The 6 Most Important Things to Consider When Buying New Door Handles

Renovating your home is an exciting (and potentially stressful) time, but we've come up with a list of the 6 most important things to consider when replacing your door handles to take a little bit of stress out of your next project.

1. Retrofitting

One of the first and most import things to decide on is are you replacing your internal doors, or are you keeping existing doors and just 'jazzing' them up a bit with new door hardware? If you've decided your doors are too good to just throw away, then we suggest removing one of your existing handles to see what holes are exposed in your existing door. The last thing you want to do is purchase a lovely new set of your favourite door handles just to realise they won't retrofit in place of your existing door handles. When it comes to door handles in Australia, there are generally two common rose (base plate of the door handle) sizes:

Small Rose: Rose size between 50mm - 55mm in diameter. These types of installations will usually have three small holes through the door (one for the spindle and two for the fixing screws).

Large Rose: Rose size between 63mm - 65mm in diameter (sometimes larger). These will retrofit in place of an existing bore hole of 50m-54mm. 

As a rule of thumb you generally want your rose diameter to be at least 10mm larger than your the diameter of the hole in your door. This will prevent the door handle "sinking" in to the bore hole.

 

2. Finish

Now for the more exciting part of choosing new door handles - choosing the finish. With door handles becoming somewhat of a statement item in houses these days, people are basing their choice of fixtures off their chosen door handle so it's important to get a finish you'll love looking at every day. Satin Brass and Matt Black have rapidly become the most popular finishes on the door hardware scene and this popularity doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

 

3. How is this Finish applied?

When talking door handles, the two most common methods for applying the finish are electroplating and powder coating. While there are benefits to both of these applications, electroplating provides a stronger, harder and more durable finish that can prevent scratches from rings on your fingers or keys in your hand. Electroplated door handles also offer great long term wear and corrosion resistance when compared to powder coated door handles.

To understand the technical difference between the two, the below link provides some great information:
https://powdervisioninc.com/2019/05/the-differences-between-electroplating-and-powder-coating-in-washington

 

4. Function

Another thing to consider is where in your house these door handles are going to be installed. Do you want the ability to privacy lock your bedroom and bathroom doors? If so, you definitely want to consider a door handle that provides both a passage and privacy option. Passage sets are perfect for doors that do not require the ability to lock, whereas Privacy sets are great options for bathroom, toilet or bedroom doors where some privacy is required.

 

5. Warranty

The last thing you want is to spend a large amount of money on new door handles only to find that you need to replace within a couple of years. High quality door handles should come with a minimum 10 year mechanical warranty. If your supplier of door handles can offer you this then you know you're buying a good quality product from a reputable seller who backs their goods.

 

6. Budget

We understand that sticking to a budget during a renovation can be tough, but skimping on door handles can cause you more headaches than it's worth. There are plenty of cheap sub $20 options on the market, but once you do a bit of research you'll quickly realise why these are so much cheaper than most door handles on the market. All you need to do is hold one of these cheap door handles in your hand to realise it's not made from any type of solid material. The finish will also most likely corrode after very limited use.

There are also some door handles on the opposite end of the scale which can set you back upwards of $300 per set of door handles which can add up very quickly when replacing every handle in your house.

While the most important thing is to find door handles that fit within your budget and that you love the look and feel of, we believe that the $50 - $150 price range will get you a great quality product that should last you until your next renovation.

 

 

Over to you:

We hope this article has helped you answer some of your questions and taken some fear out of the unknown when it comes to door handles. Feel free to share this article, or contact us directly at sales@manovelladesign.com if we can help you with your next project.