The door hinge is an important selection to make when it comes times to hang a door. The door hinge is not only needed to swing the door, in some cases the hinge can be decorative and pleasing to the eye. Hardware hinges come in many different sizes, weights, finishes and materials. There is the steel hinge, a brass hinge, a bronze hinge and even a stainless steel hinge. The steel hinge would be the least expensive option, while the solid bronze hinge would be the most expensive. Hardware door hinges come in many varieties and it can be somewhat confusing. Here we will try to break down the door hinge and explain some differences from the steel hinge to the bronze hardware door hinges.
A full mortise hinge and the most often used on residential doors, is where the leaves are mortised, one into the door and the other into the frame of the door. A half mortise is where one leaf is mortised into the door and the other leaf is surface mounted on the frame. Again, the most common application is the full mortise.
Another thing to consider is the pin of the hinge. There is a ball bearing hinge or a plain bearing hinge. Heavy doors such as exterior doors, fire rated doors and interior french doors that have tempered glass, should have ball bearing hinges. In fact any door that is 1 3/4" thick and solid should use ball bearing, although it is not mandatory. Hollow core doors and 1 3/8" doors can use the less expensive plain bearing hinge.
Now you need to determine the number of hinges per door. Although there are not many doors except cabinet doors under 60", the rule of thumb would be any door under 60 will need just 2 hinges. In some cases for appearance, somebody may elect to use 3 hinges. Doors between 60 and 84" need to use three hinges and doors between 85" and 100" should use 4.
Detereming the size of the hinge can get complicated when considering the weight of the door, so lets make it simple.
Any door that is 1 3/8" thick will need to use a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" hinge. An interior door that is 1 3/4" thick will need to use 4 x 4 hinges. Exterior doors that are 1 3/4" thick will need a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 hinge and over 2" thick should use a 5" x 5" ball bearing hinge.
The door hinge comes in different alloys. As mentioned you have an inexpensive steel hinge, a bit mor expensive brass hinge or the most expensive bronze hinge. Hardware door hinges in steel can rust, so they should not be used in exterior applications. Interior srteel hinges over time will fail, where brass hinges can last forever. Bronze hinges are great in salt air environments and will age gracefully over time.
