Common Door Handle Types

Degol:Common Door Handle Types

In order to fix door handles, you must know what type of handle it is. Knowing the type of door handle you are trying to fix allows you to better understand how the mechanisms work. If you do not understand the basics of the handle you are trying to fix, then you risk damaging the handle as well as the door that it is on. To fix door handles, begin by knowing what might be wrong with them and how to go about safely servicing them.

• Keyed Door Handle – Keyed door handles are most often found on exterior entryway doors. If the door leads to the outside, there is a good chance it has a keyed cylinder to add more security to the building. If your handle or knob has a keyhole, then it is keyed. Besides how the door knob is controlling the latch bolt, there could also be issues with the lock cylinder breaking or malfunctioning.

• Privacy Door Handle – Privacy door handles will not have a keyway. These types of locks will be used on interior doors. There is still likely to be an actuator on the side of the door that leads to the room where privacy is desired. The actuator is likely to be a turning or push button switch. To fix door handles like this, you hardly have to worry about issues with the locking mechanism breaking down.

• Simple Turn Handle – These door handles have no intention of delivering privacy or security. They are made only to require a door handle to be twisted in order to access the room. Handles like this will often not even be secured onto a door with through screws. Often the rose plate around the base of the handle, or even the handle itself, will be threaded. This threading allows the knob to be securely fastened without the need for screws. Often these handles will need to be tightened, and in the most extreme cases, the door will need maintenance.

• Exposed Fastener Door Handle – When the set screws or another method of a fastener is readily accessible, then this will make most methods to fix door handles simpler. With this style of the door handle, you can always remove the step of exposing the set screws in any process that requires some form of handle disassembly. Sometimes these handles are noticeable because they will have their set screws on full display. Other times they can appear to be concealed fastener door handles, but that is because the fastener is the rose or handle of the door knob.

• Concealed Fastener Door Handle – A door handle with a concealed fastener forces whoever is working on the device to remove part of the assembly before having full access to the part of the handle, which is keeping the full assembly in the door. Most often these locks have a rose plate on the interior handle, which is held in place by an Allen screw and/or spring loaded button.

Find out what is being used to secure your rose before you move onto fix door handles. Go to the side of the door that has the turning or push button actuator (this is the interior side/secure side of the handle). If your handle does not have an actuator, chances are the rose or handle is the faster (refer to the “Exposed Fastener Door Handle” section above). If there is a small hole in the handle, often that needs a rose catch tool in order to depress the spring loaded button. The Allen screw needs an Allen key in order to move it out of the way.