Spec sheets and product names for door hardware mention backset and bevel, an astragal on a pair of doors, a Grade 1 lock or a 626 finish, and one misread word can mean ordering the wrong part. This glossary explains each term in a few plain sentences.
When one of our guides covers a subject in more depth, with part numbers and the maker's own documents, the entry links to it. If a term from a product page is missing here, our customer support team can help at 1-888-800-7789 or [email protected], Mon-Fri, 8 AM - 4 PM Central Time.
A
Access control
A system that decides who can open a door and when. A reader or keypad checks a card, fob, code or phone, and the system then releases an electrified lock, an electric strike, a magnetic lock or an exit device. Whether the door stays locked during a power cut depends on the hardware being fail safe or fail secure.Guide: Electrified Door Hardware: Fail Safe vs Fail Secure
Active leaf
The leaf people open every day in a pair of doors, also called the active door. It carries the lock, the exit device or the pull, while the inactive leaf usually stays bolted at the top and bottom until the full width is needed. When both leaves have closers, the inactive leaf has to close first so the active leaf can latch into it or lap over it, and a coordinator holds the active leaf back until it does.Guide: Ives Door Coordinators: COR Sizes, Filler Bars, Brackets
ANSI/BHMA grade
The performance level a product reaches in its ANSI/BHMA A156 standard, which tests door hardware for cycles, strength and finish. Grade 1 is the highest. A Grade 1 bored lock, for example, has to pass a one million cycle test under A156.2. Each product type has its own standard, so a grade compares a lock only with other locks and a closer only with other closers.Guide: Deadbolts Explained: Types, Throw, Backset and Grades
Architectural hardware (builders hardware)
The hinges, locks, exit devices, closers, stops, pulls and protection plates that hang a door, lock it, close it and protect it. Specifications and hardware schedules also call it builders hardware or finish hardware.
Armor plate
A tall protection plate fitted low on a door, where carts and hand trucks hit it. It works like a kick plate but reaches higher, and makers set the dividing line at different heights. Ives lists armor plates from 26 to 48 inches high, Trimco from 17 to 48, so order by the height you need, not by the name of the plate.Guide: Kick Plates, Push Plates and Pull Plates: Sizes and Ordering
Armored front
A cover plate screwed over the front of a mortise lock, the part you see on the edge of the door. It hides the cylinder set screws, so nobody can loosen the cylinder from the door edge while the front is in place.
Astragal
A strip along the edge where the two leaves of a pair of doors meet, covering or sealing the gap between them. An overlapping astragal is usually fixed to the active leaf and laps over the inactive one, so the inactive leaf has to close first. A split astragal comes in two pieces, one for each door. See Active leaf.Guide: Door Astragal Types: Overlapping, Split, T, Z, Meeting Stile
Automatic door bottom
A seal set into or onto the bottom of a door that stays up while the door swings and drops to the floor or threshold when it closes. A plunger at the hinge end touches the frame as the door shuts and lowers the seal, so it does not drag across the floor.Guide: NGP Automatic Door Bottoms, Sweeps and Shoes
Automatic door operator
A powered unit that opens a swing door and lets it close again. A low energy operator opens only after a deliberate action, such as pressing a push plate or a touchless switch. It follows ANSI/BHMA A156.19 and, unlike a full energy operator, does not need safety sensors or guide rails.Guide: Automatic Door Operator Manuals: Norton 6000, LCN 4640
B
Back check
A closer setting that slows the door when someone pushes it open hard, so it does not slam into the wall or the stop. A valve on the closer body sets how firm the cushion is, and depending on the closer it takes effect once the door is open 60 to 85 degrees. The opening still needs a door stop.
Backset, hinge
How far the hinge cutout sits from the stop side face of the door, the face that closes against the frame stop. The frame is prepared to the same backset, measured from its stop, so the hinge leaves line up.
Backset, lock
How far the center of the cross bore, or of the cylinder, sits back from the door edge. Residential knobs, levers and deadbolts usually fit a 2-3/8 or 2-3/4 inch backset, and some latches adjust to both. On a beveled door, Schlage installation templates are placed on the high side of the edge, so follow the template that comes with the lock.Guide: Schlage and Emtek Door Prep: Bore, Backset, Door Thickness
Ball bearing hinge
A hinge whose knuckles turn on ball bearings. The bearings carry the weight of the door and keep it swinging smoothly for far more cycles than a plain bearing hinge, which is why Hager calls for ball bearing hinges on doors with a closer.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Bevel, door
The slight angle cut on the lock edge of a door so the edge clears the frame as the door swings shut. The standard bevel is 1/8 inch in 2 inches, and locks made for beveled doors have fronts set at the same angle so they sit flush.
Bevel, latch
Which way the slanted face of the latch bolt points, set by the swing of the door. A door that opens in, away from someone standing outside, takes a regular bevel; a door that opens out takes a reverse bevel, the R in LHR and RHR. On a reversible lock the latch bolt can be turned around for either.Guide: Door Handing Chart: LH, RH, LHR and RHR Explained
BHMA
The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association. It writes the ANSI/BHMA A156 standards for door hardware, including the grades and the three-digit finish numbers used in catalogs and product names, such as 626 for satin chrome. See ANSI/BHMA grade.Guide: Door Hardware Finish Codes Chart: 626, US26D, 630, 613
Bitting
The cuts along the blade of a key, and the row of numbers that records the depth of each cut. With the bitting and a blank that fits the keyway, a locksmith can cut a working key without the original.Guide: Key Blank Chart: Keyways and Ilco Numbers
Bored lock
A lock or latch that fits two round holes: a cross bore through the face of the door, most often 2-1/8 inches, and a smaller edge bore for the latch. Cylindrical locks, tubular locks and most deadbolts are bored; a mortise lock sits in a pocket cut into the door edge instead.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
Box strike
A strike with a metal box behind its opening, so the bolt enters a closed pocket instead of a bare hole in the frame. The box keeps plaster, grout and dirt out of the bolt hole.Shop: Lock Strikes and Latches
Butt hinge
The common door hinge: two leaves joined by a pin, one set into a mortise on the door edge and the other into a matching mortise in the frame. Its size is height by width with the hinge open, so a 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 hinge measures 4-1/2 inches each way. See Ball bearing hinge.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
C
Cam and tailpiece
The part at the back of a cylinder that passes the turn of the key to the lock. A mortise cylinder ends in a cam shaped for its lock, such as the clover leaf cam of Schlage's L Series or the straight cam for Von Duprin devices. A rim cylinder has a flat tailpiece instead, reaching through the door to the lock or exit device on the inside, and on Schlage rim cylinders it can be turned horizontal or vertical in the field.Guide: Schlage Cylinder Replacement: Mortise, Rim and IC Numbers
Cam lock
A keyed lock for a cabinet door, drawer or mailbox whose cylinder turns a flat arm, the cam, behind the frame. To replace one, check that the cylinder is long enough for the door and frame together, then match the cam, straight or offset, and which way and how far it turns. Some, like Hafele's Symo 3000 locks, take a removable core, so the keys can be changed without taking the lock out.Guide: Hafele Symo 3000 Cores, Cam Locks and Keys: How to Reorder
Cartridge, faucet
