UPVC Exterior door slamming

[Glyn DaviesParticipant @glyndavies49417]

Good morning –

We have problem with our UPVC exterior kitchen door slamming. Asking the grand kids to close it gently is not effective. They run through to the garden and slam the door behind them and the whole house shakes – to the point that I worry that the entire rear wall of the house will come crashing down.

The door nearly fills its aperture in the wall, so little room around its perifery for commercial closers/dampers.

My idea to cure the slamming is a spring loaded roller plunger housed in a body screwed to the door that runs up a wedge glued to the tiled floor.

 

Will this work and are there any better solutions? I think the energy in a compressed spring is 1/2 K X squared (K spring constant, X deflection from free length), so presumably the energy absorbed by the spring must equal the kinetic energy of the 50kg slamming door? So quite a meaty spring? Any comments welcome…

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I reckon that will work and fairly simple, got to be worth a go!

Tony

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

Glyn,

Here’s a possibly cheap and cheerful (£4) solution ? …. https://www.dreambaby.co.uk/index.php/stop_slam.html

Your own idea looks fine, but making sure the spring housing is securely mounted on to the door itself might be problematic ie the fixing screws really need to be going in to solid door material.

Ches

 

[halfnutParticipant @halfnut]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Google “door closer” . There are hundreds of varieties available, almost all of which fit a door that “fills its periphery” if fitted thoughtfully. Some are specifically designed for tight fits and quite ingenious in their execution.</p>

Also google Door Damper.

No need to reinvent the wheel.

And your proposed wheel has the disadvantage that it will hold the door open if not slammed hard enough. In fact, it will tend to flick the door back wide open if not slammed hard enough to push the spring loaded wheel up past the end of the ramp. So it may result in increased door slamming to overcome this.

The commercial designs pull the door closed and usually incorporate a damper to prevent slamming at the end. Best of both worlds.

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Does the door not have an adjustable stay? My door has a sliding stay at the top with a brass screw that can be adjusted to increase friction and slow movement of the door. I would guess that this kind of thing could be retrofitted very easily as it sits inside the frame. It’s basically a window stay they fitted to a standard door because we wanted it to open outwards.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

You want something that is rate/force dependent. This is where a standard ‘leaky piston’ damper works. Add one to your spring and make the spring minimal.

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

My Mother would have simply boxed our ears.

Problem solved.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

But nowadays she’d be in jail for that and you’d be taken into care.

[MichaelRParticipant @michaelr]

Look at Gibralter surface fitting door spring easy to fit adjustable spring loading.

One type here https://www.handlehardware.com/gibraltar-c11-door-closer-2164-p?srsltid=AfmBOoo0QwqZFuwMWwSi2llUzH9gKobFujYWLL0jBWJUa0coLKjcHwL4St8

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Sit them down and explain the error of their ways!

[MichaelR]

On MichaelR Said:

Look at Gibralter surface fitting door spring easy to fit adjustable spring loading.

One type here https://www.handlehardware.com/gibraltar-c11-door-closer-2164-p?srsltid=AfmBOoo0QwqZFuwMWwSi2llUzH9gKobFujYWLL0jBWJUa0coLKjcHwL4St8

That won’t stop it slamming, in fact it will help

[Glyn DaviesParticipant @glyndavies49417]

Wow! Many thanks for so many useful replies. Perhaps a Wellington boot stopping the door closing might suffice during the summer holidays. Or maybe two Dreambabies. I’ll ponder.

[Keith PetleyParticipant @keithpetley53472]

The Dreambabies look very much like door stops we used to have. They allow the door to shut fully if closed slowly but lock up (very) suddenly if closed too fast – intended to prevent small fingers being trapped. They don’t have any damping.

I took one apart once to see how it worked. A steel pin goes across the body and slides in grooves in each side. If closed slowly the pin drops down and runs along along groove at the bottom – if closed suddenly the pin doesn’t have time to fall and ends up in a much shorter groove at the top which stops the plunger being pushed in.

Keith

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