Hinge question

[beech1948]

The number of times I have had to work on hinges in the past 45 years is just twice. So I'm really a novice here.

I've recently had repairs done to my company offices resulting in new carpets. The doors are now all dragging on the carpets and need adjusting. The carpet supplier simply says its not his problem as the fitters were all self employed so I would have to chase the fitters...Bodgit, Buggerit and Run Ltd...yeh some chance. Not dealing with this sleazy git again when we do the upstairs in May.

I need to fix these very quickly....I am able to remove doors and trim off the bottom of the doors BUT..

Do UK hinges have a pin running down the middle and can I just use a pin punch to knock these out to remove the doors otherwise its 27 doors times 3 hinges each times 4 screws per hinge. What do you know.

Al

Al

 

[MMUK]

I doubt very much that they'll be loose pin hinges. You'll be stuck removing them all I'm afraid.

Although, this may be a good excuse to buy a Japanese saw

 

[MARK.B.]

No expert here but there are loads of different types of hinge,if yours have a loose pin in them then yes you can just knock out the pin to remove the door , trying to remove the centre pin from other types of hinge would be difficult if not impossible and would take longer to do than unscrewing the whole hinge.

 

[carlb40]

It's unlikely to be loose pin hinges on a commercial property. It takes a few seconds to unscrew hinges, unless they are fitted with old steel/ brass slotted screws?

Or you could leave the door on and use this.

http://www.hss.com/g/3141/Door-Trimming-Saw.html

Other hire shops are available, and more than likely cheaper. :mrgreen:

 

[beech1948]

The issue is that 60% of the doors have slotted screws which have been fitted by an inept gorilla who has churned and crumbled the screw heads badly.....looks like hours of fun.

Al

 

[carlb40]

The issue is that 60% of the doors have slotted screws which have been fitted by an inept gorilla who has churned and crumbled the screw heads badly.....looks like hours of fun.

Al

Then i would save yourself a lot of grief and consider that trim saw. With setting up etc you will probably be done in under an hour.

 

[beech1948]

carlb40 and others,

Thanks...I had forgotten about door trim saws...£22.70 per day from HSS.....I know where I will be at 8.00am tomorrow.

Thanks again

Alan

 

[blackrodd]

The issue is that 60% of the doors have slotted screws which have been fitted by an inept gorilla who has churned and crumbled the screw heads badly.....looks like hours of fun.

Al

Then i would save yourself a lot of grief and consider that trim saw. With setting up etc you will probably be done in under an hour.

Yep! Me too!! That's where I'd be. Regards Rodders

 

[finneyb]

Consider replacing hinges with rising butts - no need to trim the door.
http://www.ironmongeryonline.com/blog/d ... tt-hinges/

Brian

 

[AES]

+1 for rising butts.

AND ..... to get those "gorilla installed" screws out, get a couple of old plain (non-Pozi) screwdrivers, use the smaller of the 2 as a "chisel" and hammer the screwdriver blade ALONG the slot a couple of times; then use the larger screwdriver and a big hammer to try turning the screw IN a little, followed by (conventional) unscrewing. I'm almost prepared to bet you'll get 90% + of those difficult screws out. Making the 2nd "big" screwdriver fit the sliot as well as you possibly can is the real trick - adjust the blade with a file as necessary.

DAMHIKT - but it DOES work in the vast majority of cases!!!

HTH
AES

 

[Eric The Viking]

Also, I bought a set of these before Christmas - bloomin brilliant things and dead handy for one-man door hanging.

 

[AES]

What a clever idea!

In the past I've just used a couple of wedges, one from each side. A bit clumsy but it works (sort of).

AES

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Consider replacing hinges with rising butts - no need to trim the door.

-1 to rising butts from me.

Ok, something that has long puzzled me. How are rising butt hinges supposed to help ? By the time the door is fully open, it has risen to give a good gap, but the door needs to clear the carpet as soon as it starts to open, at which time the hinge has done no rising yet. I can see how they could help with doors that catch because of out of square frames/floors though.

Our house has some rising butts fitted, hate them. Doors won't stay open when you want to get through carrying something, look bulky and ugly (at least the ones I have), you have to knock off the top corner of the door to prevent that binding on the frame when fuilly open, and they don't seem to do the job. I'm slowly replacing them with regular hinges.

 

[beech1948]

Outcome

Hired door trim saw at 8:30am trimmed 27 doors by 10:15. Hooray!!!

We must get my staff back into their offices by Monday next as they have been in temp office in containers for 3 weeks ; morale is a bit low hence the rush. Plus we all want the party to celebrate.

What. I'm doing aboutthe screws rightnow is to dig out the Dremel and use it to cut away the old damages scre slots and a tad deeper. The really bad ones we will cut a new slot at 90 degrees to old one and try that. Jigbeing built I write this to prevent Dremel blade wander andcontrol straightness and depth. Hinges will be replaced next week if this works......all doors are fire doors (WTF) and veery heavy and must be 40yrs old or more.

Rising butts an idea but we don't like them in this situation especially in view of door weight.

Thanks for all youradvice and guidance
Al

 

[carlb40]

Yep, i think all commercial properties every opening door has to be a fire door. If not i doubt the fire officer will pass it during inspection. See if you can have a word with a friendly fire officer re the hinges. You need different hinges depending on the weight of the doors.
http://www.screwfix.com/c/ironmongery-s ... /cat840988

 

[beech1948]

Carlb40,

Good call re fire officer. Since we made no changes to the structure which needed a new inspection the FB will not need to re-inspect. FB has sent recommendations re hinges and a form to request inspection after. It seems if I change the hinges I need also to change the intumescent pads ( expensive for what they are) under them as new hinges will be a different size and new pads means new inspection...arghh!!!!!

better safe than sorry though.

Al

 

[carlb40]

Yeah while a PITA , better done now than after your staff are back in. Well one option might be just to replace the screws. That way nothing really changes, unless the hinges are worn.

 

[beech1948]

carlb40,

Its a bit of an odd ball in that the messed up screws also seem to have contributed to scarred hinges. Presumably the screwdriver slipped a lot for the gorilla doing it. Also a few hinges look as though they were beat on with a hammer and one set was levered up slightly.

So taking the precautionary principle time to change hinges and screws

Al

 

[carlb40]

Ahh ok. As the saying goes, if your going to do a job ......

 

[blackrodd]

Try using A nice good quality centre punch, and drift the screw round but NOT damaging the slot, half a turn is usually enough for the driver to work. As regards hanging fire doors, try a decent plasterboard foot lifter, just right of centre, you will soon get the hang of swiveling and moving you're foot left or right HTH Rodders