Exterior Door Swing Direction

If it bumps or blocks passage because of a wall barrier or other object when you open it such as a toilet or cabinet the door should swing in the opposite direction.

Exterior door swing direction.

Now a good rule of thumb is that you want the handle of the screen door to be on the same side as the entry door. Know where to stand to figure out if you have a left hand or right hand swing door. Door swing direction is an important piece of information when you re buying a new interior or exterior door for your home. Determine what hand your door is.

If the exterior door swings outward it could catch the wind on a windy day and basically get pulled away from your hand and possibly bang into something. In order to determine your door swing direction by using the diagram shown above imagine the square box is the room. If you live in a snowy environment opening the exterior door outward will be very difficult if there is a large amount of snow against it. Safety is the critical issue when deciding the swing direction.

To order the correct exterior door you need to know both the desired handing and whether it is inswing or outswing. Changing your door from a right hand swing to a left hand swing can be a fairly easy task as long as it s the same height on both sides and you re okay with the inside face of the door becoming the outer face. You ll want the door to allow the most open space in the room when the door is open. Ask this old house carpenter nathan gilbert helps general contractor tom silva change the swing of an entry door subscribe to this old house.

An inward opening door should swing in the direction needed to provide adequate passage. See the picture for a visual reference. Now hinging is either left or right and is simply determined by the side you want the storm door hinges to be on. We install doors that open from the garage into the house on either side of the frame.

After you determine door swing direction you can use the above method to determine the hand of the door. Without that information you may end up with a door that has the hinges on the wrong side. Slightly different specifications from interior doors. The design of the room typically determines the left or right swing designation for doors.

View the diagram to learn what hand your door is. If there is a fire or explosion that occurs an outward swinging door could. Watch ask this old house carpenter nathan gilbert as he helps general contractor tom silva change the swing of an entry door. Learn door swing direction for properly choosing the correct door for your room.

When the door opens toward you and the knob is on the left hand side it is a left hand inswing door.