Everything You Need to Know About Door Swing Direction

Most people don’t think about which direction their door swings. Opening a door is second nature, with the swing only coming into play if you push or pull and the door doesn’t open.

But the swing is important if you need to buy a new door, lever, or hinge. If you don’t know your door’s swinging direction, you could end up making a wrong purchase.

Here, PINKYS explains the different types of door swing and how you can determine whether your door is right-handed or left-handed.

The Types of Door Swing

Before we get into how to determine a door's swing, we need to know the types of swing.

Standard Doors

There are usually four ways a standard door can swing:

There's also the possibility that your door has a 180-degree swing. That's common with internal doors, giving you the ability to push or pull the door to open it from either direction.

Pivot Doors

Pivot doors differ from standard doors in one crucial aspect:

They have hinges on the top and bottom instead of on one of the sides.

They still open and close similarly to standard doors. You just have a little extra work to do when determining the hinge location.

Step 1 - Understand the Terminology

Inswing Doors

Outswing Doors

Start by standing on the outside of the door.

For an exterior door, this is the side facing the street. You go from the outside into the building.

For interior doors, think about which room you'd consider yourself to be entering. For example, you may enter the kitchen from the living room. Or, you may enter a bedroom from the hallway.