Types of door hinges for commercial doors

This section and those after it, unless dated otherwise, were checked on 1 October 2026 against the sources listed on this page.

Full mortise, half mortise, full surface and half surface hinges differ in which leaves are cut into the door and frame and which are screwed onto a face. In Hager’s definitions a full mortise hinge sets both leaves in, a full surface hinge screws both on, and the two half types do one of each.

McKinney calls these the four basic types; anchor, swing clear, raised barrel and wide throw hinges are variations of them. A swing clear hinge swings the door completely clear of the opening at 95 degrees, so the full width is usable (Hager). A spring hinge closes the door where a closer is impractical, its closing speed set by spring tension, which you adjust on McKinney’s 1502 with a supplied hex key; Hager prefers a hydraulic closer on doors taller than 7 ft. An electric hinge carries low voltage wires into the door, 48 volts or under on Hager’s; what the lock does when that power drops is in our guide to fail safe vs fail secure.

On metal doors and frames, a template hinge of the same size and weight from another maker fits the existing prep: BHMA says ANSI/BHMA A156.7, which fixes length, width, thickness, offset and screw hole spacing, is intended to assure that interchangeability. Match the corners too: Hager’s round corners come in a 1/4 inch radius as standard, or 5/8 inch. Handed hinges follow the door’s hand, read from the outside on our door handing chart, with one trap in McKinney’s chart: a right hand reverse door takes left hand hinges.

A heavy weight hinge is made from thicker metal and, in five knuckle form, carries four bearings instead of two. On Hager’s 4-1/2 inch hinges the leaf is 0.180 inch thick against 0.134 inch for standard weight, and the BHMA number marks it Grade 1, which BHMA tests to 2.5 million cycles of opening and closing.

Hager reads the number from ANSI/BHMA A156.1 digit by digit: metal (8 steel, 5 stainless, 2 wrought brass), mounting (1 full mortise, 2 half mortise, 3 full surface, 4 half surface), bearing (1 anti-friction, 3 plain) and grade (1 four bearing heavy weight, 2 two bearing standard weight, 3 plain bearing).

Heavy weight is chosen for traffic as much as weight: Hager specifies it for heavy doors or high frequency service. McKinney’s chart shows what high frequency means, one cycle being one opening and closing:

Where corrosion is the risk, Hager points to stainless, 304L as standard and 316 or a clear coat for highly corrosive areas, and keeps steel to controlled interiors. Finish codes change with the base metal, as our finish codes chart shows; both weights are on our standard and heavy weight page.

A continuous geared hinge is the better choice on heavy, high traffic or abused doors, and on doors that have sagged on butts, because it carries the door along its full height instead of at a few points. Pemko says it eliminates sag and binding; SELECT says it spreads kick-back force along the whole door.

Pemko designs its full mortise geared hinges mainly for new doors; its geared hinges come in 79, 83, 85, 95 and 120 inch lengths. SELECT’s retrofit guide fits a full surface geared hinge to a door whose butts or pivots have failed, and SELECT makes self-adhesive plates to cover the old butt cutouts.

SELECT rates its HD300 to 300 lb and HD600 to 600 lb at high frequency, meaning more than 80 openings a day or an abused door, on 1-3/4 inch doors up to 48 inches wide; Pemko marks its heavy duty Grade 1 hinges HD1. See our continuous geared hinges.

A center hung pivot sits in the middle of the door’s thickness; an offset pivot sits 3/4 inch in from the heel edge and 3/4 inch out from the door face, or 1-1/2 inch out to clear cladding or trim. Rixson says offset pivots spread weight better and suit taller doors, and center hung pivots are chosen for appearance.

In Rixson’s catalog the floor carries the door either way, on a thrust bearing in the bottom pivot. Pivots only hang the door: Rixson notes they do not return it to center, so control comes from a closer.

Watch the numbers: the 117 and 117-1/2 are offset hung, the 117-3/4 center hung. Rixson’s offset sets are handed and take an intermediate pivot on the jamb for alignment, such as the M19 with the 147; its center hung sets are not handed. BHMA tests pivots under ANSI/BHMA A156.4 to the same two million cycles as a closer.

Power reaches an offset hung door through an electrified intermediate pivot: Rixson’s E-M19 carries 4, 6, 8 or 12 wires of 24 gauge rated at 2 amps, and its E-M19U two 18 gauge wires for electrified panic devices with large inrush currents. On center hung doors Rixson electrifies the top pivot instead (E-H340). Replacements are on our pivot sets page.