Hinges are the cheapest part of a door and the part most likely to ruin it. Get the positions right and a door swings sweetly for twenty years. Get them wrong and you get binding, dropping, uneven gaps and a latch that never quite catches. This guide covers exactly where hinges go on internal and external doors in the UK, how many you need, what size to buy, and how to set them out so the door hangs square the first time.
Short answer: the standard positions
On a typical UK door, measure from the top of the door down 150mm to the top of the top hinge, and from the bottom of the door up 225mm to the bottom of the bottom hinge. If you are using a third hinge, either centre it between the other two or set it directly below the top hinge where the load is greatest. Use three hinges on anything heavier than a light hollow core door, and always use three on a fire door.
Why hinge position matters more than people expect
Hinges look like an afterthought. They are actually doing four separate jobs at once, and the position decides how well they do each one.
They carry the weight
A door hangs off a vertical line of small screws. The top hinge takes the largest share of that load because it is resisting the door trying to rotate away from the frame. Put the top hinge too far down the door and you shorten the lever arm, which increases the force on the screws and the timber around them.
They control the gaps
The margin between the door and the lining on the hinge side is set entirely by how deep you cut the recesses. Cut one recess deeper than the others and the door will not sit parallel, which shows up as a tapering gap down the closing edge.
They decide whether the door drops
Almost every dropped door traces back to a hinge that was too small, positioned badly, screwed into the soft edge of a hollow door, or asked to work on its own with only one other hinge for company. Doors do not usually drop suddenly. They creep.
They affect fire performance
On a fire door the hinges are part of a certified assembly. Their material, size, number and position are all specified. Changing any of them can invalidate the certification of the whole door, which is a legal and safety issue rather than an aesthetic one.
The UK standard positions in detail
These conventions exist because they work with the way doors are constructed, not because someone picked round numbers.
The top hinge
Around 150mm from the top of the door to the top edge of the hinge. This puts the hinge into the top rail of the door, which is the solid part, and keeps it high enough to give good leverage against the door sagging.
The bottom hinge
Around 225mm from the bottom of the door to the bottom edge of the hinge. This is deliberately further in than the top hinge because the bottom rail of a door is usually deeper than the top rail. It also keeps the hinge clear of the area most likely to be trimmed if the door has to be cut down for a thick floor finish.
The third hinge
Two options are common. Centring the third hinge between the other two spreads the load evenly and looks balanced. Setting it around 150mm below the top hinge concentrates support where the stress actually is, which is what many fire door manufacturers specify. Follow the door manufacturer's instructions if the door came with any.
Why these numbers and not others
They line up with how panelled and engineered doors are built. Modern engineered doors have solid timber rails top and bottom and a lighter core between them. The 150mm and 225mm convention keeps both hinges in solid material rather than in the core. On a door with an unusual construction, check where the solid rails and the lock block actually are before you commit.
Measure from the door, not the frame
This is the single most common setting out error. Trim and fit the door in the opening first, wedge it to the correct margins, then mark the hinge positions across the door edge and the lining in one go with a sharp pencil or knife. If you mark the frame separately from the door, any error in either set of marks becomes a twisted door.
How many hinges does your door need
Two hinges
Acceptable only on lightweight hollow core internal doors in low traffic positions. Even then, three is better. If the door has a solid core, glazing or is over about 20kg, two hinges is a false economy.
Three hinges
The sensible default for almost every internal door sold today. Solid core doors, engineered doors, oak doors and anything glazed should have three. Our internal doors range runs to over 710 products and the overwhelming majority of them are three hinge doors.
Four hinges
Used on very heavy doors, unusually tall doors over about 2100mm, and some FD60 rated fire doors. If the door is heavy enough that you would rather not lift it alone, it probably wants four.
The weight rule of thumb
Work out roughly what the door weighs, divide by the number of hinges, and check that figure against the load rating of the hinge you are buying. A 100mm ball bearing hinge will typically carry far more than a plain pressed steel butt of the same nominal size. We hold over 350 products in our door hinges range, and over 50 specifically in fire rated hinges.
Getting the hinge size right
76mm hinges
The 76mm, or 3 inch, butt hinge is the standard for lighter internal doors. It is enough for a hollow core door and for many lighter engineered doors, but it is at its limit on a heavy solid core door.
100mm hinges
The 100mm, or 4 inch, butt hinge is what most solid core internal doors, fire doors and external doors want. The extra leaf length spreads the screws over more timber and the larger knuckle carries more load.
Leaf width and door thickness
The leaf has to fit within the thickness of the door edge without the knuckle fouling the lining. A 35mm internal door and a 44mm fire door do not want the same hinge. Check the leaf width against the door thickness, not just the length.