The replaceable valve under a faucet handle that controls the flow of water. In a ceramic disc cartridge two ceramic discs turn against each other, in a washerless cartridge a steel plate with a crescent cutout turns over a spring-loaded washer, and a compression cartridge closes with a rubber seal. Cartridges differ in stem shape, spline count, overall length and hot or cold side, even between two faucets of one family, so order the number printed in your faucet's own instructions.Guide: Kingston Brass Replacement Cartridges: KBRP, Hot and Cold
Catch, cabinet
A small fitting that keeps a cabinet door shut without a lock. A magnetic catch holds a metal strike with a magnet, and ball and roller catches grip their strike with spring-loaded balls or a roller, many of them with adjustable spring tension. An elbow catch is a spring-loaded arm mounted inside the cabinet that holds the inactive door of a pair until it is released from inside. See Touch latch.Shop: Catches, Bumpers and Push-to-Open
Center to center (CTC) and projection
Center to center is the distance between the centers of the two screw holes of a cabinet pull, the number to match when a new pull has to use the holes already drilled. It is not the length of the pull: Hafele's Futura pull has 128 mm centers and is 141 mm long, and Hafele prints 128 mm as 5-1/16 inches but 5 inches as 127 mm, so compare millimeters on metric pulls. Projection is how far a pull or knob stands out from the door or drawer front.Guide: Cabinet Pull Sizes: Center-to-Center, Length, Projection
Classroom function
A lock function in which a key from the outside locks or unlocks the outside lever, while the inside lever always opens the door. Schlage and Sargent give it the ANSI/BHMA number F84 on their cylindrical locks and F05 on their mortise locks. In the classroom security version, F110 on cylindrical locks, a key can also lock the outside lever from inside the room. See Lock function.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Closer arm mounting (regular, top jamb, parallel arm)
The three ways a surface closer is fitted. In a regular arm mount, which Norton rates the most power efficient, the closer sits on the pull side of the door with its arm reaching straight out to the frame, while a top jamb mount puts the closer on the frame face on the push side. A parallel arm mount, about 25 percent less efficient, puts it on the push side of the door with the arm lying almost parallel to the door and needs a mounting shoe.Guide: LCN Door Closers Compared: 4040XP, 4010, 4110, 1460, 3130
Closer size
A number from 1 to 6 for the spring power of a door closer, chosen by the width of the door and by whether it is an exterior or an interior door. Many closers adjust over a range, LCN's 4011 from size 1 to 5 and its 4040XP from 1 to 6, both shipped at size 3, while others have a fixed size. LCN cautions that a closer adjusted for a light opening force may lack the power to close and latch the door reliably.Guide: Door Closer Types: Surface, Concealed and Floor Closers
Concealed closer
A door closer built into the head frame or into the top rail of the door rather than mounted on the face of the door or frame. LCN's 2010 Series fits in the frame, and its 3130 Series goes in the top rail of a 1-3/4 inch interior door, with an arm whose roller runs in a track concealed in the head frame. A closer set into the floor under the door is a different type. See Floor closer.Guide: Door Closer Types: Surface, Concealed and Floor Closers
Concealed hinge, cabinet
A cabinet hinge hidden when the door is closed: a round cup, 35 mm across on standard hinges, sits in a hole bored in the back of the door, and an arm clips or slides onto a mounting plate inside the cabinet. The arm, the position of the cup and the height of the plate together set the overlay. The hinge is also chosen by opening angle, usually 110 degrees, and by how it closes: self-closing, soft close or free-swinging. See Overlay, cabinet door.Guide: Hafele Concealed Hinges: Overlay, Inset, Angles, Plates
Continuous hinge
A hinge that runs the full height of the door. It is either geared, with interlocking teeth along its length and no pin, or pin and barrel, turning on one long central pin. The length follows the door: Roton lists 83 inches for a 7 foot door and 95 inches for an 8 foot one. See Geared continuous hinge.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Coordinator
A device mounted at the head of the frame over a double door that holds the active leaf open until the inactive leaf has closed. A pair needs one when both leaves close on their own and the active leaf latches into or laps over the inactive one. Ives sizes its bar coordinators by the width of the opening, with filler bars to cover the rest of the stop and brackets where a closer or a strike shares the stop. See Inactive leaf.Guide: Ives Door Coordinators: COR Sizes, Filler Bars, Brackets
Cross bore and edge bore
The two holes drilled for a bored lock or deadbolt. The cross bore goes through the face of the door, most often 2-1/8 inches across; the edge bore runs in from the door edge to meet it, 1 inch for a deadbolt and 7/8 or 1 inch for a latch, depending on its faceplate. The distance from the door edge to the center of the cross bore is the backset. See Backset, lock.Guide: Schlage and Emtek Door Prep: Bore, Backset, Door Thickness
Cylinder collar
A ring fitted under the head of a mortise or rim cylinder that fills the space between it and the face of the door or trim, so the cylinder stands at the right height. Spring collars compress to fit; Corbin Russwin's standard is a .150 inch collar for 1-1/8 inch mortise cylinders and .350 inch for 1-1/4 inch. Schlage lists the blocking and compression rings a cylinder may need by lock function, trim and door thickness.Shop: Cams, Tailpieces and Cylinder Parts
Cylinder, lock
The part of a lock that takes the key. Inside its housing sits the plug, which turns only when the right key is in it, and a cam or tailpiece at the back passes that turn on to the lock. Each cylinder is made for one type of lock, such as a mortise, rim or key-in-lever lock, and its keyway and keying have to match the key system already on the doors. See Mortise cylinder and Interchangeable core.Shop: Cylinders and Cores
Cylindrical lock
A bored lock built around a chassis that fills a round hole through the face of the door, with the latch in a smaller hole in the edge. BHMA covers bored locks in ANSI/BHMA A156.2, and Schlage's ND Series and Sargent's 10X Line are examples. A tubular lock goes into the same kind of bored holes but is built differently, and a lever with tubular in its name can still sit on a cylindrical lock, so check the lock series, not the lever name. See Tubular lock.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
D
Deadbolt
A bolt with no spring that a key or thumbturn slides out into the strike, where it stays until it is turned back, so pressure on its end cannot push it in. A single cylinder deadbolt has a key outside and a thumbturn inside, a double cylinder deadbolt has a key on both sides, and on a classroom deadbolt the inside turn can only withdraw the bolt. A lock with a deadbolt and no latch, such as the deadlock functions of Sargent's 8200 mortise locks, is called a deadlock. See Throw.Guide: Deadbolts Explained: Types, Throw, Backset and Grades
Deadlatch (deadlocking latch)
A spring latch with a small plunger beside the latch bolt: once the door is shut, the strike holds the plunger in, and the latch bolt can no longer be forced back from the door edge with a card or a blade, while the lever, knob or key still withdraws it. The plunger is what BHMA calls an auxiliary dead latch. Adams Rite's 4900 and 4510 deadlatches for narrow stile doors include the strike in the order number.Guide: Adams Rite Model Numbers: MS1850S, 4900, 8800 and Parts
Delayed action
A closer option that holds back the closing swing for a while after the door is opened, which gives more time to get through. LCN's delay action cylinder, on a closer mounted on the hinge side, slows the swing from 120 to 70 degrees, adjustable up to about a minute, and a 4040XP fitted with it is ordered as model 4041. Rixson floor closers with the DA option let the door rest at 70 degrees for up to 40 seconds. See Sweep speed and latch speed.Guide: Door Closer Types: Surface, Concealed and Floor Closers
Delayed egress
An exit device or lock that keeps the door shut for a short, fixed time after someone pushes to leave, sounds an alarm meanwhile, and then lets the door open. Von Duprin's Chexit devices hold the door for 15 seconds and release at once when the building fire alarm goes off. Building and fire codes decide where delayed egress is allowed, so check with the local authority having jurisdiction before ordering.Guide: Von Duprin Chexit CX98/99 Manual and Wiring Diagram
