One interior door, ...with two openings. ??

[JRR]

I'm doodling a floor plan.  And it sure would be nice to have, rather than two doors in a corner wall intersection, one door that swings into/between two openings 90 deg apart.  One side of the door would be the "private, lockable side" in both closed positions. 

Anyone seen such a hinge design?  I've kinda halfway figured out the lockset.

Too crazy, or already commonplace and I've just never seen it?

[glenn kangiser]

So -- hinged in the corner, either one room or the other can be locked - two rooms - one door, and one room or the other will always be opened when the other is closed, but able to lock either one?

[PEG688]

House of horrors?   Winchester house??? I think the three stoogers had one when they where carpenters , remember that episode?? Stairs to no where doors hung sideways in the wall , etc

  To really answer your question no I've never seen that, I have hung a few doors that would swing into the other door  jamb opening  but I've never seen a hinge that could do what your asking of it.

The few times I've done that door swinging into the other jamb opening thing I thought it was cool that I could hang two doors and have both head be just right to get the right reveal on both doors 

And I'll add when two doors are close together it's a nice job IF the carpenter does hang both heads at the same level so casings line up exactly. I hung about 15 doors down a long hallway at a Doctor's office years ago and we hung every one to a string line , IIRC they all had a continuous head piece that ran the length and around back down the other wall so all the doors had to line up at the head jamb.   

[John_C]

Ouch.  This one gives me a headache.

Think about where the hinge would have to pivot.  The only way I can see it working would be if the pivot was at the intersection of the two horizontal centerlines of the door in each of its closed positions. 

Because the inside of the door in one closed position becomes the outside when swung 90 deg. I can't envision any face or jamb mount hinge working.  If someone can draw anything remotely conventional that would work I'd like to see it.

All the things that come to mind are more of a pain than two doors. 

[cbc58]

you might be able to do this with a sliding door with tracks for each opening and have the door pivot at a point so you can realign it for the track you want it to run onto.....

[JRR]

Think about where the hinge would have to pivot.  The only way I can see it working would be if the pivot was at the intersection of the two horizontal centerlines of the door in each of its closed positions. 

Because the inside of the door in one closed position becomes the outside when swung 90 deg. I can't envision any face or jamb mount hinge working.  If someone can draw anything remotely conventional that would work I'd like to see it.

All the things that come to mind are more of a pain than two doors. 

You definitely understand the challenge.  The idea came from wanting to have a expandable bedroom ... one that could claim, by repositioning a door, more of the common living area as private area.  Two doors, bumping into each other, would yield similar results.

I have two hinge schemes in mind, neither "conventional" ... but haven't put pen to paper yet.

"cbc58", That is indeed a good idea and a totally different approach!

[darkhorse707]

I am working on that same concept of using 1 door for two opening and it is in the works, I will show more pictures once it is framed, I will be using the regular hinge but will build-up the wall in the other side to 6" possibly. But would have to do a 90 degree header. The opening would change though, the other door being 32"  and would reduce to 30" in the other door....wish me luck!

[JRR]

Well, I never made drwgs, but I will share where my thinking went:  The "hinge" becomes a vertical pin(s) near the back edge of the door ... and running vertically thru the centerline of the door thickness.  Either one long pin, or two short pins ... one at top, one at bottom.  The back edge of the door is rounded ... a portion of a circle that shares the pin's centerline.  The shared jamb between the two openings is also rounded, and "fitted" to the door's rounded edge ...allowing close approximity between the door edge and jamb.  So now we have the door swingable between the two openings ... and swing stops and trim are easy to imagine.

What about the doorlatch hardware?  It would be easy enough to make directional latches and use one doorknob and latchware.  But another approach would be to made the door "dumb" with non-moving latch components ... and put all the latchware in the two separate door jambs.

Good luck!

[bambilez]

Did anyone ever manage to get a design together for this?
We wanted to build a corridoor with two of these "1in 2 doors", to create a private walkway between 2 rooms.
Were any drawings ever made?
I can't see why a central pivot pin, couldnt not service two openings of the same width??
Any help out there?

