In the majority of houses that I've visited, I've noticed that most walls in the property have door stoppers behind them to prevent damage to the wall from a door hitting hard into it. For doors that are situated in an area of a house that has no direct wall behind it, however, can any damage be done to the door hinges if a floor-mounted door stop isn't present? I was mainly thinking that it may be possible for somebody to force the door back not realising that there wasn't in fact anything behind it to stop it from going any further - but I'd be interested to know if damage to the hinges and/or the door are possible.
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
No. A door-stopper isn't there to protect the hinges.
It's just to prevent the doorknob from punching through the drywall.
answered Apr 4, 2020 at 19:20
Harper - Reinstate MonicaHarper - Reinstate Monica
310k27 gold badges294 silver badges761 bronze badges
If there's not a wall there for the doorknob to punch through and stop the door, the relationship of the hinges and doorframe may, in fact, lead to ripping the hinges out if the door is pushed too far open. This takes an odd configuration, such as a door that opens out from a corner, towards the open side of the corner.
The leverage of a 36 inch wide door traveling at speed suddenly encoutering the frame an inch or 2 out from the hinge attachment point is fearsome. That's one reason your typical designer avoids this odd configuration, in general.
The only way hinges would be damaged is if they part of the stopping process or the door hits something that causes it to pry against something to put unusual force on the hinge. A classic example of something that does both is a hinge mounted door stop (picture below). A unusually installed door might hit the trim before fully opening and being stopped by a wall and that will pry on the hinge and damage it.
Otherwise, the door is always stopped by a wall. And therefore it is always a good idea to have a stop since the item that first contacts the wall is the door knob and that will damage the wall either with a hard opening or just regular use over time
