Changing hinges on interior MDF doors: ball bearing or not? where buy?

7 years ago

We've bought something like 10+ new standard-size interior doors (TruStile, 1 3/8" MDF) for our remodel. At the time we ordered, we were thinking brushed nickel was what we wanted with door hardware and other finishes, so we got them made w/ brushed nickel hinges (three 3.5" square edge hinges per door).

As luck has it, ORB is now making more sense. So, I'm going to change the door hinges accordingly. What I'm trying to figure out is whether plain-bearing hinges will suffice or whether I have to suck it up and get ball bearing. I know these doors are heavier than wood, so would love to hear from anybody who had to make a similar choice.

Would also like to hear how you landed on which hinges to buy. You can get hinges for $1/ea on eBay -- quality may or not be good enough.

Thanks.

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PRO

Precision Carpentry

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Another case of trying to get by cheap and finding out it isn't such a good deal in the long run! Does not make a lot of difference since either substrate will not hold hinge screws for the long run. Why buy ball bearing hinges for an inferior door that will not hold the hinge screws and be out of whack before long anyhow.

I work on houses daily that have old doors and old plain bearing hinges that have held up for 50-100 years with no problems.The difference is they are not particle board doors.

You can buy the best hinges on earth and they will only close the door and work properly if you have a good door and the door is plumb and tru. Check your jamb with a 4 foot level and check the head and threshold..Chances are it's out of square.No hinge will help that.

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Comments (7)

User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
For painted residential doors TruStile MDF doors are top quality in every respect and are superior in many ways to natural pine and fir doors. As for cost, it can be difficult to persuade a homeowner to pay a premium for these doors but it is a good investment.

As for screw holding, the hinge stile is reinforced with a hardwood strip that is stronger than a softwood door stile:

Ball bearing hinges are used for commercial duty in dormitories, hospitals, etc. For residential doors 3 pairs of butt hinges are adequate unless you are unusually sensitive to squeaks and not willing to maintain the hinges.

Be careful about ORB finishes. There are a half dozen ways to create this faux finish from paint to chemical treatment of brass so they often don't match other ORB finishes. Its a finish I have carefully avoided. You should buy them from the same company that makes the door knobs and require that they be returnable if they don't match.
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bagofchips
Original Author
7 years ago
Precision Carpentry, your door-hanging sidebar may be useful to some. You obviously don't know TruStile doors (JDS beat me to the point there). I raise the issue of MDF doors more related to weight on the hinge itself rather than screw holding on the door stile.

JDS good points re: not all ORB is equal & three plain-bearing hinges should be pretty strong. As a practical matter, we ARE talking about hinges, so their general visibility and separation (somewhat) from the hardware makes me think there's a LITTLE tolerance for differential. More concerning would be a finish that for whatever reason doesn't last and eventually exposes the real substrate metal. There's a decent chance our hardware will be black or very dark bronze. That may make things easier or harder, will have to see. I can't imagine a scenario where we'd have to re-think our hardware color for want of viable hinge color, but maybe I'm too optimistic.
weedyacres
7 years ago
In our last house we had generic 6-panel MDF/hollow core doors and we bought the $1 ebay hinges to change all of the brass hardware out. They worked fine.
klem1
7 years ago
Speaking strictly from the standpoint of finish durability and bearings,put your money in locksets where knobs have to indure contaminates and abrasion from hands. I've never seen residential hinge durability become an issue.
bagofchips
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks. I hadn't thought about that financial tradeoff (yet) but good point.
PRO
Precision Carpentry
7 years ago
True.I have hung hundreds of doors but have never seen that brand in this area.I'll have to look into them.

Changing hinges on interior MDF doors: ball bearing or not? where buy?

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Changing hinges on interior MDF doors: ball bearing or not? where buy?

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bagofchipsOriginal Author

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