Dogging
Holding the latch bolt of an exit device in the retracted position, so the door opens with a plain push or pull and does not latch. Von Duprin's 98 and 99 Series devices come with hex key dogging as standard, and cylinder dogging (CD) replaces the hex key with a key in a mortise cylinder. Von Duprin's fire exit hardware, the -F devices, is listed with no mechanical dogging. See Fire exit hardware.Guide: Von Duprin Strikes 299, 1409, 338 and Dogging Kits
Door activation switch
The switch that signals an automatic door operator to open the door. It can be a push plate on the wall, on a post or on the door frame, a push button, or a touchless switch that senses a hand by infrared or microwave; Camden's all-active push plates respond when pressed anywhere on the face. Key switches let staff turn functions on and off. See Automatic door operator.Guide: Camden Door Activation Switches: Push Plates to Key Switches
Door bolt
A bolt that keeps a door shut at the top, the bottom or both, most often on the inactive leaf where two doors meet. A surface bolt is screwed to the face of the door and a flush bolt is set into its edge, manual or automatic. Other types include the cane bolt, a long gate bolt that drops into a hole in the ground, the cremone bolt, a tall decorative surface bolt worked by a knob or lever, and bolts that tie the two halves of a Dutch door together. See Flush bolt.Shop: Door Bolts, Latches and Coordinators
Door closer
A device that closes a door after it has been opened and controls the speed of the swing, using a spring and a hydraulic piston. Closers mount on the surface of the door or frame, concealed in the head frame or top rail, or in the floor, and are chosen by size, arm and mounting. A closer is not a door stop, so the opening still needs a wall, floor or overhead stop. See Closer size.Guide: Door Closer Types: Surface, Concealed and Floor Closers
Door position switch
A switch that tells an alarm panel or a door controller whether a door is open or closed, made of a magnet and a contact, one in the door and one in the frame. It is recessed in the door edge and frame, fixed on the surface, or mounted on the floor for overhead doors, and chosen by the gap it is rated for and by its loop type, closed or open, to suit the panel. It does not lock anything by itself. See Access control.Guide: Door Position Switches and Contacts: Types, Gap, Resistors
Door pull
A fixed handle for pulling a door open, with no latch of its own. Architectural pulls are listed by overall length and by center to center, the distance between the centers of the two posts, and the two differ: ABH's AB6310-48 is 48 inches long on 36 inch centers. They mount on one side with through bolts, back to back with a matching pull on the other face, or concealed. See Push plate and pull plate.Guide: ABH Door Pulls AB6310, AB6160: Length, CTC and Mounting
Door reinforcer
A metal plate that fits around the door edge at a deadbolt or knob lock and stiffens it around the latch or bolt. Don-Jo's 10-FE and 20-FE reinforcers measure 4-1/2 by 1 inch and are chosen by door thickness alone, 1-3/8 or 1-3/4 inches, while wrap-around plates are larger, cover more of the door face and are also chosen by lock holes and backset. See Latch protector.Guide: Don-Jo Latch Protectors, Wrap-Arounds and Door Reinforcers
Door stop and door holder
A door stop keeps an opening door from hitting the wall or whatever stands behind it, and a holder also keeps the door open until it is released. Stops mount on the wall, on the floor or overhead, and holders engage by hand, automatically, with a kick down lever or with an electromagnet that lets go when a fire alarm cuts its power. Neither is the frame stop, the raised strip of the frame that the closed door rests against. See Wall stop and Overhead stop.Guide: Door Stops and Holders: Wall, Floor, Overhead and Magnetic
Door sweep
A strip fastened along the bottom of the door face, with a brush, vinyl, neoprene or other insert that closes the gap to the floor or threshold. A door shoe does the same job but fits over the bottom edge of the door. Reese lists its sweeps by profile, insert, finish letter and length, so read all four from the old part. See Automatic door bottom.Guide: Replacing Reese Door Sweeps, Door Shoes and Perimeter Seals
Drawer slide
The runners that carry a drawer in and out, each made of a drawer member and a cabinet member and usually sold as a pair. Slides are described by mounting (side, undermount or bottom), by travel (3/4, full or over travel), by length and by load class, and many add soft close or push to open. For a replacement, match the mounting style, the length and the clearance between drawer and cabinet, and check that the load rating suits the drawer.Shop: Drawer Slides and Drawer Systems
Dummy trim
A knob, lever or grip with no latch and no lock, fixed to the surface of one side of a door so it can be pulled. Schlage names two common uses for its F170 non-turning lever or knob: a door pull, and the inactive door of a pair. A dummy cylinder is the same idea for a cylinder hole: it looks like a cylinder but has no key mechanism.Guide: Schlage F10, F40, F51A, F170: Match Every Door in a House
Dust-proof strike
A floor strike for the bottom flush bolt whose opening stays closed while the bolt is withdrawn, so dirt does not pack into the hole. Burns lists its 545 for all its manual and automatic flush bolts, and its faceplate comes off for use with carpet or a threshold. See Flush bolt.Guide: Burns Flush Bolts: Manual, Automatic, Dust Proof Strike
E
Edge guard
A metal cover, usually stainless steel, fitted over the edge of a door to protect it from knocks and wear, most often on the lock edge or the hinge edge. ABH makes two-sided guards that cover the edge and one face and three-sided guards that wrap the edge and both faces, each with a square or beveled edge and in mortised, non-mortised and overlapping versions. Cutouts for the lock, strike or hinges are ordered with the guard, and ABH sizes its three-sided guards for a 1-3/4 inch door unless a custom thickness is ordered.Shop: Kick Plates and Door Protection
Edge pull
A pull formed to fit the edge of a door, so the hand grips the edge instead of a handle standing off the face. ABH's 18200 has a bent edge that wraps around or is mortised into the back of the door, while the 18300 is straight and surface mounted. The number after the hyphen, as in 18200-7, is the length in inches.Guide: ABH Push Plates and Pulls: AB70, AB112, ABBF157, 18200
Electric hinge
A hinge with wires running through it, so power for electrified hardware in the door passes over from the frame without any exposed cable. Ives offers 4, 8 or 12 wires (TW4, TW8, TW12) and versions with a monitor switch for the opening, and Hager limits its electric hinges to low voltage, 48 volts or under. Continuous hinges come with through-wire options too. See Electric power transfer.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Electric latch retraction (EL)
An exit device option that pulls the latch back with a solenoid or a motor when a card reader, push button, door operator or building system sends a signal, so the door opens with a simple push or pull. Makers code it in the model, such as EL on Adams Rite devices, QEL at Von Duprin and ELR or MLR at Precision, and the power supply is often a separate order. On Schlage locks the same letters EL mean fail safe, so read the code in that maker's own chart.Guide: Precision Exit Devices: Model Numbers, ELR Kits and Parts
Electric power transfer (EPT)
A device that carries wires from the frame into the door on the hinge side, so an electrified lock, trim or exit device in the door can get power. It is set into the door edge and the frame, with a flexible steel shield over the cable between them, and it has to suit the hinges: Securitron's EPT does not work on center pivot doors, swing clear hinges take its EPT-SC, and the swing gap between the door edge and the frame decides between the EPT and the longer EPTL. See Electric hinge.Guide: Securitron EPT Template and Electric Power Transfer
Electric strike
