Odd door hinge placement?

[rafezetter]

I've just watched another episode of George Clarks series "Old house, New home" about a place in Leeds and in it they used a set of reclaimed glass doors, solid wood; Oak probably, eight glass leaded light panels per door, (which look as though they really could have come from Parliament) and slim muntins, but what really caught my eye was the parliament hinges and thier placement.

9" up, 6" down as normal but also 18" down - so another set 12" below the top set, with no corresponding set above the bottom set.

I could see no reason in the door for this, as the door was uniformly designed top to bottom.

Just made me wonder... any ideas?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

It's quite a common arrangement. Look around at other architectural doors and you'll see this practice more frequently, now that you're aware of it. The most common reason given, particularly for heavy doors, such as fire doors, is that the extra screws needed in the high middle placed hinge of the door and lining (plus the top hinge) better resist the door pivoting away from the lining at the top. Slainte.

 

[Trevanion]

I've seen a lot of fire doors done this way recently, no idea why really. I don't think it would offer that much more in load-bearing capabilities than having one in the middle of the door rather than 2/3rds up. Especially now fire doors are much lighter than they used to be, unless I'm just imagining that :lol:

 

[Setch]

The top hinge of a closed door is under tension, the bottom under compression. Off-setting the middle hinge towards the top helps prevent the top hinge working loose or pulling out.