Door Handing Chart to Eliminate Mistakes
I made this guide for myself and the people I work with. I'm excited to share it with all of you and hope you find it helpful.
What is door handing?
Door handing is a naming convention that describes which way a door swings. Understanding door handing is important when ordering doors and hardware.
How to use this guide
The guide is color-coded and designed to work 100% of the time. You don't need to know anything about door handing to use the guide.
- Stand outside of the room. Close the door.
- Look at where the handle side is and check off the colored circle on the guide.
- Open the door. If you have to push, check off the same color under Push. If you have to pull, check off the same color under Pull.
For example:
- Exterior doors: stand outside.
- Bedrooms: stand outside, often in a hallway.
- Closets: stand outside the closet.
- And so on...
When in doubt, imagine if the door had a lock. A bedroom with an en-suite bathroom can be confusing — which room is outside the other? If the bathroom were to have a lock, you stand on the side you'd need a key to unlock it.
Other methods for handing doors
I still use the “butt method” in my on-site work. It works consistently, as long as you don't get your left and right confused. You also have to remember if the door is inswing or outswing.
How to hand doors with your butt
This butt method is tried and true. I use it every day. Stand with your butt to the hinges, with the door open.
- Handle is on your right = right hand inswing.
- Handle is on your left = left hand inswing.
Issues with the butt method
The butt method is fail-proof for an inswing door. It does not work the same way for an outswing door. To use the butt method on outswing doors, do the same thing with your butt against the hinges, and reach out to the handle.
For outswing doors: butt method says right hand, the official name is left hand reverse. Butt method says left hand, the official name is right hand reverse.
Why the guide beats the butt method
The butt method asks you to do two things: read the handle side, and remember to flip the answer if the door is outswing. That second step is where mistakes happen — it's easy to forget the flip, or flip it the wrong way, especially in a hurry.
The guide skips that step. Each colored circle is already labeled with the final answer — Right Hand Inswing, Left Hand Outswing, and so on. Nothing to translate, nothing to remember. You just match what you see to what's already written down.
