Exterior Doors Swing Direction

Learn door swing direction for properly choosing the correct door for your room.

Exterior doors 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. We install doors that open from the garage into the house on either side of the frame. If there is a fire or explosion that occurs an outward swinging door could. Door swing direction is an important piece of information when you re buying a new interior or exterior door for your home.

It is also code that these doors swing outward. See the picture for a visual reference. Ask this old house carpenter nathan gilbert helps general contractor tom silva change the swing of an entry door subscribe to this old house. 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.

There are exceptions but these doors must not only pass a forced entry test but also a water infiltration test. An inward opening door should swing in the direction needed to provide adequate passage. Now hinging is either left or right and is simply determined by the side you want the storm door hinges to be on. In order to determine your door swing direction by using the diagram shown above imagine the square box is the room.

View the diagram to learn what hand your door is. 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. Without that information you may end up with a door that has the hinges on the wrong side. Watch ask this old house carpenter nathan gilbert as he helps general contractor tom silva change the swing of an entry door.

To order the correct exterior door you need to know both the desired handing and whether it is inswing or outswing. You are standing inside the house. Slightly different specifications from interior doors. Installing a new door in a rough opening.

The design of the room typically determines the left or right swing designation for doors. When the door opens toward you and the knob is on the left hand side it is a left hand inswing door. To determine door swing direction during the rough in phase requires some foresight into the operation of the home or building. And have either metro dade product approval or florida product approval with additional approval for high.

Safety is the critical issue when deciding the swing direction. Since garage doors are an exit we would install the doors to open in the path of least resistance. Determine what hand your door is.