How does your door open?
In my country (the Netherlands), most front doors of houses open inwards. Most back doors however open outwards.
A friend of mine noticed that in a television program about Sweden, the front doors and back doors were both opening outwards.
A quick survey on IRC revealed that in the US and the UK both front doors and back doors open inwards.
It's totally irrelevant, but things like this intrigue me. How do the doors in your country open? And do you know why?
Tags: convention, doors, international, inwards, outwards
Entries (RSS)
July 28th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
We have two doors in our exterior doorways - the heavier interior door opens inward (so the hinges are on the inside, rather easy to get in a locked door if you have access to the hinges) and the lighter exterior screen doors open outward.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
All three of our exterior doors open in - we don’t have any screens on ours, but almost all of the screen doors I’ve seen are like Elizabeth mentions, going out.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Both inside doors open inward.
=C=
July 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Here in Belgium, my front door opens inward (with no back door on my apartment). Seems like the most secure way, like Elizabeth already mentioned.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Another case where Google comes to the rescue!
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=414365
“Traditionally, doors open inwards because of the way hinges work. With the hinges on the outside, anyone could pop your door open. Hinges that are not subject to this are much more expensive, and a modern development necessitated by exiting requirements.
Plus, the shadow line around the door from the door being inset into the frame is generally considered an architectural plus. Notice the difference between windows that are set flush with the exterior of a building versus ones that are inset a ways. The effect is quite dramatic with such a (seemingly) simple change.
Now, commercial and institutional buildings are a different animal. And by different, I mean expensive. It can easily cost $3,000+ to install a door and frame with commercial-level hardware on it. But they have to open out because of exiting requirements built into the applicable codes. There are also requirements for the maximum force required to work the latch, as well as requirements for no twisting, grabbing, or pinching being required to work the latch.
There are also requirements for how far out into the path of travel a door may swing. This is why most commercial and institutional buildings have recessed doors (plus it makes it easier to provide cover over the door from the elements). You wouldn’t want your exterior doors smacking everyone walking down the street as your customers enter and leave the building.
-Your friendly neighborhood architect. ”
- mactastic (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=4762349&postcount=35)
July 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
So front doors are opening inwards everywhere. We should focus on the backdoors here. I really haven’t got a clue. Maybe people from the Netherlands need more space inside the house so they let the backdoor open outwards, while Americans en English people prefer to have more space in their garden.
I really don’t know
Please let me know if you found the answer 
July 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Ivo you might be interested in this link about Japanese housedoors:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080101214659AA6hWxQ
“So as to not intrude upon the house itself. Having the door open inwards has the outside intruding upon the inside. I don’t know how to say it better than that in order to give it the flavour of action. The door is simply imposing itself upon the room it would be entering if it opened inward.
Yes, it’s a cultural thing.”
July 28th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Forget those old doors, sliding doors are the future anyway. The question is then perhaps sliding to the right or to the left?
Or look at this one:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/nextfest-2006/next-fest-2006-automatic-door-204002.php
July 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Both door open inwards for me — US as well. Having grown up in a northern climate, I always assumed that this was so that we could get out the door after a heavy snowfall — if the doors open outward and the snow is heavy, you’re trapped.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:55 pm
In Hong Kong, I’ve seen doors open outward but most of them are open inward.
For multi-flat apartments and public housing in HK, there are some building regulations that enforce doors must be open inward. Due to crowd living space in HK, there are many (e.g. 8 or more ) rooms on one floor and the corridor space is very small. If doors are open outward, people can be blocked between the corridor. It is very dangerous in case of Fire when many people want to open the door and get out quickly.
I guess that is also the reason why most hotel room doors are open inward because of consideration of Fire escape.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
One practical reason why a back door opens outward is that you can leave it open more easily. Especially on warm sunny days when you are walking in and out of the garden to your kitchen to get a cold drink. At least for me thats a good reason
August 5th, 2008 at 12:50 am
I live in Florida, in the US. House and apartment doors typically open inwards, for 2 reasons:
The hinges (security) and the screen door. 1 door has to go each way, see? So the screen door goes outwards, while the wood door goes inwards.
On the other hand, trailer (mobile home) doors open outwards. This is for space reasons. There just isn’t enough space inside the things, so every bit of usable space helps. The issue with the hinges is resolved by not having removable pins in the hinges. You have to replace the whole hinge , and you can only get at the screws while the door is open.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Haha that’s somebody noticed that
Cool! Am from the netherlands too.
Groeten,
Mark
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 am
While teaching a class recently in the Czech Republic, I noticed that all the hotel doors open out, towards the hallway. Maybe it is a Soviet carryover?
November 11th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Hah, intriguing. My backdoor opens outwards while the front door opens inwards as well, so I guess that really is a Dutch thingy
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I was looking for how to build a screendoor and stumbled upon this quite interesting question. I live in Sweden and our doors mainly open outwards, as you alredy know from reading this thread
. To tell you about the hinges they are perfectly safe and cannot be the reason for intrusion, they are made to be secure and Swdes take security seriously. We also have pins that go into the interior of the hingeside of the door so you cannot prie it open.
A inwards going door can be hit down?
The most likely way for intrusion is not the door anyway it is windows. in sweden 70% of all intrusions to one family homes the windows were the way in.
I do not know why the door open this way in Sweden but I tink it does not get in the way for furniture, If one thinks about it an inwardsgoing door need a lot of space ;0) By the way you can hit the doorsalesman in the head with the door more easily? No just kidding.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:05 am
I’m a woman and if there is a man anywhere around, I never open a door (car, house, business, etc.). When alone I always open the door for myself because I never would get in if I didn’t.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Ther are two doors in ther world which is exterior and interior door.which have access to the hinges and the lighter exterior screen doors open inward and outward.one thing is to say that Custom Doors,Solid Wood, Wrought Iron,Interior & Exterior Custom Doors made to Your Specifications Forever Warranty.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:13 am
i live in the us. but in the state of florida. we are attacked by hurricanes. in earlier years the doors opened inwards. but now they open outwards with a chain at the top jic the hurricane rips the door off it’s hinges. so the way the doors open are suited to the environment you live in. also my door is FUCKING HEAVY. around 60+lbs. and that is on the light end of regulations.
March 29th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Both door open inwards - Lithuania