Okay, time to test the extremes of 'OT' and see how far the sagacity of the STW massive extends…

I live in a Victorian house. Previous owners opened out the front room and 'dining' room, putting double doors between them.

When the previous owners had a loft conversion, it was a condition of building regs compliance that every door had an automatic closure device fitted. Now, these things were lethal – they'd cause the internal doors to slam very quickly and very loudly.

Because of the way we use our house, the door into the 'dining' room is the main entry into the house from the hallway. I took the closing mechanism off it, because the door became tantamount to a deathtrap.

However, it still slams, and very noisily too. We used to just hook it open, but since we've had a child we want to limit our cat's access to the upper floors so keep it closed. Basically, whenever we want to move around the house, this door has to the opened and closed.

Is there any sort of device, similar to the door closure mechanism, that would allow the door to close as normal and then damp the last couple of inches to prevent the slam?

Would something like this do it?

http://www.astradoorcontrols.com/hydraulic/hydraulic_concealed_door_closer_astra_1001.htm

I don't know about that one but door-closers with adjustable damping & possibly spring force certainly exist.

Exactly that.

The ubiquitous arm-style closers that you see in offices country-wide have half a dozen set screws for controlling speed and power. In particular, the 'main' closure and the 'last few inches' closure are separate settings.

I should add, I'm basing this on my findings when I was asked to fit one at a previous job (work in IT = you must have a screwdriver = can you fix our door?) I've no idea if they're all created equal or exactly what the correct terminology is for all this, I just remember being surprised at the amount of control and fine-tuning you have.

door closer

Got a cheap ryobi one from Toolstation, has a hold open function, easy to fit , dont use there screws, as theyre crap, fits either side of the door and only needs 6 screws.

It can also be adjusted for soft close.

Amazing what you learn on this forum!

Ive learnt more on here than in 10 yeatrs of sunday school, at least here nobody trys to shove religion down your throat.

😯

project – Member
Ive learnt more on here than in 10 yeatrs of sunday school, at least here nobody trys to shove religion down your throat.

Aha – you fell into my trap! I'm a wandering proselytiser for the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Take that!

(erm – not really. Thank you for all your replies).

TBH what you took off should have had trimming valves to control the various aspect of the door closure/opening operation?

We tend to use Briton door control units

Sorry, what I didn't make clear was it wasn't one of the closure control jobbies that you get in office buildings – it was a small cylinder that fitted into the door and had a chain between door and jamb.

We couldn't have one of the overhead ones, it just wouldn't look right in our home.

Am I missing something?

Firstly, disconnect the automatic closer

Then, whenever needing to use the door:

1) Open door

2) Walk through doorway

3) Close door behind you

IHN – Member
Am I missing something?

Firstly, disconnect the automatic closer

Then, whenever needing to use the door:

1) Open door

2) Walk through doorway

3) Close door behind you

Not so easy when arms are full of 1) baby 2) clothing for (1) 3) food for (1), or perhaps manoevering a pram/bike/drumkit through the door, or endless other reasons why…

If it wasn't an issue, I wouldn't have asked it.

Have you looked to see if there's a tension adjuster on the spring-loaded closers you have? Normally the in-door ones like you describe (where the chain is visible at the hinge side) allow you to do a fairly basic increase/decrease of tension – hold the tube tight (either in your hand or the door) and rotate the other end to which the chain is attached. If you get it set right then the air will have enough of a damping effect to stop it really slamming.

In my house the children would have quickly discovered the art of inserting their heads/arms/fingers into the door at just the right moment to prevent that dreadful 'slam' sound – they're very versatile like that.

The reason for Building Regs requiring door closers is to protect the “means of escape in case of fire” (the staircase) from fire in one of the rooms off it. These doors should not only be self closing they should be fire resting as well. This is where the little Perko door closers (door slammers as I call them) come in. They satisfy the regs and are cheap, easy to fit. They are also easy to disconnect once the Building Inspector has turned the corner at the end of the street. This is exactly what most people do. However they are, as you have noticed, the very devil to live with if a closer is what you want. The only thing worse is a “Gibraltar”, its attraction being that it is both cheaper and easier to disconnect than the said Perko.

The good news is that for a little more money and a bit more work Perko make an (almost) proper closer – the Perkomatic – that does the job well on domestic internal doors. It has a check to prevent slamming and fits in the door and jamb exactly as your existing Perko. http://www.perko.com will give you all the details. It’s pretty standard kit from any reasonable ironmonger. Anything more than that is overkill and intended for commercial use. Google “Perkomatic” if in doubt.