Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Door Hinge - An Amazing Invention Most People Don't Think About

By Daisy Lin Lam


Every morning you probably open and close at least five doors before you leave to go to work. You close the bathroom door to jump in the shower. You open the medicine cabinet to get your toothbrush and toothpaste. You quickly eat your cereal before reaching for the front door as you leave the house. All of these doors and more would not work without a door hinge or two. And how would it feel like without these important door parts? Picture this - people struggling to move heavy piece of wood or slabs of glass in an attempt to get in and out of buildings. Wouldn't be exactly convenient!

Door hinges are very sturdy and strong. They can generally do eight to ten times the work they are assigned. So the door hinge puts the power of the Roman goddess Cardea into your hands. And the best way to see the biggest variety of door hinges is to shop online. Online shopping offers the ideal combination of convenience and variety, as you don't have to go looking from store to store in search of a perfect set of door hinges to complete the look of your home. You can do everything at home comfortably by browsing the various websites before comparing and buying the hinge.

There are several types of door hinge available. The most common is the butt hinge. This consists of two flaps with screw holes attached by a pin or a rod. The biggest advantage is the ease with which these can be installed and also removed - just removing the pin does the trick if you intend to take a particular door down. You can choose to add finials or balls to the pins for a decorative touch.

While butt hinges remain largely popular, T-hinges is a more preferred choice for garage doors. The T-hinges, which get its name from their shape resembling the letter T, are installed by attaching the horizontal portion to the frame and the vertical strip on to the door. These hinges can be plain or ornamental and lift up rather than out. If you have folding doors you might use a Soss hinge. Named after its inventor, a Soss hinge is sandwiched between the edges of a folding door and remains fully hidden when door is folded. The proper working of a Soss hinge depends on it being installed correctly.

For smaller doors in the house, cabinet doors for instance, there are different door hinges designed for different types of doors. Generally, there are three main types of doors; overlay, flush and lipped. A lipped door has a lip cut around it and works well with most hinges.

A flush door, one the other hand, operates well with a butterfly hinge. Butterfly hinges work in the same way as a butt hinge, with the only difference being that it hung from outside and comes in ornamental designs that range from art deco to colonial.

The pivot hinge is made for overlay doors. One hinge is specially mounted on top while the other is fitted on the bottom part, each having a bent portion over before being fitted the on the door's frame to conceal the hinge. Perhaps the most popular hinge is the spring mounted hinge. The spring fitted inside this door hinge causes the door to shut behind you automatically.

So the next time you open or close a door stop for a moment to ponder the power and utility of the humble door hinge; it deserves it.




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