Why go for a pivot door and other Frequently Asked Questions
Although very much on trend pivot hinged doors are less common than doors which use traditional butt hinges. Therefore, if you’re considering purchasing a pivot door, it’s important to make sure you understand how this type of door system works so you can decide if it’s suitable for your property.
What is the primary benefit of a pivot door compared to a traditional butt hinged door?
A pivot door is all about creating a dramatic opening; moving the hinges from the side of the frame inwards towards the centre of the frame by use of a pivot hinge at the top and bottom means when you open the door you have an uninterrupted view either side of the frame.
What is the secondary benefit of a pivot door compared to a traditional butt hinged door / how big can you make a pivot door?
Pivot door systems can support much more weight compared to doors with traditional butt hinges, this allows the creation of very large door-sets using a single panel door giving you a grand entrance aesthetic. For example we can support up-to 500kg in a single door, and depending on the type of timber and glazing used we can create door sizes up to 4000mm wide or 4000mm high, in a single door panel. Our flexible pivot door profile also allows for sidelights and top-lights within the construction of a single frame. Pivot hinge systems are prefect for bigger doors, ideally plus 1400mm in width, but we can make also make narrow pivot doors to as narrow as 900mm.
How weather sealed is a pivot door?
Our 5 years of manufacturing experience for the London market taught us that we needed to go through a detailed product development cycle before launching a new product. Therefore, continual prototyping and testing allowed us to perfect our pivot door profile before we launched this exciting joinery product. You may have read on other websites that pivot doors can have some water ingress of driving rain or a can be a little drafty in very windy weather due to the type of drop seals used; however we’ve solved this with use of some cleverly placed gaskets, brushes and seals, making the Sashed pivot door system one of the best weather sealed pivot doors commercially available in the UK.
How suitable is pivot door for an exposed area?
As per the point above we have worked hard at engineering the maximum amount of gaskets and seals we can into the design of the profile, but due to the nature of a pivoting door which opens both inside and outside at the same time, there are some limitations which restrict the use of rebating within the frame and door. With this in mind we would normally recommend that pivot doors are set back from exposed areas, but we welcome conversations about your individual project if your use case is for a more exposed application.
Will I lose walkthrough space?
Yes, some walkthrough space will be lost depending on the position of the pivot point. The pivot hinge needs to be placed at minimum of 100mm from the edge of the door, this means that on 1400mm wide door-set you would have a walkthrough opening of 1240mm. For maximum effect and to achieve the best aesthetic of 1400mm wide door we would recommend placing the pivot point 240mm in from the edge of the door which would give you a 1000mm walkthrough area.
Does a pivot door cost more?
A pivot door will cost between 25-50% more than our standard doors depending on design.
How do I know that a pivot door is right for my project and what will it look like?
We always make sure your pivot door design is perfect and fit for purpose based on your requirements, and as standard we issue scaled detailed CAD drawings for your sign-off before we start to manufacture any joinery, and upon request we can also issue CAD drawings before order as part of the sales process. If we think something won’t look quite right or we can suggest improvements; dont worry we will tell you!