need door hinge advice

[kdzgon]

I need to change a set of (bathroom) door hinges so that the door will open flat against the outside wall of the bathroom (~180% travel). The door is a standard-sized hollow core door (68"(?) x 30"w). Can someone tell me the name of the proper hinge I would need to do this and where I would buy such hinges?

Thanks for your help.

Laurie

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[Dave Taylor]

ya kinda blew my mind..... forgot everything I thought I knew about residential door hinges.... so-to-speak.

If I unnerstand yer question...... any ol outside pin type door hinge will work.... just position the hinge so's it sets on the side the door opens to.

You will be able to open her up right flat against the wall.... drive the old door handle into the wall if you don't use some kind of block to keep the door away from the wall.

Dunno Laurie..... is this too simple an answer, did I miss sumpin? :---)

Thanks

[Theoderik]

Laurie, I'm with Dave on this one. Does the door NOT open all the way currently? Are you sure there isn't a small door stop on top of one of those hinges keeping it from opening all the way? Maybe move the toys from in front of the wall? :)

[cx]

Depending upon how the hinges were installed, thick casings or base mouldings could interfere with the door opening to the wall - or at least until the knob poked a hole like Dave said.

But you should be able to do what you want with regular butt hinges.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdzgon]

DUH. Thanks, guys. I don't know where my head is at - I opened my mouth before thinking things through. I looked at the door and hinges. Yes, due to the casing and moldings the door can not swing open completely, but the hinges do not open completely, either. The hinge plate has actually pulled out of the frame due to being opened so far and so often. The door and hinges are pretty old (40+ years) so either they don't work properly or for some reason don't have the full travel. I'm going to repair the frame and install new hinges, offsetting them enough to clear the moldings (and installing a hinge doorstop to save the wall).

I cannot fathom why they want to open this particular door this way anyway, but they do so regularly. (It's a bathroom door that opens into a kitchen...) The worst part is someone removed the top hinge pin (no one knows who did it :scratch: ) and my DIL told me she "doesn't know what's wrong with the door, but it keeps falling every time [they] open [the door]". :bang:

BTW, all those pesky door-blocking toys are all at my house right now - this is my only kid that isn't a parent yet (just married a month).

Laurie

[Theoderik]

And they have mom coming over to fix the door for them? Laurie, I think I love you. You wanna come over to my house and fix a few of my doors? I think I have some touch-up painting needing done as well. :)

Either way, glad you found your problem. Best of luck!

[gregory d]

Hey I just finished hanging 9 door in my house built in 1956 so the spot where the hinges screw into the jambs had a few holes that were kinda wollered out (to big) so I used the yellow plastic wall anchors they worked great and allow you to have the hinges screwed in tight, now I had to drill out those holes a little more so just dont go to big on the drill bit if you have the same problem when trying to install the anchors, you should need to use a hammer to tap them in to the holes start small and go up on the drill size if you need to

[cx]

Use caution when you move those hinges out further from the face of the door to allow more clearance from the casing, Laurie. You'll likely need to increase the bevel on the strike edge to allow it to open, but there is a limit to how much of that you're gonna be able to do. :shades:

And for old "wollered out" screw holes I prefer to drill them out and glue in a piece of wood dowel. Let it dry, cut it off flush, re-drill and you're good as new again. :)

If you don't have one in your Repair Woman tool kit, it would be worthwhile to purchase a Vix bit for drilling those screw holes and similar jobs. I think a #9 is what a fella (or fellet) wants for most door hinges, but I'd hafta look.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[kdzgon]

Shawn,
We actually gutted the downstairs and created an apartment for them, so they are our "tenants" (at a VERY favorable rate...) - the door fix is minimal. (The reason we did not replace the doorframe is the door is short, and more importantly I was afraid to disturb the tile wall above inside the bathroom.)

Of course, among other "chores", I have traveled to Chesapeake, VA to put down ~450 sf of tile (2 rooms, 2 different times - even delivered the tile!) and install new moldings, Saratoga Springs, NY area to tear out, re-sheetrock & paint some rooms, and to NC to do some landscaping, so "mom" does lots of projects :) (Is it telling that my son bought me a drill bit set for Mother's Day? When his wife objected, my son insisted tools were what would make me happy!)

cx,
I know about the dowel trick (toothpicks & glue work ok for teeny holes), but I don't have one of those fancy bits - adding it to my list as we speak...as to the hinges, I bought special oversized ones designed to protrude beyond the moldings, and relocated a smoke alarm that also kept the door from opening flat against the outside wall. (Again, who would expect someone to leave a bathroom door opened into a kitchen??) The (hinge) look isn't too bad, and is preferable to repairing the door frame on a regular basis! The only problem was the hinge stop won't work right, so I used a different doorstop.

Thanks again for the help - nice to know someone always has my back here!

Laurie