Ball bearing against plain butt
Plain butt hinges run metal on metal and wear over time on a heavy door. Ball bearing hinges have races in the knuckle that carry the load and reduce friction, so they stay smooth and quiet for far longer. On any door you will use dozens of times a day, ball bearing is worth the small premium.
Grades and standards
Single axis hinges in the UK are commonly tested to BS EN 1935, which grades them by durability, door mass and suitability for fire doors. Fire door hinges are usually specified at a high grade and must carry the appropriate marking. Check what the door manufacturer's certification calls for rather than guessing.
Types of hinge and where each one belongs
The original version of this article described pivot hinges as fixing to either side of the frame. They do not. Here is what each type actually does.
Butt hinges
Two rectangular leaves joined by a knuckle and pin, each leaf let into a recess in the door edge and the lining. This is the default for almost every hinged door in a British house. Simple, cheap, strong and easy to replace.
Ball bearing butt hinges
The same shape with bearing races between the knuckle sections. The right choice for solid core doors, fire doors and anything in a hallway that gets used constantly.
Rising butt hinges
The knuckle is helical, so the door lifts as it opens. Two uses: clearing a thick carpet without cutting the door, and getting a light door to swing itself closed. The top edge of the door usually needs a small bevel so it does not catch the lining as it rises.
Flush hinges
Both leaves sit face to face and the hinge needs no recess at all, because one leaf folds into a cut out in the other. Quick to fit and useful on lightweight doors, cupboards and where you cannot cut a clean recess. Not suitable for heavy doors and not suitable for fire doors.
Parliament hinges
A wide throw hinge that projects the door clear of the frame and any architrave, so it can swing back flat against the wall. Useful in narrow hallways and for doors that need to open beyond 90 degrees without fouling the architrave.
Tee hinges, band and gudgeon
Surface mounted hinges for ledged and braced doors, gates and outbuildings. They are fixed to the face of the door rather than let into the edge, which is why you see them on garden gates and never on an internal panelled door.
Pivot hinges
Pivot hinges fix at the top and bottom of the door, not at the sides, and the door rotates around a vertical axis rather than swinging off a knuckle at the edge. They are used for heavy doors, very wide doors and contemporary flush pivot designs where you do not want visible ironmongery on the edge. They are not a general purpose replacement for butt hinges.
Spring and self closing hinges
These contain a spring that returns the door to the closed position. They still screw into recesses like any butt hinge, and the tension is usually adjustable. They are a lightweight way to get a door to close itself, but on a fire door a certified door closer is normally required rather than a spring hinge.
Concealed hinges
Invisible when the door is closed, adjustable in three planes, and increasingly used on flush contemporary doors and hidden doors in panelling. They cost more, need accurate routing, and are far less forgiving of a lining that is out of plumb.
Internal doors: setting out step by step
1. Check the lining is plumb and square
Nothing you do to the door will fix a twisted lining. Check both legs for plumb in two directions, check the head is level, and check the lining is not wound out of wind. Fix problems here before the door comes anywhere near it. Our comparison of door frames against door linings covers the difference, and we hold over 30 products in internal frames and linings.
2. Trim the door to fit the opening
Get the door fitting the opening with the correct margins before you think about hinges. Take material off evenly rather than all from one edge, and stay within the manufacturer's trimming allowance. Our guide on how to plane a door covers the technique.
3. Decide the hand of the door
Work out which side the hinges go and which way the door swings before you cut anything. Consider light switches, radiators, the direction of travel through the room, and whether the door will block a cupboard when open. This is very hard to change later.
4. Wedge the door in the opening
Pack the door into the opening with wedges or offcuts so it is sitting at exactly the margins you want, with even gaps at the head and both sides. This is the position you are going to lock in.
5. Mark both the door and the lining together
With the door wedged in place, square a line across the door edge and onto the lining in one movement for each hinge. Now the two sets of marks physically cannot disagree with each other.
6. Cut the recesses
Score the outline with a marking knife, chop the waste with a sharp chisel or rout it, and work to the thickness of the hinge leaf. The hinge should sit dead flush with the surface. A recess that is even half a millimetre too deep will pull the door towards the lining and make it bind.
7. Hang on one screw per hinge first
Fit a single central screw in each hinge leaf on the lining side, then swing the door and check the gaps and the closing action. Adjusting now is easy. Adjusting after all twelve screws are in is not.
8. Fill the remaining screws and check again
Once the swing is right, drive the rest of the screws. Pilot drill every hole. Driving a screw into a hardwood lipping without a pilot hole is how you split the edge of a door you have just spent an hour fitting.
External doors: what changes
Thicker doors, bigger hinges
External doors are typically 44mm rather than 35mm and weigh considerably more. That means 100mm hinges as a minimum and a leaf width suited to the thicker edge. Our external doors range currently holds 96 products.
