So i am titling this blog what is one of our many remaining questions about the city.
Why are british door handles so high up on doors.
It s a shallow bevel and you might not be able to see it so use the try square to be sure.
Maybe it puts less stress on the door itself.
One door is 1980mm high with the centre of the handle at 1040mm from the bottom of the door and 1060mm from the floor when the door is shut.
The latch hardware that s contemporary with the door isn t inset in the door but is attached to the inside and the old key is long to reach right through the door s thickness.
If the door has a 2 to 3 degree bevel on one side the doorknob must be placed on that side.
Tangentially why are the keys in europe so frigan big when compared to the u s.
The bevel allows for the edge of the door to clear the jamb when the door is operated.
You can detach the lever from the knob that trips the latch so you must have the key to open the door the doorknob doesn t help in that case.
We have for decades had a lot of what are referred to as yale locks which are a self locking latch and tends to be fitted quite high as the keys are a bit fiddly and it used to be.
The exact reason why is still unclear.
Perhaps they think it is more aesthetically pleasing.
We have noticed that most doors have the doorknob directly in the center of the door.
Personally i think it looks weird.
Place a try square along the side of the door.
They are high doors as opposed to low doors so commoners feel like royalty when they use them.
I have no idea where locks are fitted in the u s but in the u k.
I get that door handles in the us have become waste height for ada purposes and that they have levers instead of knobs.
In my last house my door lock appeared to be high cos i had a couple of steps leading up to the house so when i was stood on the bottom step my door lock would appear to be at shoulder height but if i stood on the top step then the lock was just above the door handle.
Why are door handles in europe shoulder chest height and door handles in the us waist height.
Doors which are around a hundred years old usually have door handles placed 1440mm from the floor.
We have yet to figure out why but we have many hypotheses about it.
Well then that s strange i live in the uk and all my locks are just below the door handle and so are my neighbours locks.