Order a mortise lock, an exit device or a set of hinges and you will often be asked for the hand of the door: LH, RH, LHR or RHR. Get it wrong and the part may not fit. The hand is read from the outside of the opening, but manufacturers print it in slightly different ways, so below are the four hands, the other abbreviations you will meet and where the hand shows up in our product names.
How to determine door handing
Rockwood's catalog puts it in one sentence: the handing of a door is determined from the outside of the opening. Standing outside the door:
- If the hinges are on the right, it is a right hand door.
- If the hinges are on the left, it is a left hand door.
- If the door opens away from you, it is a regular bevel door.
- If the door opens toward you, it is a reverse bevel door.
Hager's commercial hinges catalog determines the hand of a hinge from the key side of the door, which it says is usually the locked side. Schlage's L Series service manual defines the hand of a door as the position of the lock relative to the side and direction of the door hinge, and counts four possible handings: the hinge on the right or on the left side of the door, and the door swinging to the inside or to the outside.
Door handing chart: LH, RH, LHR and RHR
Allegion's Door Handing Quick Reference Sheet draws the four hands as seen from the outside, for "doors and door hardware". In words:
| Hand | Hinges, seen from outside | Door opens |
|---|---|---|
| LH - left hand | On the left | Away from you |
| RH - right hand | On the right | Away from you |
| LHR - left hand reverse | On the left | Toward you |
| RHR - right hand reverse | On the right | Toward you |
Left hand reverse, right hand reverse and reverse bevel
The doors that Allegion's chart calls left hand reverse and right hand reverse are labeled left hand reverse bevel and right hand reverse bevel in the Rockwood and Schlage diagrams. The two reverse hands are abbreviated in several ways:
| Written as | Meaning | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| LHR, RHR | Left hand reverse, right hand reverse | Allegion handing chart, Von Duprin how-to-order chart |
| LHRB, RHRB | Left hand reverse bevel, right hand reverse bevel | Hager commercial hinges catalog |
| LRB, RRB | Left hand reverse bevel, right hand reverse bevel | Schlage L Series service manual, diagram |
| LR, RR | Left reverse, right reverse | Schlage L Series service manual, ordering procedure |
Our Architectural Hardware Glossary explains the bevel of a latch: a door that swings in takes a regular bevel, and a door that swings out takes a reverse bevel.
The hand of a hinge is not always the hand of the door
In Hager's catalog, standing on the key side, a door that opens away from you to the right takes a right hand hinge (RH), and one that opens away to the left takes a left hand hinge (LH). Doors that open toward you are different: a right hand reverse bevel door takes a left hand hinge, and a left hand reverse bevel door takes a right hand hinge.
Schlage's CO Series service manual groups the hands the same way for two of its strike plates: one is listed for RH and LHR doors, the other for LH and RHR doors.
Which door hardware is handed
It depends on the product. Examples from manufacturer documents:
- Mortise locks: Schlage's L Series service manual says to specify door handing when ordering its LM9200 and LM9300 lock functions and a few others, such as the L9026 exit lock, and it has a section on changing the lock hand. It also says LM9300 locks are not field reversible and must be ordered with the correct handing.
- Cylindrical locks: the ordering procedure in Schlage's ALX Series service manual marks door handing as not applicable for ALX locks.
- Exit devices: Von Duprin's how-to-order chart lists two hands, LHR and RHR.
- Door closers: LCN's ordering notes say to specify handing "when any product component requires handing or when choosing a plated finish that requires a handed metal cover".
- Hinges: Hager writes that on some applications it is necessary to order hinges that are handed, and that most manufacturers use the suffix RH or LH.
- Push and pull plates: Ives asks for the door handing, LH or RH, when 8200 and 8300 Series plates wider than 4 inches are ordered with a cutout for a cylinder or thumbturn.
Where the hand appears on our product pages
On our pages the hand is often part of the product name, and the Attributes list can carry a Handing line:
- Von Duprin 98L-17 3 26D RHR rim exit device: RHR in the name, Handing: Right-Hand Reverse
- Sargent 713-4 ETJ LHRB 26D lever trim: LHRB in the name, Handing: Left Hand Reverse
- Schlage L9453B 12A 626 LH mortise lock: LH and Left Hand in the name, Handing: Left Hand
- Von Duprin QELA-9927EO-626-36 exit device kit: Non-Handed in the name
Some pages also carry a Reversible line. As our glossary explains, handed hardware fits doors of one hand only, while a reversible lock can be switched to the other hand on site, usually by turning the latch bolt around, and on some locks by changing other parts as well. How a particular product is reversed is described in the manufacturer's instructions for that product.
Categories where the hand of the door matters
- Exit devices and panic hardware
- Commercial door locks
- Door closers and operators
- Door hinges and pivots
Not sure which hand your door is? Our customer support team is available Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM Central Time, at 1-888-800-7789 or [email protected].
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