Replacing interior door hinges?
Question:Would it be possible to replace the two 3-5/8", 5 loop
butt hinges on an interior door with double-action swing
hinges? The door itself is 29-3/4" wide and the frame
opening (minus the jamb) is 30-1/2". It is one of the
hollow doors you usually see in houses these days.
If it is possible, how difficult would it be to do?
Can the pressure required to open the door be adjusted?
I like keeping my door shut, but my cat likes to go in
and out, and in and out, and in and out. :)
This is what the door looks like (I had to put ...'s in to make
it space right):
v jamb v ... hinge
___.___.../
....|_| ----o___________
.......|__________... <door
Answers:
I have this problem and simply replaced one of the hinges with a spring loaded self closing hinge. These have adjustable tension and with lightweight hollow interior doors will not cause the door to latch, but to close enough to control heat/cold from moving from room to room and to control noise. The cat can push the door in easily and I added a little strip of the loop side of velcro to the bottom side edge of the door for the cat to grab with its claws to open the door when going the other way. Usually cats are smart enough to figure this out on their own!
Without seeing your exact circumstances I would say that it might be possible, but I'm not entirely sure. You would likely need to remove the doorstop material all around the jamb to allow the door to swing freely. And some hinges have adjustable tension, so that you could set it so the cat could open the door. Or you could just install a catflap on the door so that the cat could go in and out without needing to swap out hinges.
You're asking about changing the door to a "double acting" by replacing the existing 3-1/2" butts with a double acting hinges.
Most double acting hinges are spring loaded and adjustable, and as the door is opened, in either direction, the resistance increases proportionate to that spring action, which causes the door to return to its neutral position.
When you've removed the lockset, the door stop
and have the door off, standing on its edge with the hinges up, you'll see that when you remove the hinge, the mortise for the hinge will have to be continued through the other edge of the door prior to mounting the hinge.
Its important for this cut to be flat, as it affects the doors action and neutral position.
You can cover the hole left by the removal of the lockest by installing a "mag-plate", (door sleeve for home owners) and a push plate on both sides to prevent staining from hand prints.
To fill the hole in the jamb you can use 1/8" plywood and spackle, bondo, fixall or the like.
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