It hinges on hinges being in the right place .

[DAPPH]

Help , I need a bit of advice .
Several of you engineers also engineer in wood or at least bother it somewhat . I have seven second hand internal doors to fit most have bee cut to size and the off cuts will be glued & screwed to two of them to make a wider wheelchair accessible door

Who ever put the replacement doors inthis place over 23 years ago must have used a treacle ruler for no two hinges are the same distance on the doors at the top , same witht e botoms . I'm happy to route out the old hinge positions fill screw holes with glued in pegs and insert a glued in wooden blanking strip on all frames and doors .
Question what is a reasonable distance from top of door to the top of the hinge for it and also the same for the bottom of the door ,,how high is a hinge normally set from the bottom of the door to the bottom of the hinge ?

Just to amuse you the shortest distance to the top of the top hinge varies between 6 " to 14 &1/4" bottom hinges are 5 to 18 " from the bottom of the doors to the bottom of the hinges .

Thinking of fitting three hinges per door ( Ironmongery direct ) , so over time they will not warp to much in high humidity associated with warmer years we are supposed to be heading towards .

 

[gaz1]

its about 4-5" from both the top and bottem so you get a good grip point too close to the door edges and they can rip out

heavy doors more so fire doors its 3 hinges the middle one just below the center part of the door

a point to remember with doors the hinge side is near on always straight with no cuts taken out other than fitting hinges this gives a point where you can use a table saw and straight edge the catch side which is always planed to fit the opening

then you can work from there and decide where you want to add the filler piece

 

[MysterG]

My carpenter/joiner Father always taught me that the bottom hinge should be further up the door than the top one is down. They should not be the same.

 

[Windy Miller]

It always used to be 6" down, and 9" up. Don't they do that any more?

 

[Morrisman]

I’m in a bungalow with wheelchair width doors, top hinges are 6” from the top, to the nearest edge of the hinge, bottoms are 8”.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Another vote for about six inches down, nine up. Three hinges on a large door, with the third evenly spaced in the middle - it also helps prevent warping.

 

[akdaka]

Again the rule of 6 and 9 here, and the a central hinge for heavy doors and bathrooms.

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

the 6&9 rule is only based on aesthetics; they look to be the same distance from the top & bottom of the door frame when standing.

... I'll get me coat...

 

[voipio]

I see no rhyme, nor reason, why 6" and 9" are some sort of accepted norm, apart from maybe having the lower hinge further off the bottom, for when subsequent adjustments for carpet clearance, may make the door look "unbalanced".

 

[colnerov]

It's because of 'foreshortening' the apparent difference in size when you're looking down on something compared to looking up at it.

 

[DAPPH]

I did wonder if the bottom hinge ought to be closer to the at about 9 inches by the transom (?) cross piece due to weight stress/
.

Thanks lads, now about to search for some 75 mm or so long brass hinges with bearings in between the leafs no cheap brass plated ones either .

 

[DAPPH]

I see no rhyme, nor reason, why 6" and 9" are some sort of accepted norm, apart from maybe having the lower hinge further off the bottom, for when subsequent adjustments for carpet clearance, may make the door look "unbalanced".

I'm already making floor covering allowances so as such it is immaterial .
Last Christmas i was given a pair of the heavy duty inflatable bladder bags able to lift 80 kg to position the door height as well as having made a load of 2.5 mm thick wooden distance/packing pieces

 

[Agroshield]

No need for a third hinge on a lightweight, cheap internal door.

Please show me a cheap door that weighs the 80kg stated in the post above. Also, if that is considered lightweight, what would be a medium weight door?

 

[Agroshield]

...a load of 2.5 mm thick wooden distance/packing pieces

It might be worth holding a straight edge up the two sides of the frame and a square around the two top corners just so you know how the land lies and can plan accordingly.

 

[Smallfry]

I have fitted at least 100 doors, and I have never heard of the bottom hinge should he higher. I can see no logical reason for it whatsoever. I have always done 6 inches top and bottom. Three hinges are always a good idea IMO, and if the door is very heavy, put the third hinge nearer the top one. Or use four hinges if its a heavy fire door. Fire rated hinges usually have bearings, no harm in using them, but overkill really for an internal door, unless its a House of Multiple Occupation.

 

[pedrobedro]

If they are panel doors you position the hinges so they don't hit the joints holding the cross pieces to the sides. That's where 6" and 9" probably came from.

 

[MysterG]

Having just done a bit of googling I find all sorts of explanations for a difference in height mostly to do with the weight of the door bearing on the hinges etc.
A couple of mentions of having the bottom one higher to make hitting the pin out easier.

@colnerov and @My_Teenage_Self both agree with what my Father always said.

It's purely aesthetics, because you spend most of your time standing near a door and the bottom hinge is further from your eyes than the top, so the distances have to be different in order for them to look similar.

 

[gaz1]

If they are panel doors you position the hinges so they don't hit the joints holding the cross pieces to the sides. That's where 6" and 9" probably came from.

to be honest its a load of crap

hinges should be placed where the strength of the door is and thats where the joins are for the cross pieces have a look at pics or vids for building them

we fit the hinges on gates and stable doors the same way why on earth would we change that for an internal or external door

 

[DAPPH]

Cheap internal panel doors are different to a proper timber door.

A proper timber door will have a wider bottom rail than the top - hence different historic hinge positions. The middle rail needs to be avoided for hinge positioning (don't want to be screwing into end grain).

Hinges just need sensible positioning, not absolute locations, but all similar doors need to have similar spacings, of course.

No need for a third hinge on a lightweight, cheap internal door. A waste of a good hinge (presuming good quality hinges are being employed).

Doors are a hefty wooden panel door, almost twice as heavy as the cheap panel doors they are replacing . Just ( hopefully ) ordered 11 pair of Chinese bearing'ed internal door hinges 100mm high x 75mm when opened flat so there are three hinges per door .

 

[DAPPH]

It might be worth holding a straight edge up the two sides of the frame and a square around the two top corners just so you know how the land lies and can plan accordingly.

I'Il be scribing the doors for a 3-4mm or so fit as I doubt any of the frames are anywhere near square or parallel sided if the rest of the bungalow build is anything to go by .