Door Swing Naming Is Polarizing (Sort of)

It was one of those posts that I didn't expect too much of - but, boy, was I wrong!

If you didn't know, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn - trying to post almost every weekday.

So - on Friday - I decided to post something on the fun side. I chose one of those weird things that homebuilding nerds can debate until they're blue in the face.

Here's essentially what I asked?

What is the swing of this door? And how would you explain it to someone else? ​ Comment

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And this post generated almost 11,000 views, 27 reactions, and 122 comments (OK - maybe half of those comments were me responding - so, let's say 60+ original comments)!

Wow! Who knew that something as simple as naming the "handing" of a door could generate so much interest.

In case you're wondering, you call out the "handing" of the door when ordering from your Door Supplier.

You want to make sure you get the handing correct so you don't do bone-headed moves where the light switch isn't on the hinge side (causing a very awkward and inefficient reach that happens only after you're inside the dark room).

So - what's the most popular way of naming the handing? Here's what the majority of the folks said:

Put your butt against the hinges when standing in the doorway. Then, whichever hand you would use to swing the door open is the hand of the door.

So, in my example, you're looking at a Left Hand door swing. Your butt would be facing to the left of the picture - and your left hand/arm would be used to swing the door away from you.

But your area may be different. If you know of a different way to name the swing of the door, I'd love to hear from you.

Or you can go to LinkedIn and comment, too. While you're there, I'd be honored to have you connect and/or follow me there, too.

Happy building to you!

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-Brad

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