The range of door closers on the UK market is virtually limitless, the first question (I hear you ask) is, what are door closers???
These products are in our opinion anything that helps any door meet a specific requirement whether it be a fire door, an entrance door or a door that needs to meet a disability requirement in relation to closing a door.
Our door closers are many and varied but they are just a selection from hundreds if not thousands of products on the market, we have chosen to showcase a selection that should cover all or most eventualities.
We have two door closers in particular that are "concealed" and to all intents and purposes they are hidden, these closers have to be fitted by a carpenter or a very experienced DIY enthusiast as they have to be machined within the thickness of the door with absolutely no limit for error with a sharp chisel, the surface fix closers can add rather than take away from the appearance of the door so long as you choose a good quality cover plate and they are much easier to fit, please make sure you use any template that is supplied with the closer of your choice.
There are closers that can fit on the surface of the door, within the door thickness (as mentioned above) or to the underside of the door frame on a "soffit" bracket, then there are floor springs that get installed in the floor and to the underside of the door and lastly the very cheapest closer is the Perko type or AA45.
Floor springs are the main type of door closer when the door has to be able to open towards and / or away from you, these are known as "double action" and are more expensive but to be fair they are usually used for offices or similar situations.
Door closers vary greatly in price, there are the more basic finishes for most of the closers we sell, these finishes vary from a silver painted finish through to various cover plates of brass, chrome, stainless steel etc, the other thing to note about these products is that you can (on most of them) alter the speed of the closing of the door, generally speaking the more expensive the closer the more control you have and the most important thing to remember is that there are limitations on the door design weight that each closer can cope with.
The variation between closers also extends to whether they are 1/2 hour, 1 hour or 2 hour fire door rated, please always ask the questions surrounding the points we have raised, it could save you and any planning officer falling out, they don't do compromise with regard to fire doors.
Consideration must also be given to the overall width of the door and the angle of opening, these can have huge implications for disability access, please take a peak at our Disability Compliance for Doors help page.
In brief, there are many other door closers such as Perkos (see our AA45 closer) as these fit to the hinge side of the door and slam the door with no control mechanism, there are the concealed closers, surface closers, floor springs and bomber hinges which again have no control mechanism, lastly there are the automatic closers used a lot on public or large buildings where disability access is an issue.
The main points and choices of note are;
- Concealed Closers
- Surface fix closers
- Perko (AA45) type closers
- Floor Spring Closers
- Fire ratings of 1/2 hour, 1 hour or 2 hour colour options
- Speed of closing - fixed or variable
- Door weights in relation to closer power
- Disability Compliance
- Colour
- Cost