Heavy duty doors require heavy duty hardware
A recent job took rather longer than might be expected from the task - “Fit a door closer”. However, due to careful pre-planning and two site visits, the actual installation went well.
The door that required a closer mechanism, to firmly lock the door for security, but also to reduce the thunderous impact of the extremely heavy, 300+ year old oak, was also rather large. Drilling the fixing holes was a careful and long operation, with drill bit clearance required every few centimetres, and lifting the door to work on the hinges required a jack more often used for off-road vehicles!
The selected high quality LCN door closers are used in top end applications due to the high resistance to wear, good duty cycle, longevity and leak resistance (a feature often overlooked on cheaper hydraulic closers) as well as the obvious need for firm and controlled latching.
Work is not quite yet finished, however. The wear showing on the hinges has dropped the door a few critical millimetres over many, many years, and so the hinges will have to be shimmed with specially made washers. Sadly, typical off-the-shelf hinge packers are rather smaller than the 32mm O.D., 22mm I.D. required, so some lathe time is still required.
Even without these additions, however, the door still closes perfectly, regardless of opening angle, while the backcheck feature prevents the door or wall of this Grade 1 listed building being damaged.