[bambilez]

Thanks bayview.
It seems as if i would be able to have 2 doors leading into a paralel coridoor, which will open onto another frame, to create a sealed walkway between those rooms.
Thanks for the drawing, 
.......and shouldn't be too expensive either.

[JRR]

Yes, thanks Bayview for the drawing.  Just the way I was "seeing it" in the 'ole head-bone!

As to the "why bother"; ...the doodle I was working on was to be an improvement to a situation that is in a house in the neighborhood.  The house is a spec-house bought by a young family with kids.

Situation/Problem:  Currently there are two doors serving the two doorways.  Imagine that one doorway leads to a short staircase into a two car garage, and this door can't be "reversed" because it would swing into the garage overhead door track.  The other doorway leads immediately into a longer stairway to the basement (Daddy's office!) ... this door can't be "reversed" because the door would swing into the sloping staircase ceiling.   Now if Daddy comes up from the basement while the other door is ajar, ... because Mummy has just arrived with the kids and the groceries ... bang!  Both door edges show the scars!  And I understand there have been many bruised fingers.

[MikeC]

Revolving door?  Door with two frames, one swinging the other fixed?

I'm sure I saw a Boolean logic symbol covering this years ago...

[asdf;lkj]

I actually saw this kind of door at a Holiday Inn Express in Doncaster, UK.  You could either close the whole bathroom with the door or just close off a small room in the bathroom where the toilet was.  I am hoping to use this same idea in my home (although not for the bathroom).

[looneybin]

I built one of these into my house.  The door can swing into either jam at 90 degrees to each other.  I thought I had a line on a door latch for it but now that it is built I can't find it.  I have seen it where they used two dead bolts one above the other, one for each side of the door and a blank plate covering the key side.  I was hoping to find a standard door handle that would work a latch that was beveld on both sides to allow it to slide into each jam.  If not then a standard door handle that could work a dead bolt style latch.   As the holes are already made in the door, does anyone have any ideas for handles and latch?

[Huge29]

I built one of these into my house.  The door can swing into either jam at 90 degrees to each other.  I thought I had a line on a door latch for it but now that it is built I can't find it.  I have seen it where they used two dead bolts one above the other, one for each side of the door and a blank plate covering the key side.  I was hoping to find a standard door handle that would work a latch that was beveld on both sides to allow it to slide into each jam.  If not then a standard door handle that could work a dead bolt style latch.   As the holes are already made in the door, does anyone have any ideas for handles and latch?

Well, since a picture is worth a thousand words....let's see it, please!

[looneybin]

Huge29, I would post pics but it does not seem to be enabled here.

[MountainDon]

some help is available....
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11663.msg149853#msg149853

[looneybin]

here is a picture of the door    http://www.cyberworks.ca/two%20jams%20one%20door.jpg

[JRR]

Nice.  What sort of hinges are you using?  They look like the two-pivot pin types.  ??

And do you plan a lockset?  If so, I imagine a custom plunger that would have an upper half tapered in one direction to suit one door opening ... and the lower half tapered in the other direction to suit a stop in the other door opening.  The plunger would latch against the two door opening stops at slightly different elevations.

[looneybin]

JRR, actually they are just the standard interior door hinges not sure if they were 3 or 3 1/2 inch ones.

As far as the lockset, well, that is what I am searching for.  Most hardware places have no idea, they can't even grasp the concept.  I was living in house with one of these doors but they used dead bolts, one above the other.  Didn't really like it as if the door was locked from one side you could not unlock from the other.

Do you have any suggestions where to look for a lockset option?

[UK4X4]

If you don't need it to lock securely just close

just grind the latch into a point- ie works from either direction - just won't engage as deep into the latch plate

^

[PEG688]

 Use a ball catch.


http://www.directdoorhardware.com/Ball_catch.htm

  You'd use dummy knobs or handles,  if there is no need to lock the doors,  the ball catch strike plates and catch would work both ways .  You'd just push or pull the door open/ closed.

[Karen]

I have the same problem.  Could I get a copy of Bayview's drawings please?

[bayview]

/.

[John Raabe]

Interesting idea. There may be some unique trim work and the placement and type of hinges will involve some planning. The latches could probably be done with magnets.