Three hinges minimum, often four
Two hinges on an external door is not acceptable. Three is the minimum and four is common on heavier timber and composite doors.
Corrosion resistance
An external hinge is exposed to rain and, near the coast, to salt. Stainless steel is the sensible default. Plated steel will look fine for a year and then bleed rust down a freshly painted door.
Security
The hinge side of an outward opening door is a weak point, because the knuckles are accessible from outside. Hinge bolts, security studs or fixed pin hinges stop the door being lifted off even if the pins are removed. Combine that with a decent lock from our locks and latches range, which holds 723 products.
Weather seals and the closing face
External doors close against a weather seal, which means the door has to compress something as it shuts. Set the hinges so the door meets the seal evenly all the way round rather than pinching at one corner.
Composite doors
Composite and other non timber doors are usually supplied as a complete doorset with the hinges already specified and fitted, often adjustable in three planes. Do not try to substitute traditional butt hinges into them. We hold 18 products in composite external doors.
Fire doors: where the rules change
Everything above is general good practice. On a fire door, hinge specification stops being a matter of preference.
Three hinges is the minimum
Fire doors are heavy, and the assembly is tested with a specific number of hinges. Three is the normal minimum on an FD30, and some FD60 doors require four. We hold over 150 products in FD30 fire doors and over 240 across fire doors generally.
The hinges must be fire rated
Fire rated hinges are made from materials with a high enough melting point to hold the door in the frame while it is doing its job. Ordinary hinges can fail long before the door does. They also need to carry the correct marking and grade. Our fire rated hinges range holds 52 products.
Intumescent pads behind the hinge
Many certified doorsets require an intumescent pad behind each hinge leaf. The pad expands in a fire and seals the recess, which would otherwise be a route for hot gases straight through the door edge. Whether they are required is set by the door's certification, not by preference.
Do not reposition hinges on a certified door
If a fire door arrives pre routed, use the recesses provided. Cutting new ones in different positions changes the tested assembly. The same applies to adding an extra hinge that the certification does not allow for.
Self closing devices
Most fire doors in a dwelling need a device that returns them to the fully closed position, because a fire door propped open does nothing at all. Confirm what your building requires with building control or a competent professional. Our comparison of FD30 against FD60 and our guide to fire door materials cover the wider specification.
The gaps you are aiming for
Standard internal doors
Roughly 3mm at the head and down both stiles. At the bottom, 6mm to 10mm depending on the floor finish and whether the room relies on the gap for ventilation.
Fire doors
Fire doors are specified much more tightly, typically around 3mm at the head and stiles with a defined maximum, and a controlled threshold gap. Work to the figures in the door's own certification rather than to general internal door practice.
External doors
External doors close onto seals, so the working gap is set by the seal and the frame rather than by an open margin. The door should compress the seal evenly with no visible daylight anywhere.
If the gaps come out uneven
A tapering gap on the closing edge almost always means one hinge recess is deeper than the others. A gap that is tight at the top on the hinge side and open at the bottom usually means the top hinge is cut too deep. Pack the recess with a thin card shim before you start planing the door, because packing is reversible and planing is not.
Tools you actually need
Marking out
A sharp pencil, a marking knife, a combination square and a tape measure. The knife matters more than people expect, because a knifed line gives your chisel something to register against.
Cutting the recess
A sharp 25mm bevel edged chisel and a mallet, or a router with a hinge jig if you are doing a houseful. A blunt chisel will crush the fibres rather than cut them and the recess edge will look ragged.
Fixing
A drill with a pilot bit sized for your screws, and a screwdriver rather than an impact driver for the final tightening. Impact drivers strip screw heads and overdrive screws into soft lippings very easily.
What you can skip
You do not need a spirit level on the door itself, and you do not need a plumb bob. You need the lining to be plumb, which you check before the door goes anywhere near it, and then you need the door to sit in the opening at even margins.
Common mistakes
Setting out from the frame instead of the door
Mark both together with the door wedged in position. Separate marking sets is the root cause of most twisted doors.
Recesses cut too deep
The door binds on the hinge side and will not close without force. Shim the recess with card rather than planing the closing edge.
Recesses cut too shallow
The hinge stands proud, the door springs back off the stop, and the latch struggles to engage. Take a little more out until the leaf is dead flush.
Wrong screws
Screws that are too long punch through a 35mm door edge. Screws that are too short pull out. Match the screws to the hinge and the door, and always pilot drill.
Two hinges on a solid core door
It will hang perfectly for a few months and then start to drop. Three hinges from the outset costs very little.
Hanging the door before the lining is right
A door cannot correct a lining that is out of plumb or out of square. Fix the opening first.