A strike for the door frame with a keeper that is released electrically. Once the keeper lets go, the latch of the lock on the door passes out of the strike and the door opens, while the lock itself stays mechanical. The strike body and faceplate are chosen by the frame material and by the lock it works with, including its latch throw, and like most electrified hardware it comes fail safe or fail secure. See Fail safe and fail secure.Guide: Electrified Door Hardware: Fail Safe vs Fail Secure
Electrified lock
A mortise or cylindrical lock whose outside lever is locked or unlocked by power, so a reader, keypad or remote switch controls who gets in. It is ordered fail safe or fail secure, coded EL or EU on Schlage locks, and Schlage and Sargent run theirs on 12 or 24 volts DC. Options such as request to exit and latch bolt monitoring report its use to the security system. See Electric power transfer.Guide: Electrified Door Hardware: Fail Safe vs Fail Secure
Electromagnetic door holder
A magnet on the wall or floor that holds a door open by a plate on the door, called the armature, until power to the magnet is cut, usually by the fire alarm system. The door closer then shuts the door. Wall units come recessed, flush or surface mounted, many for 12 volts DC, 24 volts or 120 volts AC, and ABH and LCN list 35 pounds of holding force for most models. Wiring to a fire alarm follows the maker's instructions and the authority having jurisdiction.Guide: ABH Electromagnetic Door Holder Templates: 2100 to 2700
Electromagnetic lock (maglock)
An electromagnet mounted on the door frame that holds a steel strike plate on the door for as long as it has power. Securitron describes every maglock as fail safe and rates its Magnalocks by holding force, such as 600, 1,200 or 1,800 pounds for the M32, M62 and M82, with brackets and filler plates to fit it to the frame stop. It runs on DC power, and Securitron asks that it be installed to all applicable building and life safety codes.Guide: Securitron Maglocks: M32, M62, M680E, Brackets and Power
Entrance function (office, keyed entry)
The lock function for an entry or office door: a button inside locks the outside lever, a key from outside unlocks it, and the inside lever always opens the door. Schlage lists it as F82 on its ND50 cylindrical lock and as F04 on its L9050 mortise lock, which locks with a thumbturn instead of a button. Residential entry sets, often sold as keyed entry, lock and unlock with a turn button inside or a key outside. See Lock function.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Escutcheon
A plate on the face of a door behind a lever, knob, cylinder or keyhole. On mortise locks and exit device trim it is usually a tall plate that carries the lever and often the cylinder, chosen instead of a round rose and coded by a letter, such as L or N on Schlage L Series locks. A small escutcheon surrounds only a keyhole, and a covered escutcheon has a little cover that swings over the keyhole. See Rose.Shop: Levers, Roses and Escutcheons
Exit device (panic bar)
A latching device mounted across the inside of a door that releases when someone pushes its bar or touchpad, sold as exit devices or panic hardware. A rim device latches at the door edge into a strike on the frame, a mortise device works a mortise lock in the door, and a vertical rod device, surface or concealed, latches at the top and bottom. The outside takes trim or none at all, and the device length is chosen by the width of the door. See Vertical rod exit device.Guide: Exit Device Types: Rim, SVR, CVR and Mortise Explained
Exit device trim
The lever, pull or thumbpiece on the outside of a door with an exit device. It decides how the door opens from outside, for example by key only, by a lever that a key locks and unlocks, or by a pull while the device is dogged, and it has to match the series and type of the device: Von Duprin marks rim and vertical rod trim R/V and mortise trim M. Some makers ship trim with the device, others price it separately. See Dummy trim.Guide: Von Duprin 996L, 990NL and 388 Trim: R/V, M and Handing
F
Fail safe and fail secure
What electrified hardware does when its power is cut. Fail safe hardware unlocks without power, while fail secure hardware stays locked until power or a key opens it. Makers mark the mode in the part number, such as EL and EU on Schlage locks or FS and FSE on Von Duprin devices, some products can be switched in the field, and HES leaves the choice for a given door to the local authority having jurisdiction.Guide: Electrified Door Hardware: Fail Safe vs Fail Secure
Finish code
The number that identifies the finish of a piece of hardware, so a replacement matches what is already on the door. Catalogs use the three-digit BHMA numbers of ANSI/BHMA A156.18, such as 626 for satin chrome and 630 for satin stainless steel, often printed with the older US codes, here US26D and US32D. The number also depends on the base metal, so satin chrome on a steel hinge is 652, and a few codes mean different finishes at different makers. See BHMA.Guide: Door Hardware Finish Codes Chart: 626, US26D, 630, 613
Fire exit hardware
An exit device listed for use on fire rated doors, marked in the model number, for example FL at Precision or EF at Pamex. Dogging, which holds the latch back, is left off: Precision and Pamex offer no hex key or cylinder dogging on these models. On a vertical rod device without a bottom rod, Pamex adds an auxiliary fire bolt that releases when exposed to fire to keep the door closed. See Fire rated door and fire label.Guide: Pamex Exit Devices: Series, EF Fire Rated Models, Trims
Fire rated door and fire label
A door tested as part of a fire rated opening, with a label that gives its rating, such as 20 minutes, 90 minutes or 3 hours. The rating covers the whole assembly of labeled door, labeled frame and listed hardware, so each hardware item must be listed for that use; Rockwood, for example, rules out the hold open function of its overhead stops on labeled openings. Pemko's door bottom instructions leave the mortise in a fire labeled door to the door manufacturer, and the authority having jurisdiction decides what an opening needs.Guide: Pamex Exit Devices: Series, EF Fire Rated Models, Trims
Floor closer
A door closer set in a cement case in the floor under the pivot point of the door, with a top pivot at the head. Its arm and the floor carry the weight of the door, and Rixson builds them offset hung, with the pivot 3/4 inch from the face of the door, or center hung, single or double acting. The model number gives the stop angle and the hold open function, as in 27105S: 105 degrees with selective hold open.Guide: Door Closer Types: Surface, Concealed and Floor Closers
Floor stop
A stop fastened to the floor where the opening door meets it, so the door does not swing into the wall. Low dome stops suit doors with no threshold, high domes doors with a threshold or an undercut, and taller floor stops and risers cover bigger gaps; Ives sizes some floor holders by the clearance between door and floor. Floor holders add a hook or a kick down catch that keeps the door open. See Wall stop.Guide: Replacing ABH Door Stops: AB403, AB409, AB441H, AB481H
Flush bolt
A bolt set into the edge of a door, flush with it, that slides up into the frame head or down into a floor strike and keeps the inactive leaf shut. Manual bolts are worked by a small lever, automatic bolts extend when the active leaf closes and retract when it opens, and on constant latching or self-latching sets the top bolt latches by itself as the inactive leaf closes. An extension flush bolt has a longer rod between the lever and the bolt, ordered by length. See Dust-proof strike.Guide: Burns Flush Bolts: Manual, Automatic, Dust Proof Strike
Flush pull
A pull set into a recess in the face of a door, with nothing standing out from the surface. Trimco designs its 242 and 248 series flush cup pulls for sliding doors and names closet doors, non-locking pocket doors and cabinets among the uses. Ring versions give a ring to grip, and Trimco also lists low-profile drop-ring pulls with its flush pulls; those mount on the surface and turn a spindle to work a mortise lock.Shop: Flush and Edge Pulls
Front, lock
The plate of a mortise lock or latch that shows on the edge of the door, with openings for the bolts. On a Corbin Russwin ML2000 the front adjusts to a square edge or to the standard bevel and is turned to match the door. Schlage and Corbin Russwin make standard fronts 1-1/4 inches wide and offer 1-1/16 inch fronts, which Schlage recommends for doors thinner than 1-3/4 inches. On bored latches the smaller plate is usually called the faceplate. See Armored front.
