Door Handles

The doors in our homes and businesses are opened countless times throughout the day. It is no surprise that they are prone to breaking, as they bear the brunt of the use on the door.

The first sign that your door handles are failing, is the handle lever becomes loose and wobbles. Eventually the handle lever can pull off completely. The most common door handles that need replacing are external door handles, as they get far more use than internal doors and are also exposed to the elements.

There are many sizes and varieties of door handles to suit the countless types of door locks.

• Lever / Lever door handles: The most common variation of door handle is called “lever / lever”. This means that the lever on the exterior side of the door is connected directly to the lever on the interior side. Simply put, if you push down the lever on the exterior, the lever on the interior will move down also.
• Lever / Pad door handles: The other variation of door handle is called “lever / pad”. This means that the lever on the exterior side of the door is separated from the lever on the interior side. Lever / pad door handles are used with lever / pad door locks to give an added security feature. The pad side will always be on the exterior side of the door. The lever side will always be on the interior side of the door. If you push down the exterior pad side, the interior lever side will not move.

Lever / pad locks are used to prevent someone from simply pushing down on the outside handle and walking in. The key is required every time to open the door. If you close the door behind you and you don’t have the key; you will be locked out.

Lever pad door handles will normally have a distinctive appearance on the exterior side. The exterior lever will normally be shorter and shaped like a paddle. Hence the name “pad”.