Documentation

Door Handing ​

A door's hand describes which side its hinges are on and which way it swings. Handing is easy to mix up: there are several ways to determine it, and the terms vary across the industry. In KvalCAM, select the hand with the Door Hand setting in the Door Data.

KvalCAM uses four hands:

  • Left Hand (LH)
  • Right Hand (RH)
  • Left Hand Reverse (LHR)
  • Right Hand Reverse (RHR)

Determining a Door's Hand ​

  1. Stand on the outside of the door: the key side.
  2. Face the door and note which side the hinges are on.
    • Hinges on the left: a Left Hand door.
    • Hinges on the right: a Right Hand door.
  3. If the door swings in, away from you, it's a standard hand. If it swings out, toward you, it's a Reverse hand.

Standard and Reverse Hands ​

Left Hand and Right Hand doors swing in, to the interior, and are the most common choice for homes. Their hinges are on the inside, away from the key side, so they can't be tampered with from outside. Inswing doors leave more room outside but take up space inside, and can be forced inward.

Left Hand Reverse and Right Hand Reverse doors swing out, and are common in commercial buildings. Their hinges face the outside, so security hinges are often used to stop the hinge pins being removed. Outswing doors are harder to kick in, but take up space outside when open.

Left Hand Doors ​

The hinges are on the left as you face the door from the outside. A Left Hand door swings in; a Left Hand Reverse door swings out.

Left HandLeft Hand Reverse
Left Hand door, seen from aboveLeft Hand Reverse door, seen from above

Right Hand Doors ​

The hinges are on the right as you face the door from the outside. A Right Hand door swings in; a Right Hand Reverse door swings out.

Right HandRight Hand Reverse
Right Hand door, seen from aboveRight Hand Reverse door, seen from above

Side Names ​

Each face of a door goes by several names. For every hand, the two faces are:

Outside face (key side)Inside face
Inswing (LH, RH): Narrow Side, Push Side, Opposite Hinge Pivot Side, Key Side, OutsideWide Side, Pull Side, Hinge Pivot Side, Opposite Key Side, Inside
Outswing (LHR, RHR): Wide Side, Pull Side, Hinge Pivot Side, Key Side, OutsideNarrow Side, Push Side, Opposite Hinge Pivot Side, Opposite Key Side, Inside

The Key Face and Hinge Pivot Face names are used to set a Feature Group's thickness reference. See Coordinate References. To see how each hand looks from its push and pull sides, see Job Preview.