to me) bigger gap down the length of the door than I would have preferred, because of this. Was that because of the type of hinge...or lazy joinery?

Advice please?

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:08 pm

loose pins tend to be a bit sloppy more so when the lost pin is replaced with a nail/bit off wire

you also cannot usualy rebate the hinges properly into the frame and door as you will not have a 2mm gap

indeed if you have a rebate for heavy old hinge and you fit a new door and loose pin hinges you wont have to rebate into the door

as you say theres several advantages to loose pin when decorating moving furniture ect

ali · Post by **ali** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:25 am

Cheers big-all.

Lol at the lost pin bit....we're now experts in making sure they dont get lost anymore.

Decisions, decisions.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:34 am

Hi Ali,

I thought they were very good idea as well - In last house, fitted Rising Butt hinges on all the doors that just you could just open the door wide and then lift off.

I am sure I rebated them into door and frame

Then I lost a couple of the pins and they got very greasy as well for some reason so that put me off them a little.

This maybe what you are after?
Lift off stainless steel rising butt hinge

ali · Post by **ali** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 7:58 am

Ok......stupid question number 675 coming up.........

.......

do these rising butt hinges mean that the door actually gets higher as it's opened?

I'm just thinking that if the door is fitted so that there is only a very small gap at the top, then there might not be enough space for the door to rise up enough as the very top corner of the door would still be slightly under the door lining? So if we used these then we'd have to have a bigger gap?

Or am I making this more difficult than it needs to be again.

I like the lift off idea though and they do look like they could be rebated.

Anyone else around to confirm this?

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:13 am

Rising Butt hinges mean exactly that - door rises as they open - they are very useful when you want a minimal gap at the floor to cut drafts and have carpet - stops that horrible dragged/flattened look on the shag

I *think* you would have a slightly angle top to the door that would give a nice tight gap at the top but still allow for a rise (it is about 9 years since I did the doors in the other house and winged it there anyway, so can't recall.

ali · Post by **ali** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:29 am

Cheers Hoovie.

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:11 am

yep you need a chamfer on the back edge for approximatly 3 inches with the chamfer increasing as you get nearer to the hinge

advantiges/disadvantiges of rising butts
you can clear the carpet and have a tight to floor door when shut

doors will partly /fully shut wheter you want them to or not