G
Gasketing
Seals fitted to the head and jambs of a door frame to close the gap around a shut door against weather, smoke and sound. Perimeter gasketing comes as metal strips with a silicone, neoprene or brush insert, or as adhesive-backed seals, and each profile seals a gap up to its printed depth. Fire, smoke and sound ratings are printed per model and do not by themselves make an opening compliant. See Door sweep and Automatic door bottom.Guide: Door Gasketing: Pemko S88, S772, S773 and Zero 8192, 8198
Geared continuous hinge
A continuous hinge made of aluminum leaves joined along their length by meshing gear teeth, with no pin. It runs the full height of the door, in standard lengths of 79, 83, 85, 95 and 119 inches for nominal door heights from 6 feet 8 inches to 10 feet, and comes concealed, half surface or full surface, the last designed for retrofit on an existing door and frame. Heavy duty versions are made for busier or heavier doors. See Continuous hinge.Guide: Hager Roton Hinges: Concealed, Full and Half Surface Models
Grab bar
A bar fixed to a wall in a washroom or bath for people to hold on to. Bars are ordered by diameter, length and shape: Bradley, for example, makes them 1, 1-1/4 and 1-1/2 inches across, with covers that snap over the mounting flanges and an optional peened, or safety grip, finish. The load rating is printed for each model, and Bradley's data sheets call for a reinforced wall behind the bar.Guide: Bradley Washroom Accessories: Grab Bars, Mirrors, Dispensers
H
Hand, door (LH, RH, LHR, RHR)
Which side a door is hinged on and which way it swings, read from the outside of the opening. Standing outside, a door that opens away from you is right hand (RH) with the hinges on your right and left hand (LH) with the hinges on your left; a door that opens toward you is a reverse bevel door, written RHR or LHR, or RHRB and LHRB in some catalogs. Hager names the hinge hand from the key side, and by its chart a right hand reverse bevel door takes a left hand hinge. See Bevel, latch.Guide: Door Handing Chart: LH, RH, LHR and RHR Explained
Handed
Made for doors of one hand only, so the order has to give the hand; Schlage's LM9300 mortise locks, for example, cannot be reversed in the field. Non-handed hardware, also called universal, fits either hand as it comes, and some handed items, such as many Von Duprin exit device levers, can be changed over on site. See Hand, door and Reversible lock.Guide: Door Handing Chart: LH, RH, LHR and RHR Explained
Handleset
An entry set for the outside of a residential door: a long grip handle with a thumb latch, or thumbpiece, that works the latch, and a keyed deadbolt above it. Inside, a knob or lever sold as handleset trim opens the latch, and a turn piece works the deadbolt. Besides the usual cross bore and edge bore, the door needs a small bottom bolt hole for the grip, 3/8 inch on BHP handlesets. See Deadbolt.Guide: BHP Levers, Knobs, Handlesets: Functions, Handing, Prep
Hasp
A hinged metal strap that folds over a loop, called the staple, fixed to the door or frame; a padlock through the staple keeps the strap closed. On some hasps, such as Master Lock's 720DPF, the hinge body hides the hinge pins and mounting screws, and the maker lists the thickest padlock shackle the staple accepts, 7/16 inch for that model.Shop: Padlocks and Hasps
High security cylinder
A lock cylinder that takes restricted key blanks, often protected by a patent, so new keys can be cut only through the maker's authorized channels, for example against a signed card. Medeco tracks each restricted blank, lists the year the patent on each of its key designs runs out, and makes rim and mortise cylinders, interchangeable cores and retrofits for other brands' locks. Orders and extra keys go by the full part number and the key program of the existing system.Guide: Medeco M3, X4 and KeyMark Cylinders and Keys Explained
Hinge
The hardware a door swings on. Many doors hang on butt hinges, while continuous hinges run the full height of the door and pivots carry it at the top and bottom; spring, swing clear, electric and invisible hinges are special types. A replacement is matched by size, corners, weight, bearing type, finish and, for some hinges, the hand. See Butt hinge.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Hinge corners and tips
The shape of the corners of the hinge leaves and the caps on the ends of the barrel. Corners are square or rounded to a radius, most often 1/4 or 5/8 inch, and a replacement should match the old hinge; Deltana measures the radius from where the curve starts to where a square corner would be. Tips such as button, ball, acorn, steeple and urn cap the barrel, and Hospital Tip hinges have smooth tapered ends.Guide: Deltana Door Hinges: Sizes, Corners, NRP and Spring Hinges
I
Inactive leaf
Each door in a pair is a leaf, and the inactive leaf is the one that stays shut most of the time, bolted at the top and bottom, usually with flush bolts. The active leaf normally latches into a strike on its edge, so the inactive leaf has to close first, and a coordinator holds the active leaf back until it does. The inactive leaf often carries dummy trim to match its partner. See Active leaf.Guide: Ives Door Coordinators: COR Sizes, Filler Bars, Brackets
Interchangeable core (IC, SFIC, LFIC)
The keyed part of a lock cylinder that comes out of its housing with a separate control key, so a lock can be rekeyed by swapping cores. Small format cores (SFIC), the BEST style, fit housings from many makers, while large format cores (LFIC) differ by brand, such as the Sargent 6300 or the Schlage FSIC. A temporary construction core often goes in during building work, and control keys are usually ordered separately.Guide: SFIC vs LFIC Interchangeable Cores: How to Read Core Numbers
Invisible hinge
A hinge whose two bodies are mortised into the door edge and the frame, so no hardware shows on either side when the door is closed. SOSS hinges open a full 180 degrees, each model is made for a minimum door or panel thickness, and the mortises are cut with a router to the maker's template.Shop: Spring and Specialty Hinges
K
Key blank
A key that has not been cut yet, made to enter one keyway. The brand on the lock is not enough to pick one, because one maker uses many keyways, so match the keyway and the number of pins in the cylinder. Lock makers and Ilco number the same blank differently: Schlage 35-100C and Ilco 1145 are both a 5-pin blank for the C keyway. See Keyway and Bitting.Guide: Key Blank Chart: Keyways and Ilco Numbers
Keyed alike and keyed different
Keyed alike cylinders all open with one key; keyed different cylinders each have a key of their own. Part numbers carry the choice as a code, such as KD for keyed different in Schlage and GMS numbers, or A2 for GMS cylinders keyed alike in pairs. Either kind can stand alone or belong to a larger keying plan. See Master key system.Guide: GMS Cylinder Part Numbers: Length, Keyway, Cam, Keying
Keypad lock
A lock opened with a code entered on a keypad, instead of or as well as a key. Alarm Lock's battery powered Trilogy locks are one example: the T2 DL2700 is programmed at the keypad and holds up to 100 user codes, while the T3 DL3200 holds 2,000 and keeps an audit trail of up to 40,000 events. Both take a key override cylinder, or an interchangeable core in the IC versions. See Interchangeable core.Guide: Alarm Lock Trilogy T2 vs T3: DL2700, DL3200, IC, WP, Parts
Keyway
The shaped slot in the face of a cylinder that only a key blade with the matching profile can enter. Makers name their keyways with letters, such as Schlage C or E and Sargent LA, and one brand can have many, so the key blank has to fit the keyway of your cylinder, not just its brand. A paracentric keyway has wards that reach past its center line from both sides, which makes the lock harder to pick. See Key blank.Guide: Key Blank Chart: Keyways and Ilco Numbers
Kick plate
A plate fastened across the bottom of the push side of a door to take scuffs from shoes and carts. Ives lists kick plates from 8 to 24 inches high, other makers set other ranges, and the width is usually a little less than the door, Rockwood asking for 2 inches less on the push side. Common thicknesses are .050, .062 and .125 inch, in brass, stainless steel or aluminum, and a plate is either screwed on or mounted with adhesive. See Armor plate and Mop plate.Guide: Kick Plates, Push Plates and Pull Plates: Sizes and Ordering
Knob
A round handle that is turned to draw back the latch. Its neck, called the shank or stem, slides onto the spindle, and on many sets a small set screw tightens it there. On screwless or concealed fastener sets no screw heads show on the inside rose; Emtek's CF sets, for example, hold the rose with a hidden ring fastener. See Lever and Rose.Guide: BHP Levers, Knobs, Handlesets: Functions, Handing, Prep
Knuckle
One of the rolled sections that wrap around the pin of a hinge, alternating between the two leaves to form the barrel. Most butt hinges have three or five knuckles, and Ives puts the count first in its model numbers, so a 5BB1 has five and a 3PB1 three. An olive knuckle hinge has two knuckles that together form one oval barrel, and Deltana makes it in left and right hand versions.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
