double hinges...

HouseTonyStark

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so, in my (mostly) rebuilt lounge i have a pair of doors which open into the dining room, which is fine a lot of the time, but I'm sitting here thinking to myself:

What if i made them double hinged? i have to take the doors down to strip and redo them/the frame etc. it cant be that expensive?

has anyone done this/ got any thoughts they might share with me on whether this is a good/bad idea?
 
If you're going to all that effort go the whole way -
images
 
figured that would come up :p
 
I need to see drawings as I've no idea what he's on about. Double Hinged!
 
So he's in his lounge, considering the benefits of "going both ways" ?

Well, I suppose being open to both avenues, gives you more options as you move forward.
 
As to the original question, there's not any downside Percy but usually only ever seen these in a workplace from a kitchen, don't really see how they'd add anything to a house as such?
 
One downside is that you'd have to remove the door stop from the frame and possibly reduce the size of the doors to enable them to swing both ways. This would mean that even when the doors were closed you'd have quite a gap around them

You also might find that the doors have to be propped open if you need them to stay open
 
Thinking about it you might need to change the lock if it's one of the curved on one side flat on the other type.
The small pile insulation strips should cover any gaps
 
My Engineering mind thinks that looks over complicated :)

Why not scrap that complicated double hinge, and then (this has to come in a pack) have a little plate with a hole in it that you fit to the floor (under the end of the door which has to pivot) and another to the ceiling.

Then on the top and bottom of the door, you drill and fit 2 more plates with sprung metal pins, 1/2" dia perhaps.

Then all done, drop the pin on the bottom of the door into the hole in the ground and spring back, to fit, and release the top pin to spring up into the ceiling hole.

Think of this, exactly like how a normal watch strap attaches to the body of a watch, but on it's side.

when finished, nothing to see, no hinges to paint, or not, and door will swing totally free.

Hey the door could theoretically do a 360 degree spin then. :)
 
It would probably sag unless there was a wheel at the bottom of the door to support the weight of the door :D
 
has anyone done this/ got any thoughts they might share with me on whether this is a good/bad idea?
A downside I can see is that at present you know which way the door opens and closes. So on approach you may be a little wary of someone on the other side opening the door in your face. Now it could be in either direction.
 
so, in my (mostly) rebuilt lounge i have a pair of doors which open into the dining room, which is fine a lot of the time, but I'm sitting here thinking to myself:
Why is it a problem, "some of the time" then? Is it that they protrude into the dining room and don't fold back against the wall?

Pictures may help :)
 
Why is it a problem, "some of the time" then?

for one thing, light switches on both sides, for another, there would be occasions where the outward swing of the door requires more space than i maybe have at the time
 
Ah OK, thanks. If they hinged into the living room only, would they still be a nuisance?
 
The two-way hinges won't fit straight onto a (brick-width) door frame, you'd need a door-thickness strip on the face of the door frame to mount the hinges to.
The floor/ceiling pin idea is good (but more complicated than it needed to be in @Tempest's description - fit the pins into the holes first then attach the doors) but have the disadvantage that they won't open beyond 90º each way like hinged doors do.
Without the shuts, there might not be a good seal, but with modern whole-house heating that oughtn't be an issue.

Open the doorway out to four door-widths and suspend the doors on tracks. Cover the extra width with plasterboard each side and make good. Fit a pneumatic piston* at the top which separates the doors whenever the PIRs you fit in each room detects an approaching body and closes them after a short delay. Sorted.

*another method would be to have a constant supply of air to the piston, which exhausts via a rubber tube run across the floor each side of the doorway. When the tube is trodden on, the air no longer escapes and the piston is pressurised.
 
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The two-way hinges won't fit straight onto a (brick-width) door frame, you'd need a door-thickness strip on the face of the door frame to mount the hinges to.

Im struggling to see why?
 
I'm just REALLY annoyed, 30, 40? years on we still have the same old crappy door on hinges.
What happened to the Star Trek type doors I was sure was going to be in all homes by now?

Why don't they make hollow wall sections as standard by now that all doors can slide into?
Isn't rocket science....
 

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