Double-Action Doors: Spring Hinge or Floor Spring

A double-action door swings both ways and comes back to the center line by itself. On a timber door two kinds of hardware do that: double-action spring hinges screwed to the door edge and the frame, or a floor spring with a top pivot, which carries the leaf on a spindle and controls its return hydraulically. The short answer is spring hinges for a light door where a quick, undamped return is acceptable, such as a café, bar or pantry door, and a floor spring when the door is heavy, wide or busy, or when people walk through it carrying things, because only the floor spring controls the closing speed.

In our catalog that means SSH031 on one side and the D-5061 and D-1032 floor springs on the other. Of these, only the floor springs publish a door weight. The Wooden Door Floor Hinge and F101 sit in the floor spring category too, but neither publishes a door weight, so neither can be chosen against a leaf from the website. What follows is how to choose, and what changes in the frame, the lock and the door once it swings both ways.

What double action changes before any hardware is chosen

A single-action door closes against a stop: a rebate or bead in the frame that it rests on, and that a latch can engage. A double-action door has nothing to close against. It passes through the frame line in both directions, so the frame has no stop, and the door is held at center only by the force that returns it. Three consequences follow, whichever hardware is chosen.

First, there is no latch in the ordinary sense. A latch needs a strike on a stop to hold against, and a door that swings both ways has neither. Every passage is a push, so the door usually carries push plates on both faces. If it must be secured out of hours, that is a separate bolt or lock decision, made with the frame and the floor in mind; a standard lever set cannot do it.

Second, people meet each other through it. A kitchen door with servers going out and coming back is a classic collision point, which is why these doors usually have a vision panel, and why a pair is often split into an in-door and an out-door. That is the architect's call. For the hardware it means one thing: take the leaf weight from the finished door, glazing included, not from the blank.

Third, the door overshoots. Released from 90°, a double-action leaf swings past center into the other side before it settles. How it settles is the real difference between the two kinds of hardware.

Double-action spring hinge: SSH031

A double-action spring hinge has two spring barrels joined by a center plate. One leaf fixes to the door edge, the other to the frame, and whichever way the door is pushed, one barrel winds up and brings it back. SSH031 is a stainless steel hinge, 4” × 3”, with a published opening of 180° in total, 90° each way, adjustable spring tension, and no handing: the same part fits either side of the opening. The listed finishes are stainless steel, polished stainless steel, antique brass, antique copper and PVD, and the record names café, kitchen and swing doors as the application.

What a spring hinge does not have is hydraulic control. The spring returns the door and nothing slows it down. On a light leaf that is fine: the door swings past center a few times and stops. On a heavier leaf, or with the tension turned up so it closes at all, the door comes back fast and keeps flapping, and the person behind the server takes it on the tray. Turning the tension down to soften the return also means the door may stop short of center. That trade-off is built into the part; it is not a setting.

The other limit is published data. SSH031 lists no maximum door weight, no maximum door width and no number of hinges per door. So the decision cannot be made from the record alone: send us the leaf size, thickness and material, and we will confirm the hinge and how many the door needs, rather than leaving a third hinge to be decided on site.

Fitting is surface work. The barrels stand proud of the door edge, so the hinge side of the opening shows the hardware and has a wider gap than a door on ordinary butt hinges. In exchange there is no floor preparation, no recess and nothing to coordinate with the screed, which makes spring hinges the practical choice for converting an existing opening.

Floor spring: D-5061 and D-1032

A floor spring carries the door on a spindle at the bottom and a top pivot at the head, and returns it through a spring whose speed is governed by hydraulic valves. D-5061 and D-1032 are both listed as double action, for timber and metal doors, with a two-stage closing valve, a 90° hold-open and a maximum opening angle of 125°, in satin stainless or matt black. Unlike the hinge, each publishes per variant the door weight and width it is for:

The closing force column uses the power-size notation of EN 1154, the European standard for controlled door closing devices, in which a higher number means a stronger closing force for a wider, heavier door. Read it as a size, not as a test result. Pick the variant whose weight and width both cover your leaf with a margin. When a leaf falls between two variants, take the larger one: a floor spring that is short of power is the one that never quite reaches center.

The two-stage valve is what the hinge lacks. One stage controls the sweep from open, the other the last part of the travel into center, so a busy kitchen door can be set to come back steadily and settle instead of flapping. That is the reason to specify a floor spring for a restaurant, even where a pair of hinges could physically carry the leaf.

Two practical points before ordering. Neither record publishes the recess or installation drawing, so ask for it before the floor or the leaf is prepared, because a floor spring cannot be moved once it is set. And the floor spring needs a top pivot at the head of the door, on the same vertical axis as the spindle; it is a separate line on the order. When the two are out of line, the door binds as it swings and drifts off center when it closes.

The 90° hold-open is useful on a kitchen door during service. On a corridor door that forms part of a fire or smoke compartment it is a liability, because a door held open mechanically is an open door at the moment it matters, and fire-door practice does not accept it. If the door has a fire role, say so when you enquire, and confirm with us whether the hold-open can be left out.

Wooden Door Floor Hinge and F101: what is and is not published

The Wooden Door Floor Hinge is listed as a concealed floor spring for wooden doors, supplied with pivot brackets, cover plates and a top center. Its record publishes no door weight, no door width and no closing force, and it does not say whether it is single or double action; the full specification is still being confirmed with the factory. It is a part to ask about, not one to order from the page.

F101 is a floor spring with an iron body and 304 stainless steel outer plates, a 308 × 108 mm footprint and a 40.5 mm case depth, with adjustable latch and closing speed. It publishes no door weight and does not state double action either. Its dimensions help check the depth available in a floor, but neither of these two can be matched to a leaf from the published data, and we would rather say so than let a page imply a capacity nobody has stated.

Choosing between them

A rule that holds up: if the door is light, the traffic is occasional and some flapping is acceptable, SSH031 is the simpler order. If the door is heavy, the traffic is constant, people carry trays or push carts through it, or the closing has to be predictable, specify a floor spring and choose the variant by weight and width together. When a leaf is outside every published figure, it is outside, and we will tell you so rather than stretch a number.

To settle a double-action door in one reply, send the leaf height, width and thickness; the finished weight, or the material and core; whether it is timber or metal; the traffic it carries; whether it has a fire or smoke role; and whether it must lock. With those facts we can name the hinge or the floor spring variant, the top pivot that goes with it, and anything the published records do not yet answer.