L
Latch bolt
The spring-loaded bolt with one slanted face that holds a door shut. As the door closes, the bolt slides back against the strike and springs into it, staying there until a knob, lever, key or push bar draws it back. The slanted face has to suit both the hand and the swing of the door, so on many locks the bolt can be turned around: Schlage ships its L Series lock bodies right hand, and on a left hand door the latch bolt is turned 180 degrees. See Bevel, latch and Deadlatch.Shop: Lock Strikes and Latches
Latch protector
A steel or stainless steel plate fastened to the latch side of a door so that it covers the strike and the gap where the latch meets the frame. Don-Jo lists most of its latch protectors for outswinging doors, and the right model depends on the lock, the backset and, for some, the hand of the door. See Door reinforcer.Guide: Don-Jo Latch Protectors, Wrap-Arounds and Door Reinforcers
Lever
A handle that is pressed down, rather than turned like a knob, to draw back the latch. Levers come in the same functions as knobs, and some designs are handed: Von Duprin's Asti and Merano levers, for example, have to be ordered for a right or left hand reverse door, while its 06 and 03 levers can be reversed in the field. See Handed.Guide: BHP Levers, Knobs, Handlesets: Functions, Handing, Prep
Lid stay
A support that holds a lid or flap door open or controls how it moves. Soft-down stays slow a lid as it falls shut or a flap as it drops open, lift-assist stays help raise an upward-opening flap, and friction torque stays hold the lid wherever it is left. Sugatsune sizes its stays by torque, the door height times half the door weight, so weigh the lid with everything fixed to it before you choose.Guide: Sugatsune Lid Stays: Types, Torque and Door Weight Sizing
Lite kit and door louver
A lite kit is the metal frame that holds glass in an opening cut through a door; a door louver fills the same kind of opening with angled blades that let air through without a view. NGP sizes both by the door cutout, and the glass is a little smaller: a 24 x 32 L-FRA100 takes 23 x 31 inches of glass. On a fire rated door NGP calls for fire rated glass and glazing tape, and its fire rated louvers have a fusible link that closes the blades in a fire.Guide: NGP Lite Kits and Door Louvers: Sizes, Glass and How to Order
Lock body (case)
The metal case of a mortise lock that sits in the pocket cut into the door edge and holds the latch, any deadbolt and the parts that link them to the trim. When only the inside of the lock has failed, the body can be replaced on its own, but it comes without trim, cylinder or strike, and several functions can share one case number. See Mortise lock.Guide: Schlage L9000 Lock Body Replacement: Function, Hand, Trim
Lock function
What each side of a lock does: whether the outside knob or lever is always free, locked by a button or turn on the inside, or opened only with a key. Makers give each function a name and a code, and the ANSI/BHMA numbers let you compare brands, F86 being storeroom on a bored lock for both Schlage and Sargent, while mortise locks use a separate series of numbers. See Passage function and Privacy function.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Lockset
A complete lock for one door, sold as a set: the latch or lock body, the knobs or levers for both sides and the strike, plus a cylinder when the function needs a key. Locksets are built as mortise, cylindrical or tubular locks, each in a range of functions, and BHMA tests residential locksets under a standard of their own, A156.39. See Lock function.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
Loose pin hinge
A hinge whose pin can be tapped out of the barrel, so the two leaves come apart and the door can come off without unscrewing anything. Hager lists a non-rising removable pin on its standard butt hinges. A fast pin hinge has a fixed pin instead, as on Hager's hospital tip hinges, and a lift-off hinge, also called a loose joint hinge, comes apart when the door is lifted, so Deltana makes it in left and right hand versions. See Non-removable pin.Guide: Replacing a Hager Hinge: Size, Corners, Bearing, Finish
M
Master key system
A keying plan in which each lock opens with its own change key while a master key opens a whole group, and a grand master key opens several groups that each have their own master key. In pin tumbler cylinders the extra keys work through master pins, which give a pin stack a second shear line. The plan and its key records need care, because a badly planned system lets a key open locks it was never meant to open. See Pin tumbler.Shop: Pinning and Rekeying Supplies
Mop plate
A low plate across the bottom of the pull side of a door, where mops and cleaning machines would otherwise mark it. Mop plates are usually 4 to 6 inches high and come in the same thicknesses and finishes as kick plates. See Kick plate.Guide: ABH Kick, Mop and Armor Plates: PP0050, PP0062, PP0125
Mortise cylinder
A threaded cylinder that screws into a mortise lock or a mortise exit device and is locked in place by a cylinder screw in the lock case, reached from the door edge when the armored front is off. It is ordered by length, keyway, cam and finish: Schlage's standard lengths run from 1-1/8 to 1-3/4 inches to suit the door and trim, and the cam has to fit the lock, a clover leaf cam for Schlage L Series locks and a straight one for Von Duprin devices. See Rim cylinder.Guide: Schlage Cylinder Replacement: Mortise, Rim and IC Numbers
Mortise lock
A lock whose body sits in a mortise, a deep rectangular pocket cut in the door edge, so only its front plate shows there. The body carries the latch, the function parts and often a deadbolt, while the levers or knobs, the cylinder and the strike are separate pieces; BHMA covers mortise locks in ANSI/BHMA A156.13. See Lock body and Bored lock.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
Mullion
A vertical post that divides a double door opening and gives each leaf of the pair a frame member to latch against, as a pair of rim exit devices needs. Many mullions are removable, some only with a key, so the full width can be opened when needed. See Exit device.Shop: Exit Device Parts and Mullions
N
Narrow stile lock
A lock made for the narrow stiles of aluminum storefront doors, with a much shorter backset than a residential lock. Adams Rite's MS1850S deadlock, for example, comes in backsets from 7/8 to 1-1/2 inches, with a straight bolt or, for sliding doors, a hookbolt, and takes a separate 1 inch mortise cylinder with an MS cam. See Stile and rail.Guide: Adams Rite Model Numbers: MS1850S, 4900, 8800 and Parts
Nightlatch
A latch that opens from outside only with a key, also written night latch. On an exit device, the night latch function, NL in Von Duprin numbers, lets a key in the outside trim retract the latch bolt, and that is the only way in from that side. Surface mounted night latches worked by a rim cylinder are also made as auxiliary locks. See Rim lock.Guide: Von Duprin 996L, 990NL and 388 Trim: R/V, M and Handing
Non-removable pin (NRP)
A hinge option that keeps the pin from being driven out of the barrel while the door is closed. On Hager's NRP hinges a set screw in the barrel seats in a groove in the pin and can only be reached with the door open, and Hager calls the feature a deterrent only. Ives adds NRP to its hinge numbers, and its hospital tip hinges have non-removable pins as standard.Guide: Ives Hinge Numbers: 5BB1, 5BB1HW, 3CB1, 5PB1 Explained
O
Occupancy indicator
A small window or display on a lock that shows whether the bolt is thrown, so people can see that a room is in use without trying the door. Schlage's B572 door bolt can have it outside, inside or on both sides, and on the L496 mortise deadbolt it changes from blank to occupied when the bolt is thrown. See Privacy function.Guide: Deadbolts Explained: Types, Throw, Backset and Grades
Offset pivot
A pivot set whose pivot point sits in front of the door face, normally 3/4 inch or 1-1/2 inch out, with the knuckle visible and the door swinging one way only. The set has a top and a bottom pivot, and taller doors add intermediate pivots on the hinge edge, ABH counting one for a door 60 to 90 inches tall and one more for each additional 30 inches. Most parts are handed, so give the hand of the door when you order. See Pivot.Guide: ABH Offset Pivot Sets: 0117, 0147, 0195 and 07212 Parts
Offset pull
A door pull whose legs bend to one side, so the grip sits beside its two mounting points instead of straight in front of them. Burns makes offset pulls with 90, 60 and 45 degree bends and lists an offset, a clearance and a projection for each; to reuse existing holes, match the center to center distance, not the overall length. See Door pull.Guide: Burns Offset Door Pulls: 45, 60 and 90 Degree Sizes
Overhead stop
A stop mounted above the door, concealed in the door top and the frame head or fixed on the surface, that halts the door at a set opening, usually between 85 and 110 degrees. Depending on the model it only stops the door, also holds it open, or holds it by friction. It is sized by the width of the frame opening, and on a door with a closer ABH's chart shows which of its stops work with the main closer brands. See Door stop and door holder.Guide: Choosing an ABH Overhead Stop: Series, RA, SA, SL and N
