How To Determine Door Handing or Swing of Door

Determining Handing of Door for HingesDoor Trim and Locks:

To determine the handing on the door, open the door and stand in the doorway with your back to the hinge. You will be looking at the door frame where the door latches into place when closed. Which side of you is the door on?

  • If the door is on your right side, it is a right handed door.
  • If the door is on your left side, it is a left handed door.


Right Handed Door  Left Handed Doors


For  Door ClosersPivots and Pivot Sets  


The hand of a door is always determined at the push side of the door

Inswing Doors  Outswing Doors

 

For Exit Devices


To determine which side of the door is the outside:
 The handing of the door is determined from the outside (otherwise know as the Cylinder Side or Secure Side).

The outside is determined by the most common direction of ingress (entry) through the opening.

  • Examples - Entrance to a Building or Home: The exterior / street side is OUTSIDE
  • Standing in a hallway, facing a bedroom: The OUTSIDE of a room door is the hall side.
  • Single Communicating Door: The OUTSIDE is the side from which the hinges are not visible when the door is closed.
  • Standing in a hallway facing a closet: the OUTSIDE of the closet is the hall side

  

Door with exit devices will always swing outward and are always specified as Right Hand Reverse (RHR) or Left Handed Reverse (LHR)

  • While standing on the outside, facing the door, what side of the door is the hinge on?
  • Hinges are on the left side: Left Hand Reverse (LHR)
  • Hinges are on the right side: Right Hand Reverse (RHR)