Ingenious Pre-School Solution with Hydraulic Dutch Door Hinges

In a recent project, a preschool faced the important task of choosing suitable door hardware for their toilet dutch doors. The ideal solution needed to combine safety, functionality, and visual appeal, all while addressing the specific needs of young children. Waterson’s hydraulic door hinges were selected for their unique ability to meet these demands, offering an ideal blend of safety and privacy, crucial in a preschool setting.

Occurring Challenges

The primary challenge was fitting six dutch door openings with hinges in a preschool environment. Dutch doors were chosen due to these potential reasons:

Child-friendly Boundary Setting: The bottom half of a dutch door serves as a less intimidating barrier for children, subtly teaching them about limits while avoiding confinement.
Communication Barrier Reduction: The open top half of a dutch door facilitates easy communication between teachers and caregivers, maintaining a quiet environment while allowing essential interactions.
Self Closing Feature: Equipped with self-closing mechanism to automatically ensure privacy and safety, crucial in preschool settings for balancing accessibility with security.

Solution Implemented

Waterson’s hydraulic heavy-duty dutch door hinges, featuring a self-closing design crucial for preschooler privacy and safety, were installed on each door using a 4.5″x 4.5″ hydraulic hybrid template. These hinges ensure controlled operation with adjustable hydraulic buffers and zones, particularly for doors near walls with windows. Additionally, the hold-open feature maintains doors at a 90 degree angle, enhancing flexibility and security in the children’s environment.

Where to Put Hinges on a Dutch Door

For the best performance, a dutch door should be equipped with 4 hinges. Here’s how to install them for the best results:

Top Section:

Place one hinge 7 inches from the top.
Place the second hinge 10 inches from the bottom.

Bottom Section:

Place one hinge 7 inches from the top.
Place the second hinge 10 inches from the bottom.

Waterson Hydraulic Heavy Duty Dutch Door Hinges

Waterson Hinges combine an overhead closer and hinge into one attractive component with optional hold-open and door-stop features. These hinges are ideal for commercial openings, gates, and glass doors. The door hinges are easily installed and adjusted to comply with ADA & ICC A117.1 requirements for opening force and to assure quiet, secure closing. Made with stainless steel, Waterson hinges meet NFPA 80 and are UL 3-hour fire-rated, as well as being suitable for both interior and all-weather exterior openings. See all our features.

Request For Information

Please note that Waterson Closer Hinges start from a size of 4″x4″. If you’re in need of smaller self-closing hinges, we’d recommend checking out some other resources! Also, we only provide single acting closer hinges. Thank you.