Traditionally, rising butt hinges are used in the dining room, drawing-room – or on other internal doors where there is carpet fitted. These hinges are designed so that when the door is opened, it raises high enough to clear the thickness of the carpet. These hinges may also be used outside the home wherever the door or gate lies below the level of rising ground.
When to use rising butt hinges
If you have deep piled carpet, or some other thick floor covering, such as tiles, in the doorway or jamb area that prevents the door from easily opening and closing, then this is a perfect situation for rising butt hinges.
Keep in mind, that when installing a rising butt hinge in this situation, you’ll also need to make sure that the installation height of the hinges are fixed precisely in order to keep the bottom of the door from pressing down and rubbing the thick floor covering when the door is being closed.
Another situation when you may wish to use a rising butt hinge is when you want to fit a door that can be easily removed, from time to time. Due to the design of rising butt hinges, a door can easily be lifted up and off the hinges when it has been installed correctly.
Are rising butt hinges self closing
These hinges have the advantage over ordinary butt hinges in that the door becomes, almost, self-closing. The weight of the door combined with the bevel on the hinged joint causes the door to close by itself, in the majority of cases.
Rising butts won’t cause the door to automatically close fully, every time, but people will usually notice that the door is closing behind them, and complete the task themselves. No need to keep shouting ‘shut that door’.
Installing rising butt hinges
To mark out the fixing position of the hinges, the hinge should be laid flat against the edge of the door and the recess. Take care in marking these dimensions precisely. When done, the recessing should be equal on both the edge of the door and the frame.
After measuring the width and depth of the hinges in the appropriate position, handsaw and gouge out the recessed area with a sharp wood chisel and mallet. Be sure to use a sharp chisel, and take extra care whilst doing this bit. Rising butt hinges should be placed approx 150mm from the top and bottom of the door.
Where possible, get help to support the door as you offer it up and check the fit in the doorway. You should allow at least 2mm clearance around the door to prevent sticking. You may need to allow a bit more if the floor is particularly uneven.
A two part construction
The hinge consists of two parts; the leaf that is fitted to the door frame which has a spiral knuckle and pivot pin, and the second flap which is fixed to the door. As the door is opened the leaf fitted to the door rides up the spiral knuckle raising the door as it opens.
The fitting of rising butt hinges follows pretty much the same fitting procedure as for standard butt hinges, but with rising butts, the door will need some additional trimming in order to provide a suitable gap between the top inside corner of the door and the top inside of the door frame. This provides adequate clearance for when the door rises.
This is done by measuring 6mm down from the top inside corner of the door, and draw a diminishing line to the outside corner and the inside corner of the door. This should then be planned off the door, working inwards. Because the door has been trimmed on the inside edge means that the diminishing gap will be hidden when the door is in the closed position.
If you find the door still comes into contact with the door frame after removing this amount, simply trim more off the door, but a little bit at a time.
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