Overlay, cabinet door
How far a closed cabinet door covers the cabinet front around it. A full overlay door laps well over the cabinet sides, typically 16 to 19 mm (5/8 to 3/4 inch) on a frameless cabinet, a half overlay door covers less, and an inset door sits inside the opening. With a concealed hinge the overlay comes from the hinge arm, the distance of the cup from the door edge and the height of the mounting plate, and a higher plate gives less overlay. See Concealed hinge, cabinet.Guide: Hafele Concealed Hinges: Overlay, Inset, Angles, Plates
P
Passage function
A lock function with no locking: the knob or lever on each side always opens the door. It suits doors that never need to lock, and Sargent names some of its mortise versions Passage or Closet. ANSI/BHMA numbers it F75 on bored locks and F01 on mortise locks.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Patch fitting
A metal fitting fixed to the top or bottom corner of a frameless glass door, where it connects the door to its pivot or to an overhead concealed closer. The glass is notched and drilled to the maker's template, and North American and European patches follow different pivot setbacks, so the fitting has to match the closer. A patch lock in the same style locks the door at its corner.Guide: CRL Door Rails, Patch Fittings and Closers: Instructions
Pilaster shoe
A metal sleeve around the foot of a toilet partition pilaster, the upright post, that covers the anchor fixing the post to the floor. Jacknob names a shoe by length, width and height, where length and width are the finished size of the pilaster and the height is 3 or 4 inches. Offset shoes are wider at the bottom to cover an anchor wider than the post. See Toilet partition bracket.Guide: Jacknob Pilaster Shoe Sizes, Anchor Pack Instructions
Pin tumbler
A lock mechanism in which spring-loaded stacks of pins cross from the cylinder shell into the plug and keep it from turning. Each stack has a bottom pin that rests on the key and a top pin, or driver, pushed down by a spring; the right key lifts each stack until the split between its pins meets the shear line, and the plug turns. Rekeying changes the pins so that a different key works, and a master key system adds master pins that create a second shear line. See Master key system.Shop: Pinning and Rekeying Supplies
Pivot
A pair of fittings at the top and bottom of a door that carry it on one vertical axis in place of hinges along its edge. On a center hung pivot the axis runs through the middle of the door thickness, and Rixson's 370 needs a door with a rounded pivot edge; on an offset pivot it sits in front of the door face. A floor closer also hangs the door on a pivot, with a top pivot above it. See Offset pivot and Floor closer.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Pocket door hardware
The frame, track and hangers that let a door slide into a pocket inside the wall. A pocket door frame kit builds the pocket around the upper track, while the running gear, floor guide and soft close often come as a separate set chosen by door weight. Hafele's Slido names carry the maximum door weight, so a D-Line11 80P set is made for doors up to 80 kg (176 pounds).Guide: Hafele Slido Sliding and Pocket Door Hardware Guide
Privacy function
A lock function for bathrooms and bedrooms: a button or thumbturn on the inside locks the outside lever, while the inside lever always opens the door. On Schlage's ND40 bored lock, turning the inside lever or closing the door releases the button, and in an emergency the outside opens with a small screwdriver or a release tool. ANSI/BHMA numbers it F76 on bored locks and F22 on mortise locks. See Occupancy indicator.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Push plate and pull plate
A push plate is a flat plate fastened to the push side of a door where people push it open; a pull plate is the same kind of plate with a pull mounted on it, for the other side. Ives, Hager and Rockwood share standard sizes written width by height, such as 4 x 16 and 8 x 16 inches, and a plate can be ordered with a cutout for a cylinder or a thumbturn. See Kick plate.Guide: Kick Plates, Push Plates and Pull Plates: Sizes and Ordering
R
Rabbet
A step cut along the edge of a door or a frame. In a frame, the rabbet is the recess the door closes into. A door with a rabbeted lock edge needs a latch with a stepped front and a strike to match; Schlage, for example, lists a kit that adapts its square corner latches and strikes to a 1/2 inch rabbet in the door and frame.
Request to exit (REX)
A signal telling an access control system that someone is leaving from the secure side. It comes from a switch inside an electrified lock that senses the inside lever turning, from a switch in the push rail of an exit device, or from a motion sensor or push button by the door, which on a maglock door can also cut power to the lock. Von Duprin notes that its RX switch should only send a signal, not switch a load. See Access control.Guide: Electrified Door Hardware: Fail Safe vs Fail Secure
Reversible lock
A lock or latch that can be fitted to a door of either hand on site, most often by turning the latch bolt around so its slanted face points the other way. On some locks the trim or other parts have to be changed as well, and some mortise locks cannot be switched at all: Schlage says its LM9300 locks must be ordered with the correct handing. See Handed and Bevel, latch.Guide: Door Handing Chart: LH, RH, LHR and RHR Explained
Rim cylinder
A key cylinder for a rim lock or rim exit device, the kind mounted on the inside face of the door. It passes through a hole from the outside and is held by screws through a back plate on the inside, and a flat tailpiece, not a cam, reaches into the lock. Schlage's 20-022 has a horizontal tailpiece and its 20-021 a vertical one; the price book says the tailpiece can be turned in the field and should be horizontal for Von Duprin and most other devices. See Mortise cylinder.Guide: Schlage Cylinder Replacement: Mortise, Rim and IC Numbers
Rim lock
A lock screwed to the inside face of a door instead of being set into its edge or bored through it. Surface deadbolts, night latches and jimmy-proof deadlocks, also sold as vertical dropbolts, are common rim locks, and where they lock with a key from outside, the key fits a rim cylinder. Makers list them as auxiliary locks, the group BHMA covers in ANSI/BHMA A156.36. See Rim cylinder.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
Roller latch
A latch with a spring-loaded roller that holds a door shut against its strike, so the door opens with a plain push or pull and needs no knob or lever. Ives lists mortise and surface mounted versions, including one combined with an applied stop for frames that have none, and some models let you adjust the roller's projection and pressure. A roller strike is a different part: a strike with a roller where the latch bolt meets it, standard on some rim exit devices.Shop: Door Bolts, Latches and Coordinators
Rose
The plate at the base of a knob or lever that sits against the face of the door and covers the hole behind it. Emtek calls it a rosette and offers it in several shapes, and on its Concealed Fastener sets the inside rosette shows no screws at all. On a mortise lock the choice between rose trim and a taller escutcheon can change the cylinder, since Schlage lists different L Series cylinders for each. See Escutcheon.Shop: Levers, Roses and Escutcheons
S
Sash balance
A spring device in the side jambs of a single or double hung window that offsets the weight of the sash, so the window stays open where you leave it. Replacements come as block and tackle balances, a spring and pulleys in a metal channel, and as spiral balances in a tube, each in tilt and non-tilt versions. Match the type, the length and the sash weight range of the old balance.Shop: Window, Screen and Patio Door Hardware
Sash lock
The lock that holds a window shut where the sashes meet, also called a sash fast. On hung windows it is usually a lock on one sash whose cam turns into a keeper on the other, and on sliding windows some models have no keeper and catch in a slot in the frame instead. Replacements are matched by the spacing of the screw holes, which product names often give.Shop: Window, Screen and Patio Door Hardware
Shelf pin
A small support that plugs into a row of holes inside a cabinet, so a shelf can sit at any height the holes allow. Pins are sized by diameter, commonly 3, 4, 5 or 7 mm or 1/4 inch, and must match the holes already drilled; some fit into a sleeve or grommet, and double pin types also hold the shelf in place. Makers print load figures on different bases, per support or per set of four, so compare like with like.Guide: Hafele Minifix, Rafix and Shelf Supports Explained
Shower valve (pressure balance, thermostatic)
The valve body set in the wall behind a shower or tub and shower trim, where hot and cold water are mixed. A pressure balance valve keeps the outlet temperature steady when the pressure on the hot or cold supply changes, but it cannot correct a change in the temperature of the incoming hot water; a thermostatic valve compensates for both. Trim and valve are often sold separately, and a trim fits only the valves its maker lists for it.Guide: Santec Shower Valves: Shared vs Non-Shared, Which Trim Fits
