Historical buildings pepper our cities as story keepers of our past, painting a portrait of significance and aesthetics. For many decades and even centuries, landmark sites have been part of our lives. Today, many significant and antique locations occasionally require maintenance and upkeep from foundations to stained glass windows to door closers.
Aesthetic Plus Functionality
Waterson self-closing door closers have recently appeared more and more for retrofitting into landmark historical buildings. Contractors and owners appreciate the ease with which Waterson meets historical specs, as well as their modern self-closing functionality and ability to maintain historical appearance.

Many years ago potbelly door closers were commonly used in commercial and institutional buildings. Replacing and maintaining potbelly door closers today, however, poses a particular problem for contractors due to increasingly low availability. For example, rebuilding an antique potbelly door closer requiresa great deal of time and expense in sourcing and installing vintage components. On the other hand, if one chooses to use a modern door closer they run the risk of ruining the historical appearance.
Waterson helps maintain historical aesthetics without the great complication or expense of replacing a potbelly door closer. Moreover, Waterson door closers are also in combination with a nonfunctioning potbelly closer to maintain the vintage appearance and self-closing capability. This, of course, can all accomplish without slamming. Additionally, Waterson closers can simply and independently apply without conflicting with the historical appeal whatsoever.
Waterson Self Closing Potbelly Door Closer
Waterson Spring Loaded Door Closers combine the function of an overhead closer and a hinge into a single, sleek component—complete with optional hold-open and door-stop features. Designed for commercial openings, gates, and glass doors, these hinges are easy to install and adjust to meet ADA and ICC A117.1 standards for opening force, while ensuring quiet and secure closure. Crafted from durable stainless steel, they are NFPA 80 compliant, UL 3-hour fire-rated, and built to perform reliably in both interior and all-weather exterior environments. See all our features.
In addition to these performance advantages, Waterson offers flexible customization services. As a direct custom hinge manufacturer, we can tailor hinge sizes, finishes, and especially hinge leaf designs to meet the specific structural needs of your doors. This makes our hinges an ideal solution for door manufacturers seeking custom options that integrate seamlessly with their existing frames.
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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.
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