How to Determine Door Handing

Posted by: steve in MyBlog on Apr 13, 2010 Print PDF

How to Determine the Handing of your Door

The reason why the handing of commercial and residential doors is different is because of the hardware involved.  On a residential door the key is always on the outside of the door and the thumbturn, or pushbutton is always on the inside.  Therefore it does not matter if the door is a inswing or outswing. 

Residential Handing

 

How to Determine Residential Door Handing

When ordering lever handles or handlesets, we'll need to know the handing of your door. Door handing is the direction in which your door swings. If you order the incorrect door handing you will either have locks on the wrong side of the door, levers that are upside down, or levers that point in the wrong direction and keep the door from closing properly.

 

 

Follow These Easy Steps:

1.

Stand facing the door on the outside - If it's a locking door, stand on the side of the door where you would insert a key (or unlocking tool if it would be a privacy lock).
   

2.

 

If the hinges are on the left, it's a left hand door. If the hinges are on the right, it's a right hand door.

 

Commercial Handing

 

On a commercial door however it is much more complicated and much more critical to get right.  The handing on commercial doors is more specific and not only gives the handing but describes the opening.  This is because of the invention of the mortise lock.  The swing of the door turns into the description of the door and lets the manufacturer know if it’s a inswing or outswing and which side of the door gets the cylinder (if not both) and which side gets the thumbturn (if any).  It is also important in choosing the function of the lock.  Because there are many more functions to a commercial lock than the standard functions that come on a residential lock.

How to Determine Commercial Door Handing

Standing on the outside of the door looking at the locked side of the handle:

 

When the door opens away from you and the knob is on the left hand side, it is a LEFT

HAND DOOR or a LH.

 

When the door opens away from you and the knob is on the right hand side, it is a RIGHT

HAND DOOR or a RH.

 

When the door opens toward you and the knob is on the left hand side, it is a LEFT HAND

REVERSE DOOR or a LHR.

When the door opens toward you and the knob is on the right hand side, it is a RIGHT

HAND REVERSE DOOR or a RHR.

 

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