BHP Door Levers, Knobs and Handlesets: Functions, Handing and Door Prep

Better Home Products (BHP) prints the function, the hand and the door preparation of its door levers, knobs and handlesets in its catalog and its specification sheets. This page shows how to read them.

Where to find BHP's documents

• BHP's 2026 catalog: a table for each lever and knob collection, with a row for each function and a column for each finish.
• Specification sheets, listed by collection on BHP's locksets specifications page: door prep, door thickness, function, latch and door handing.
• Installation guides (Manual 05 for dummy knobs and levers with 2 screws, Manual 07 for halfmoon spindle and Manual 14 for square spindle knobs and levers) on BHP's installation guides page.

Our BHP page titles, such as "BHP 18111DB Pacific Heights Lever, Dark Bronze", give the item number, the collection and the finish. For the function, find the item number in the catalog table of its collection.

BHP lever and knob functions

General definitions are in our lock functions guide. BHP's specification sheets describe its functions this way:

• Passage: "Both levers always free" ("Both knobs always free" on the Belvedere knob sheet).
• Privacy: on the Santa Cruz sheet, "Outside lever locked by push button inside, inside lever always free", and it can also be opened by emergency key from the outside. The Union Square knob privacy set: "Both sides locked or unlocked by inside center turn-button."
• Entry: "Locked or unlocked by key outside or turn-piece inside" on the Belvedere sheet; the Pacific Heights, Twin Peaks, Nob Hill and Union Square sheets print "Both sides locked or unlocked by key out side or center turn-button inside". Each lists a 5-pin cylinder in the KW1 keyway.
• Push-button privacy and entry: rows named Lever Push-Button Privacy and Lever Push-Button Entry in some catalog tables, such as Menlo Park and Dillon Beach Plus.
• Dummy: surface mounted, "for doors where only a pull / push is required".
• Handleset trim: the sheets call it a "handleset trim lever" (or "handleset trim knob"); function "Lever always free" (or "Knob always free").

How the functions are numbered

Satin nickel items from two tables of the 2026 catalog, the Sea Cliff lever and the Belvedere knob:

In these two tables the third digit follows the function (1 passage, 2 privacy, 3 dummy, 5 entry, 9 handleset trim), and the rows labeled "U.L. Listed" add a UL prefix. Other tables differ: the first two digits can change with the finish (Twin Peaks passage is 55115SN in satin nickel and 45144BLK in matte black), Soma satin nickel items end in 26DC, and Hillsborough and Atherton use letters, such as BP01PAS15SN for passage. Read the table of your own collection.

Left hand and right hand as BHP defines them

BHP's Door Handing Guide (PDF) says to stand on "the outside (or less secure) side of the door". Facing the door, if the hinge is on the right, the door is right handed; if it is on the left, the door is left handed.

The guide names only these two hands and draws both doors opening toward the interior. Our door handing chart uses four hands, including LHR and RHR for doors that open toward you. BHP's guide does not cover those; for such a door, ask our support team which BHP item to order.

Which BHP levers are handed

In the 2026 catalog, handed rows (marked RH and LH, Right-Hand and Left-Hand, or RT and LT) appear in these lever tables:

• San Francisco: dummy, entry, U.L. listed entry and handleset trim
• Waterfront and Twin Peaks: dummy, entry and handleset trim
• Buena Vista: dummy and handleset trim
• Pacific Heights: entry
• Hillsborough and Atherton: trim plate

Collections outside the 2026 catalog can be handed too: BHP's New Dolores Park IV sheet says "Specify right or left hand door" for its dummy, entry and trim levers.

The item numbers in those rows end in RT for right hand and LT for left hand, for example 18511DBRT and 18511DBLT (Pacific Heights entry lever, dark bronze); only two Buena Vista matte black cells are printed without the suffix. The Union Square and Mission Bell knob tables state "All Functions Non-Handed". The specification sheets use "Reversible for right and left hand doors", "Non-handed", "Handed" or "Specify right or left hand door".

When you order a handed BHP lever, go by the RT or LT ending of the item number, as BHP prints it in the catalog.

BHP door prep: bore, backset and door thickness

The terms are explained in our door prep guide. Dimensions are in inches, as BHP prints them:

Knob and lever sets: from nine BHP sheets for passage, privacy and entry sets, among them Pacific Heights, Santa Cruz and Belvedere, each with a latch adjustable for either backset. Manuals 07 and 14 each show how their latch is changed from 2-3/8 to 2-3/4 inches.

Dummies: eight of the nine sheets list them as surface mounted with "No door prep needed" (Dillon Beach Plus says "Surface mount"). Manual 05 has a template for both backsets.

BHP door handle sets (handlesets)

The handleset column above comes from BHP's handleset sheets for Tiburon, Fisherman's Wharf and Skyline (dated 02-2015), Dolores Park (01-2016) and Nob Hill, Union Square and Sea Cliff. They also list:

• Function: "Deadbolt locked or unlocked by key outside or turn-piece inside. Inside always free. Passage knob and thumb latch always free".
• Door thickness up to 2-1/4 inches with BHP's optional thick door kit.
• An adjustable deadbolt latch and two passage latches, one for each backset.
• Door handing: "Adjustable".
• Interior trim: "Ball knob standard".

Eight of the nine lever and knob sheets give the door prep of their handleset trim item as "See BHP handleset door prep".

BHP levers, knobs and handlesets at The Builders Supply

• Better Home Products (BHP) - all BHP products
• Passage: BHP 18111DB Pacific Heights lever
• Privacy: BHP 91215SN Santa Cruz lever and BHP 44244BLK Union Square knob
• Entry, handed: BHP 18511DBLT, left hand and BHP 16515SNRT, right hand (Pacific Heights)
• Dummy: BHP 32315SN Belvedere knob
• Handleset and trim: BHP 89888CH Nob Hill handleset and BHP 91915SN Santa Cruz handleset trim lever
• Our residential categories: door levers, door knobs and handlesets

Not sure which function or hand to order? Our customer support team is available Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM Central Time, at 1-888-800-7789 or [email protected].