Recent content by Pivotal Howard

Skirtings traditionally are just there to cover the gap between shrinking timbers. For modern dwellings with masonry floors try something different. I like crisp contemporary square set plaster work and this works as an almost flush skirting. The wall was part of a trade show display for...

From 1984 today I've been doing architectural door documentation for some very large projects around Australia. Providing a spread sheet with a single line entry for each door. Basically describing the door and it's hardware (type of hinges and the number required etc.). Some hardware items were...

Attached is a very simple secret door detail using a PVC channel section plaster trim to conceal the door frame and eliminate architraves.

Sometimes It's worth trying to find interesting images for mural walls. I sometimes add simple secret door geometry. Its not only easy to do but can be very economical with low cost simple pivot hinges. Pivotal Howard

Thanks for the welcome comments about the self adhesive skirting prototype. The skirting was an attempt to investigate a low cost system for the affordable end of the housing industry. It's not a product. It's just an idea. I found a roll of 50mm x 0.7mm PVC strip in a bin of discards at the...

Years ago, working on Australia's New Parliament House, I was asked to details secret doors for access to pipes, tubes and wires. We could not source hinges or pivot hardware at an affordable price to incorporate the secret door details. About twenty years later I designed and started making a...

I spent the early part of my architectural career detailing interesting mouldings for historic restoration work in 'The Rocks' Sydney. The older I got the less important restoration work became. Many contemporary architects now insist on flush smooth everything with flush panel pivot secret...

Mad ideas can be tested by experimentation. Unbelievable success. What next? There is a little more detail in the youtube clip. Howard - Canberra next?

Hello baldkev Thanks for the comment. The bits are from my garage. I had 2x bearing cups turned by folk with talent. It could be totally Nylon & would cost about one UK pound (4x for an approximate retail cost). I'm not precious with property protection. I enjoy design ideas tested with simple...

At your local fast-food store doors to the toilets have problems. You wash you hands and then reach for the 'germy' door handle. This is a rough prototype to allow users to use an elbow to pass through the door. The pivot axis is not vertical. The door falls to the closed position. To slow the...

THE PIVOT OBSESSION - I have done a lot of door detailing for architects. Often the ideas are mad but sometimes really interesting. The attached images are from a passive solar house where ceiling hatches were used to get rid of heat overnight. The doors, to make it work, needed to be full...

BLUE PIVOT HARDWARE I suspect in the wild west when you rode into town to shoot up the sheriff you would burst into to saloon through a pair of batwing doors. This pivot was found in a junk yard shop and is best described as a double acting rising and falling butt pivot hinge for batwing doors...

Zed, You have given this some thought. Thank you. Many domestic interior secret doors need no acoustic isolation. Doors to pantries, robes, closets, and access to pipes, tube and wires don't need stops. For bedroom 1 acoustic isolation can be provided with 'wiper' seals added to the door edge...

Brian - Thanks for the comment. I have detailed the pivot point at 70mm from the pivot edge of the door. The closer the pivot point moves towards to the edge of the door the more the builder needs to radius the door. At 70mm to the pivot point a 35mm thick door can have a square edge door and...

Thanks for the comment. My pivot customers tell me what works for them. A large block of home units was built in Toronto NSW. The builder had installed double acting pivot doors (in & out) to all the bedrooms and bathrooms. He reported that residents had noticed the difference but it wasn't a...