Soft close
A damper that catches a drawer, cabinet door or sliding door near the end of its travel and brings it shut slowly and quietly. It is built into some concealed hinges and drawer runners, which Blum calls BLUMOTION, and on sliding doors it is often a separate mechanism that can be added later. A self-closing hinge only has a spring that pulls the door shut and holds it closed; soft close adds the damping. See Drawer slide.Guide: Blum 563F, 563H and MOVENTO Runners: Instructions and Parts
Spindle
The square bar that runs through the latch or lock on many knob and lever sets and turns it when the knob or lever turns; the hub is the part of the lock it passes through. On Emtek sets and many others, a small set screw tightens each knob or lever onto the spindle, so a wobbling lever often needs only that screw tightened. Thicker doors take a longer spindle, which Emtek lists by door thickness.Guide: Emtek Parts: Spanner Wrench, Springs, Key Blanks, Spindles
Spring hinge
A hinge with a spring in its barrel that closes the door on its own, single acting for a door that swings one way and double acting for one that swings both ways. Hager does not recommend spring hinges on doors over 7 feet tall, where it points to a hydraulic door closer, and asks for three of them on a door over 3 by 7 feet or 100 pounds and four on a door of 150 to 180 pounds. See Door closer.Guide: Replacing a Hager Hinge: Size, Corners, Bearing, Finish
Stile and rail
The frame parts of a door leaf. Stiles run up the sides: the hinge stile carries the hinges, the lock stile carries the lock, and on a pair of doors the meeting stiles face each other. Rails run across at the top and bottom, and a rail at lock height is the lock rail. Stile width decides which locks and exit devices fit a narrow stile aluminum door, and the depth of the top rail affects how a closer can be mounted.Guide: Door Astragal Types: Overlapping, Split, T, Z, Meeting Stile
Storeroom function
A lock function in which the outside knob or lever stays locked all the time, so the door opens from outside only with a key, while the inside one always opens it. It is ANSI/BHMA F86 on cylindrical locks such as Schlage's ND80 and Sargent's 10XG04, and F07 on mortise locks such as Schlage's L9080 and Sargent's 8204. See Lock function.Guide: Lock Functions Chart: Sargent and Schlage Codes Explained
Strap hinge
A hinge with a long leaf, the strap, screwed flat across the face of a gate, shed door or shutter. A T hinge pairs one strap with a short rectangular leaf that goes on the post or frame. A shutter strap hinge hangs on a pintle fixed to the house instead, and its offset, together with the offset of the pintle, sets how far the open shutter swings clear of the window trim.Guide: Shutter Hinges: Strap, New York Style, Mortise, Clark's Tip
Strike
The plate on the frame, or on the other leaf of a pair, with the opening that the latch bolt or deadbolt goes into; it is also called a keeper. Its lip sticks out past the opening and guides the latch in as the door closes, and lips come in several lengths: Deltana lists them from 1/2 inch on a catch strike to 2 inches on its extended lip strikes. The ANSI strike used by commercial locks measures 4-7/8 x 1-1/4 inches. See Box strike and Dust-proof strike.Guide: Deltana Strike Plates, Screws and Hinge Pins
Surface hinge (full surface, half surface)
A door hinge with one or both leaves screwed to the surface instead of set into a mortise. On a full surface hinge both leaves sit on the faces of the door and the frame; on a half surface hinge one leaf is mortised into the frame and the other is fastened to the face of the door. Surface mounted hinges for cabinet doors are a separate group. See Concealed hinge, cabinet.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
Sweep speed and latch speed
The two closing speeds of a hydraulic door closer, each set with its own valve. Sweep speed covers most of the swing, and Hager's instructions ask for 3 to 7 seconds from 90 degrees open to closed; latch speed covers the last part and is set so the door closes all the way and latches. Hager warns against unscrewing a valve completely, since the fluid then leaks out and the closer stops working. See Back check.Guide: Hager Installation Instructions: Roton, Closers, Locks
Swing clear hinge
A hinge that carries the door entirely out of the opening once it is opened to 95 degrees, leaving the full width between the jambs free. Hager lists it for openings that must give their full width for passage, and swing clear hinges come as butt hinges and as geared or pin and barrel continuous hinges. See Continuous hinge.Guide: Door Hinge Types: Butt, Continuous, Pivot and Swing Clear
T
Template hardware
Hardware made to a published template, so its screw holes and cutouts sit in the same place on every unit and a door or frame can be prepared before the hardware arrives. McKinney's template hinges, for example, are made to ANSI/BHMA A156.7, and their templates give the hinge size, metal gauge and exact screw hole locations. Hager treats Roton continuous hinges in standard lengths as templated and custom lengths as non-templated.Guide: McKinney Hinge Templates: TA2714, T4A3786, QC and MM
Threshold
A strip of aluminum, bronze or other material set across the floor of a doorway, under the bottom of the door. Product names usually give the size height first, so a 1/2 x 5 threshold is 1/2 inch high and 5 inches wide, and the length is cut to the opening. Saddle thresholds are beveled on both edges and half saddles on one, bumper seal thresholds carry a seal the door closes against, and thermal break thresholds have a plastic spline that keeps cold from passing through the metal.Guide: NGP Door Threshold Types: Saddle, Bumper Seal and Ramps
Throw
How far a bolt reaches out past the door edge when it is fully extended. Schlage's price book, for example, lists a 1 inch throw for its deadbolts, 1/2 inch for the latch of its ND cylindrical locks and 3/4 inch for the L9000 mortise latch bolt. On shutter hinges the word means the combined offset of the hinge and its pintle, which lets the open shutter clear the trim. See Strap hinge.Guide: Deadbolts Explained: Types, Throw, Backset and Grades
Thumbturn
The small handle on the inside of a deadbolt or lock that you turn by hand to throw or retract the bolt, also called a turn piece. On a single cylinder deadbolt it sits opposite the key, and on a classroom deadbolt the turn only retracts the bolt. For mortise locks and rim devices it comes as a thumbturn cylinder that takes the place of a keyed cylinder.Guide: Deadbolts Explained: Types, Throw, Backset and Grades
Toilet partition bracket
A bracket that joins the parts of a toilet partition: a panel or pilaster to the wall, a panel to a pilaster, or a urinal screen to the wall. U brackets join a panel to a pilaster at a right angle, wall brackets have one or two ears, the tabs screwed to the wall, and H brackets and alcove clips join a panel and a pilaster in line. Most brackets are made for one panel thickness, so measure the panel before you order.Guide: Toilet Partition Brackets: U, L, H, One Ear, Two Ear Types
Touch latch
A cabinet latch that opens the door when you push on it, so the door needs no knob or pull; product pages also call it a push latch. A light press on the closed door releases the latch, which then moves the door out far enough to take hold of its edge. The door needs a small gap to the cabinet for that push, and makers print the gap and the holding force for each model, so match both when you replace one.Guide: Sugatsune Touch Latch, Push Latch and Catch Replacement
Tubular lock
A bored lock or latch in which a square spindle passes through the latch, and the knob or lever on each side, with its own spring, turns the spindle to draw the latch back. A cylindrical lock does that work in a chassis in the cross bore instead, and since both go into the same kind of bored holes, go by the maker's own name for the lock: Schlage sells its LT Series as tubular and its ND Series as cylindrical. See Cylindrical lock.Guide: Door Lock Types: Mortise, Cylindrical, Tubular and Rim
V
Vertical rod exit device (SVR, CVR)
An exit device that latches at the top and bottom of the door through rods running up and down from the device. A surface vertical rod (SVR) device has the rods on the face of the door, with strikes on the frame head and on the floor or threshold; a concealed vertical rod (CVR) device runs them inside the door, in versions for metal, aluminum or wood doors. Some can be ordered less bottom rod (LBR), latching at the top only, and every order should give the door height. See Exit device.Guide: Exit Device Types: Rim, SVR, CVR and Mortise Explained
W
Wall stop
A stop fixed to the wall where the knob or lever of an open door would hit it. Ives makes low bumpers with a convex rubber or a concave one, which suits locks with a projecting button, and projecting stops that reach about 3-3/4 inches from the wall, some in one version for drywall or wood and another for masonry. Where a wall stop is not practical, a floor stop or an overhead stop takes its place. See Floor stop.Guide: Ives Wall and Floor Stops: WS406, WS407, FS436, FS18
