Identifying the Handing of a Door
Working out the handing of a door is simple if you always do it this way: Stand on the side of the room with the door opening away from you. If the hinges are on the left this is a LEFT HANDED opening door. If the hinges are on the right then you have a RIGHT HANDED opening door (see images below).
Read MoreLeading Edges on Doors Overview
A range of doors are supplied with solid wood lippings that have leading edges on both sides (certainly the ones we have at SWD do). Leading edges are common from most European door manufacturers especially on the higher quality pre-finished doors. The purpose of a leading edge is to obtain smaller gaps around the door when it is hung. The below explanation by the British Woodworking Federation sums this up nicely: “The reason why it is common practice to apply […]
Read MoreBifold doors – A Guide to Fitting Them
We have a lot of enquiries for bifold doors. This is an ideal way of being able to close or open up 2 adjoining rooms if the structural opening is too wide for a set of doubles. Usually the opening needs to be between 2.5 metres and 3.5 metres. An alternative to bifolds would be a set of doubles and side screens (bottom picture) but this doesn’t allow to open up the total width of the opening. It can however […]
Read MoreHigh gloss Piano Finish Front doors
High gloss front doors are always popular. These doors can be specified as large as 2700×1200 for a single leaf. When you do high gloss it has to be almost the perfect finish which is expensive. When the finish is substandard with an orange peel effect it will look cheap. So how do we manage to get such a high finish on our front doors when others fail miserably. You need to start by making a door with little or […]
Read MoreDouble door insight: Master and Slave
Double doors always have a ‘master’ door and a ‘slave’ door. The master is the main/active door and the slave is the door that is passive/often fixed in place. A flush bolt is often used on the slave door which enables this door to be closed and held in place and also to hold both doors in the frame when they are closed together. Flush bolts are usually situated on the edge at the top of the door (see image). […]
Read MoreUsing Timber for External Door Sets
All timber contains moisture. Timber doors that have only been installed recently can have similar moisture content to those that have been around for decades. All timber originates from a living tree and as such remains reactive to the environment in which it’s placed. In other words, under wet, damp or humid conditions it will absorb moisture and in dry arid situations it will lose moisture. This affects it’s dimensional stability and is what can cause a door to stick […]
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