Learn how to Buy Hinges

Posted on February 18, 2012

Learn How To Buy Hinges

When someone mentions hinges of the kind you get at hardware store, what is the first kind that comes to mind? Door hinges, right? Well, those are, of course, important hinges– but they’re not the only kind. You have them on your medicine cabinet, your suitcase, your kitchen cabinets – just about anything with a lid or a door.

Any hardware store will show you a nearly endless variety of hinges to choose from. If you’re out there to buy hinges, with all that variety, you’ll never have trouble finding something for your needs. Now you could conceivably install your hinges yourself. It’s not a complicated process: even if it does require the use of the drill and some correct measuring. Here’s what you need to know to successfully replace an old or broken hinge or to install a new one on any door.

Let’s start with an interesting question – what do you call the joints on hinges that connect the two leaves? Yes, you instinctively want to call them hinges. But how can you use the word hinge to describe a hinge? Actually, they call them knuckles.

With that little piece of trivia out of the way, let’s get to understanding how to buy hinges my better.

The kind of hinges you buy is completely dictated by the kind doorframe that’ll accept them. For instance, a lot will depend on whether the doorframe accepts hinges that will open inside or out. You also need to think about the material the hinge you buy is made of. Usually, for a hinge that needs to support a heavy door, something like brass or steel would be necessary. Aluminum would quickly wear out.

Choosing the right kind hinge basically comes down to figuring out what kind of design will do best for the location and for the doorframe involved. You might want to consider a removable hinge for a big, heavy door that you might want to quickly remove perhaps to bring something through sometime. With a removable pin hinge, you just need to pull the central pin out of the knuckles, and the door would come right off. A fixed hinge on the other hand would be a terrible hassle if you needed to remove a door.

Hinges are basically made to be installed in one of four kinds of ways. A full mortise hinge is designed to have the one leaf of the hinge on the edge of the doorframe and the other on the edge of the door. A half mortise installation will involve having one leaf on the edge of the door as usual, while the other rests on the surface of the door jamb. The kind of configuration you choose will depend on the design of the door and the frame. If your situation will allow it, try to get swing-clear hinges.

Learn How To Buy Hinges
Learn How To Buy Hinges
Learn How To Buy Hinges