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Home: Door: Handle
Wallknobs   (+4)  [vote for, against]
Shift the responsibility to allow for more creativity

Most doors are visually crippled by the requirement to have a doorknob. This simple solution shifts the mechanism for the doorknob, to the wall.

Twisting the wallknob retracts the cylinder and allows the door to be pushed open.

Similarly, deadbolts can be re-located to the wall, freeing up doors to have thinner bevels, as well be less expensive.

There are a couple issues someone is bound to bring up (finger smudges on glass for instance) but there are solutions for all these problems (i.e. gloves) which will be no problem for the gentlemen.
-- mylodon, May 16 2023

The Blue Region https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gifted
[pertinax, May 17 2023]

Devilment door Devilment_20door
Horrible minds think alike. [lurch, May 17 2023]

Me like
-- Voice, May 16 2023


I misread the title as walk nobs and am more than pleasantly surprised. This feels like one of those ideas that should have been around since antiquity.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 16 2023


I know, right? Lighter doors, less stress on the door, new door designs. Why haven't we been dong this since the dawn of time?
-- Voice, May 16 2023


We probably 'were' doing this a long time ago.

<conspiracy theory alert... I'm just going to abbreviate that to CTA in the future>

Our front doors are not allowed to hinge outwards by law.
If this law were for fire hazard reasons the door would of course swing outwards to allow the most efficient egress.
Instead, our doors swing inwards because outward swinging doors are really hard to break down for law enforcement and are therefore illegal.

Wall mounted security devices on an outward swinging door?... well, shit..

...get the battering ram.

So I'm betting that this is just an awesome re-invention... and those totally rock.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 16 2023


//Instead, our doors swing inwards because outward swinging doors are really hard to break down for law enforcement and are therefore illegal//

Or maybe there's no big conspiracy and it's just so that when someone rings on your doorbell and you open the door, you don't smack them in the face with the door as it opens
-- hippo, May 16 2023


You don't have storm doors in Canada?
-- 21 Quest, May 16 2023


// Our front doors are not allowed to hinge outwards by law.//

Is there anything in Canadian law against sliding doors 2 fries?

Also, are you sure it's not to allow exit in spite of snow buildup?
Because that's what the internet seems to think - no mention of legality.
-- Loris, May 16 2023


Unless the knob/mechanism is not spring-loaded or the door IS spring-loaded, it now needs 2 hands (or hand & foot, or whatever) to operate, & also demands a double-swing door (ie. push through both ways).
-- neutrinos_shadow, May 16 2023


Btw, the biggest reason outward opening doors are illegal in a place that snows as much as Canada is probably that egress would be, quite simply, impossible with snow built up on the porch, and they don't want to have to work that hard to rescue you when you call for help because you've had a bad fall or a heart attack during winter.

Plus, imagine the chaos mischievous children could cause with some doorstops, or by leaning your own lawn chair against the knob. Not much of a concern for a storm door with removable or sliding glass panes, but with a solid door, you could easily be trapped in your own home lol
-- 21 Quest, May 16 2023


It's halfbaked which is what makes it "good". [imagine trying to install a lock and handle mechanism on a brick wall portal featuring a wooden door]
-- xenzag, May 16 2023


Sliding doors are allowed. Very easy to break into, as are windows in an emergency situation.

In a fire, would you rather have your exit swing outwards or towards you?
In a home defence situation would you rather have your doors swing outwards or inwards?

Porches keep snow off doorways even in Canada and rescue crews can undo locks and deadbolts in seconds from the inside.

Pencil me unconvinced.

...

Anyway... I love this idea. So there.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 17 2023


In a home defense situation, a door is more easily secured and defensible if it opens inward. You crack it open to speak to a stranger, and you have your whole body behind it to block it from further ingress. If it swings outward, the second the intruder gets a hand on the edge he has you at a disadvantage. But imagine your house is on fire, and the wind (or some bad actor) blew a rake or shovel you'd propped up against the wall by your door across it, preventing you or your loved ones from being able to push it open. There are so many scenarios that come to mind when I think of why an outward swinging door is a bad idea.
-- 21 Quest, May 17 2023


^ That's what peepholes are for.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 17 2023


Peepholes are for sheeples!
-- 21 Quest, May 17 2023


// Show me the law or building code//

hmmm, interesting. This is all I could find;

9.9.6.5. Direction of Door Swing 1) Except for doors serving a single dwelling unit or a house with a secondary suite including their common spaces, exit doors that are required to swing shall swing in the direction of exit travel. 2) Doors that open onto a corridor or other facility that provides access to exit from a room or suite having an occupant load of more than 60 persons shall swing on the vertical axis in the direction of exit travel. 3) Doors that divide a corridor that is not wholly contained within a suite shall swing in the direction of exit travel. 4) Where a pair of doors is installed in a corridor that provides access to exit in both directions, the doors shall a) swing in opposite directions, with the door on the right-hand side swinging in the direction of exit travel, or b) swing in both directions.

Wow. Such a prevalent urban myth. I totally bought it.

Imagine that.
Not the fact that I bought it in the first place...

... but the fact that I can admit it.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 17 2023


I did predict the existence of residential storm doors in Canada gave the lie to it... but I am actually surprised there isn't something about it.
-- 21 Quest, May 17 2023


// the fact that I can admit it //

Welcome to the Blue Region (see link).
-- pertinax, May 17 2023


So basically you want to visually cripple the wall instead. Shame on you.

Get rid of the knobs altogether. It's the only truly aesthetic solution. The tech guys will work out how to actually open and secure the damn thing, that's what we pay them for.
-- pocmloc, May 17 2023


[a1], you reveal yourself as a newbie. (That is, you missed something from almost 18 years back) <link>
-- lurch, May 17 2023



random, halfbakery