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Bought our apartment in the Netherlands recently, and we're trying to replace the beat up, landlord grade, hollow core doors, with something a bit nicer. The issue I'm having is that I've no idea what is likely to be going on inside the doorframe to attach the hinges. They have these little metal washers that are working as a frame attachment, but would like to know if anyone knows what these fittings for a metal frame are called, or how they work?

I assume they're similar to a drywall anchor on the inside, but I don't want to break one if it turns out they're welded on. A link to what the hinges look like off the door enter image description here

door hinge

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    Is there a set screw on the left side, in the first pic? Do the hinges perhaps have a pin arrangement where you lift it out of the socket on the frame?
    – Huesmann
    Feb 13 at 13:27
  • yeah, sorry, I can get a better picture -the hinge has two arms- one of which is undone by an allen key headed screw. The bit that goes into the door just screws in.
    – lupe
    Feb 13 at 13:31
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    and, yes, if you lift the door, you can just take it off the hinge, so they're split
    – lupe
    Feb 13 at 13:33
  • Based on what I can see on the website and Google's effort at translation, it looks to me like the top part screws into the door, just by turning the body, which is hollow and slides down onto the pin in the bottom part. The bottom part—with the pin—looks to have a dowel and a screw. It looks to me like the dowel goes into a hole in the frame, and the screw gets screwed into another hole, using the hole in the body on the opposite side (where I thought it might be a set screw).
    – Huesmann
    Feb 13 at 13:35
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    @Huesmann found the answer - they're a berkvens.nl/model/berdo door - little white washers are built in mounts, welded in place. However, removing the entire doorframe, and turning it round turns out to be very simple. They're like if Ikea made doorframes, and the quality feels similar :P
    – lupe
    Feb 28 at 11:44

2 Answers 2

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The white washers you refer to are the flanged part of the hinge anchors you see outside of the frame. To support the weight of the door they are most likely welded or press-fitted to the inside of the frame, and are tube like within the metal door frame. One being smooth for the indexing dowel. The other threaded for anchoring the frame part of the hinge.

You unscrew the frame part by using a tool through the hole aligned with the threaded top anchor screw. (The type of tool, slot, Philips, Allen needs to be determined by looking in that hole.) The anchors in the frame will remain intact. Removing them may be difficult.

Your intention is to replace the door. Perhaps you need only to find a suitable door that can accept the same hinges. Remove the part from the old door and reuse it. Then there is no issue with the frame side.

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After a whole bunch of research, and some removal of doors I have an answer to my question

The doorframes are a Berkvens Berdo door mounting system. The white washers are integral to the doorframe, welded in place as part of the system. Apparently super common in the netherlands.

The particular type of doorframe basically has an internal clamp system, which it turns out made my next project much easier - in order to reverse the opening direction of one of the doors, you undo all the bolts in the doorframe, trim off any silicon or other sealant, and the doorframe comes off in pieces, like a kind of heavyweight ikea structure.

You then turn the pieces round, check they're level, and rescrew and reattach the doorframe. It was about an afternoons work for my slow, not exceptionally handy self, and just needed something to unscrew the door with, and a little resealing and repainting where I scuffed the wall a bit. All in all, pretty painless

Link to their instructions if anyone else ends up struggling https://berkvens.nl/model/berdo

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    Thanks for coming back to provide your answer. That's bound to help someone sometime.
    – FreeMan
    Feb 28 at 13:32
  • I hope so! I always appreciate when people do!
    – lupe
    Feb 28 at 15:56

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