Don’t let a nice door become unhinged.

Hanging a door can be one of the fiddliest jobs a builder encounters – propping it up whilst trying to align hinges and latches. It’s a thing you want to get right the first time.

Using the wrong fasteners to secure the hinge plates can undo it all. Maybe not immediately, but after some repetitive opening and closing, you might need to dismantle a loose door, and start all over again.

The Standard Way 

The use of standard self-tapping screws is common in hinges when fixing to timber doors and jambs. When fixing to steel or aluminium, the conical head shape can mean that it will bottom out on the surface you are fixing the hinge too before the clamping effect of the fastener occurs. With this, the hinge can remain loose and the fastener is ineffective.

The Undercut Way

Undercut screws have a flat bottom under the head, as opposed to a conical head that tapers down to the shank. With the conical taper taken out of the equation, the hinge screw sits firmly against the countersunk hole in the hinge, with 100% contact, before the bottom of the head gets anywhere near the surface you are fixing to.

With this, not only is the screw secured, but the hinge plate has no chance of having a space behind it from which to potentially swing or move.

See Allfasteners for Hinge Screws – the Right Ones

An undercut screw will also sit slightly more flush than a standard self-tapper, so the final aesthetic appearance of your job will be much nicer.  Also, they don’t need to be used with just hinges, any application where you are fixing thin metal plates or strips to other metals undercut screws can be the answer. Questions about sizes, finish and availability of hinge screws? For undercut screws, ask the experts in All Things Fixings – Allfasteners.