Mixing hinge and handle finishes
Satin chrome hinges with matt black handles read as a mistake. Pick one finish and hold it across hinges, handles, latches and stops. We hold over 2,500 products in door handles, over 280 in handle packs and over 30 in door stops.
Troubleshooting a door that is already hung
The door binds at the top of the hinge side
The top hinge recess is too deep. Remove the leaf, add a thin card shim behind it, and refit.
The door springs open
A hinge is standing proud of its recess, so the door is being pushed off the stop. Deepen the recess slightly.
The door catches on the latch side
Either the door has swollen, the lining has moved, or the hinge side is packed out too far. Check the gap all the way down before you reach for a plane. Our guide on stopping doors swelling covers the seasonal version of this.
The door has dropped after a few months
Usually undersized hinges, too few hinges, or screws that have pulled in soft timber. Fit longer screws that reach into the stud behind the lining, or step up a hinge size.
The hinges squeak
Dry knuckles. A drop of light oil on the pin normally fixes it. Persistent squeaking on a heavy door is a sign the plain butt hinges are wearing and want replacing with ball bearing ones. See our guide on stopping doors squeaking.
Screws spin and will not tighten
The hole is stripped. Plug it with a glued hardwood dowel or matchsticks, let it set, and redrill. Do not simply go up a screw gauge, because that splits the lipping.
Matching hinges to your door and hardware
Hinges are the one piece of ironmongery you see every time the door is open, so they are worth matching properly. Satin chrome and satin nickel suit white primed and painted doors, of which we hold over 80 in internal white primed doors. Antique and polished brass sit well against oak, and we hold over 290 products in internal oak doors. Matt black works with the over 110 products in internal black doors. The full door hardware range runs to 2,954 products, so there is no reason to compromise on the match.
Frequently asked questions
How far from the top should the top hinge be?
Around 150mm from the top of the door to the top of the hinge on a standard UK door.
How far from the bottom should the bottom hinge be?
Around 225mm from the bottom of the door to the bottom of the hinge.
Where does the third hinge go?
Either centred between the other two, or about 150mm below the top hinge if you want the support where the load is greatest. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on a fire door.
Do I really need three hinges?
On any solid core, engineered, glazed or fire door, yes. Two is only defensible on a light hollow core door.
What size hinges should I buy?
76mm for light internal doors, 100mm for solid core internal doors, fire doors and external doors. Check the leaf width suits the door thickness.
Do the hinges go on the door first or the frame first?
Mark both together with the door wedged in the opening, then cut and fit the door leaves first and hang the door on one screw per hinge to test the swing.
Can I reuse the old hinges?
Only if they are the right size and grade for the new door and the knuckles are not worn. New doors are usually heavier than the ones they replace, so old hinges are often undersized.
Why is my new door binding?
Nine times out of ten, a hinge recess is cut too deep. Shim it before you plane anything.
Can I fit hinges to a composite door?
Composite doorsets come with their own specified hinges. Do not substitute standard butt hinges.
Do fire doors need special hinges?
Yes. They must be fire rated, correctly graded and marked, and often require intumescent pads behind the leaves.
Buying your hinges from Doors2Floors
We have supplied doors and flooring to homes and businesses across the UK. We hold over 350 products in door hinges, over 50 in fire rated hinges and over 2,900 across door hardware, so you can buy the door, the lining, the architrave and every piece of ironmongery in one order and have it arrive together. If you are unsure what a specific door needs, talk to our team before you cut anything.
Related guides and ranges
Before you hang the door
Measure the opening properly with our guide to measuring a door and the door size guide, then check whether you need a lining or a frame in door frames against door linings.
Finishing the opening
Architrave and skirting close the job out. See our guide to door architraves, browse 16 profiles in door architraves and 16 in skirting.
Choosing the door itself
We hold over 710 products in internal doors, over 350 in fully finished internal doors, over 280 in glazed doors, over 250 across the Deanta range and over 20 in clearance doors. Our comparison of oak against walnut helps with the timber choice and our guide to door finishes covers primed against prefinished.
Looking after it afterwards
Read maintaining painted doors and our general product care advice.
Matching the marking-out to the hinge type
The positions above hold for a standard butt hinge, which is what most internal doors use. Step up to a washered hinge on a heavy or busy leaf and the marking-out is the same, but the recess depth changes with the thicker plate. A concealed hinge is set out from the manufacturer’s template rather than by rule of thumb, because the pocket has to be routed in both the leaf and the frame. A parliament hinge is marked out normally but sized by projection, so measure the architrave first.
Fire door specification, hinge grading and any work affecting means of escape should be confirmed with the door manufacturer's certification and with your local building control body or a competent professional. The guidance above is general and does not replace advice specific to your building.