How to Choose the Best Doorstop
Installing the right doorstops will reduce damage to your walls (and your toes).
Nov. 26, 2008
By Jeff Taylor
 |
To prevent accidents while working on doors, use a wedge to prevent the door from swinging.
ISTOCKPHOTO/ROB CRUSE
|
Over the years, traditional impromptu front-door stops have included everything from Grandpa’s duck decoy to jars of pennies to umbrella stands. They keep the doorknob from bumping into the wall — or the door from being closed suddenly by an errant breeze or cross draft. But there’s a better, more elegant and permanent solution.
RELATED CONTENT
Building a greenhouse can be inexpensive if you use recycled doors or windows. And a small greenhou...
Fixing a leaking faucet is easy. And doing it yourself will save you money. Most models are designe...
In five minutes or less, you can adjust your screen or storm door so that it closes quietly, yet ti...
Basic furnace maintenance is easy and doesn't take much time. There are several things you can do y...
To prevent damage to the wall from the doorknob, the best solution is a permanent doorstop of some kind. Depending on your needs and tastes, they can be mounted on the baseboard, the floor, the center hinge of the door, or on the wall. Exact placement is important. If you have a damaged doorstop, installing its replacement will be a no-brainer. But a door without a stop gives you some interesting choices.
Let me say first that I never work on a door without a small safety wedge, which is a kind of portable doorstop. Made of rubber or wood, it will keep the door stable and stationary. Until you have been struck in the forehead by someone opening the door you are working on, as I have, you may think this is excessive caution. Ever since the second time it happened, I have used two wedges, one on either side.
Hinge-mounted types are the easiest to install — just pull the center hinge and put it through the stop, tap the hinge back down in place, and adjust the screw mechanism until the knob misses the wall by a good half-inch. (Putting it on the center hinge places it in the middle of the door to balance the pressure applied to it.) But it works best only on light interior doors. The same is true of doorstops that mount on the baseboard molding.
