Installing A Swinging Butler Door
Swinging Hinge Door
On this project I was tasked with installing a swinging butler door. We had to change out a 6-panel solid wood swinging “Butlers Door” with a 15-lite [15 panes of glass] door.
A “Butler Hinge” is also called a “Swinging Door Hinge,” and a “Double Acting Floor Hinge.”
It is a floor mounted hinge with spring tension that allows a door to swing in or out of a room and return to the closed position when let go.
The door, shown above and below, separates the kitchen from the formal dining room.
Sandra Stout from Creative Design solutions [978-505-7447] worked with the homeowner on this project.
The desired goal was to install a clear glass door to allow more light to pass between rooms and create a “larger room effect.”
The doors existing hardware has a mortised, double acting spring pivot “Butlers” hinge and was in great condition and of good quality. We decided to reuse it – shown below with a brass decorative cover plate.
The Butler hinges that my lumber yard carry look a similar but had a different pivot point than this door had.
Below is a picture of newer hardware. In my opinion the older hinge feels way more beefy and looks of better quality than the newer sold models. The only exception to what I feel may be less quality was comparing the top pivot plate. The newer version top pivot plate seems beefier. [see below pictures]