Aluminium Door Hinge Adjustment: Alignment, Seals, Locks and Service Checks

An aluminium hinged door is a simple machine with a difficult job. It has to carry the mass of a leaf and its glazing on a small number of fixing points, swing through a clean arc thousands of times a year, compress a weather seal without being forced, present a lock bolt to a keep with enough precision for the mechanism to work, and do all of this while the building around it moves, the frame expands and contracts, and the floor finish changes level. When the door works, nobody notices. When it does not, the symptom is usually described in one word: it drags.

That single word covers a wide range of causes. A leaf can be out of plumb, twisted, hung too low, packed too tightly against a seal, fitted with a hinge that has lost its bearing, or installed into a frame that has settled. The lock may be misaligned because the door has dropped, or the door may have dropped because the lock keep is pulling the leaf into position every time it is closed. Adjusting the wrong component can make the door worse, and adjusting a fire door or a tested weather door outside its permitted range can remove the very performance the project paid for.

This article sets out a disciplined approach to aluminium door hinge adjustment for architects, builders, installers, facility managers and informed owners in Australia and New Zealand. It covers hinge types, leaf alignment, clearances, rollers and keeps, multipoint locking, seals, thresholds, glazing, the diagnosis of rubbing and dragging, the limits of adjustment, commissioning, maintenance, safety, and the standards framework that governs the work. It deliberately avoids prescribing dimensions, costs, thermal values, acoustic ratings or certification claims, because those belong to a specific door system, a specific project and a specific tested configuration.

Why Hinge Adjustment Is a System Problem

A hinge is not a standalone accessory. It is the interface between a moving leaf and a fixed frame, and every adjustment made at that interface changes the geometry of the whole assembly. Moving a leaf vertically changes the clearance at the head, the engagement of the lock bolts, the compression of the threshold seal and the position of the door in relation to the floor. Moving it laterally changes the compression of the jamb seals and the alignment of every keep on the frame. Rotating it changes the way the closing edge meets the rebate and the way the leaf sits against its stops.

For that reason, adjustment should begin with measurement and observation rather than with a screwdriver. The person doing the work needs to know what the door is supposed to do: how it is expected to close, where the seals are meant to contact, how the lock is meant to engage, whether the leaf is a standard hung door or a pivot door, whether the assembly is a tested fire doorset, and what the manufacturer permits the installer to alter. Without that information, adjustment becomes guesswork, and guesswork on a door that is also a fire barrier, an acoustic separator or a weather envelope is a compliance risk rather than a maintenance activity.

Hinge Types on Aluminium Doors

Butt Hinges and Bearing Hinges

Butt hinges remain the most common arrangement on aluminium entrance and internal doors. The leaf is carried on two or more hinges fixed to the frame and to the leaf stile, with the knuckle projecting into the opening. On aluminium systems the hinge is usually fixed through the frame section into a reinforcing insert, because an aluminium profile on its own is not intended to carry screw threads under the repeated load of a swinging leaf. The quality of that reinforcement, and the length and type of the fasteners, matter more than the visible size of the hinge.

Bearing hinges carry the load on a pin running in a bush or bearing rather than on bare metal. They are smoother in operation and less prone to the wear that produces a dropping leaf. Where a door is heavy, tall, or exposed to frequent use, the specification should follow the hardware manufacturer’s load guidance for the leaf mass and the number of hinges, rather than a rule of thumb carried over from domestic timber doors. Stainless steel fixings and hinges are usual in coastal and humid environments, and where dissimilar metals meet, isolation washers or suitable coatings help limit galvanic corrosion.

Continuous, Concealed and Adjustable Hinges

Continuous hinges run the full height of the leaf and distribute the load along the stile rather than concentrating it at two or three points. They are common on heavy commercial doors and on doors that need a high level of resistance to distortion. Concealed hinges sit within the frame and leaf, leaving a clean face when the door is closed, and many of them offer three-dimensional adjustment through grub screws that move the leaf vertically, laterally and in and out of the frame. Adjustable hinges of this type are convenient, but their range is finite and the manufacturer’s instructions define it. Exceeding that range loads the hinge geometry in a way it was not designed to accept.

Pivot Hinges and Floor Springs

Pivot doors turn on a vertical axis set inside the width of the leaf, with a bearing at the floor and a locating pivot at the head. The leaf’s corners sweep through arcs that are not the same as those of a hinged door, and the closing edge arrives at the frame along a curve. Adjustment on a pivot door is a different discipline: the floor pivot sets the axis, the head pivot controls plumb, and the closer or floor spring controls the closing speed and the final latching action. A pivot door that rubs is often suffering from a floor condition, a settled pivot box or a leaf that is no longer plumb, rather than from a hinge that needs tightening.

Reading Leaf Alignment

Plumb, Level and Twist

Alignment is best understood in three planes. In the vertical plane, the leading stile should be plumb through its full height; a leaf that leans shows as a tapering gap at the head or as contact at the top or bottom corner. In the horizontal plane, the leaf should sit square in the opening, with consistent margins on the lock side and the hinge side. In the third plane, the leaf should not be twisted; a twist shows as a diagonal contact pattern, where the door touches at the top of one stile and the bottom of the other.

A straight edge, a spirit level and a careful eye along the closing edge will identify most alignment faults before any adjustment is attempted. The diagonals of the leaf are also worth checking on larger doors: if the two diagonal measurements are not equal, the leaf itself may be out of square or distorted, and hinge adjustment will not correct a deformed leaf. On glazed doors, the glazing beads and the glass should be inspected at the same time, because a pane that has been packed incorrectly can hold a stile out of shape.

Load Paths and Frame Reinforcement

Every hinge transfers load into the frame. In an aluminium system that load path runs from the hinge, through the fastener, into the reinforcing insert and then into the frame anchors and the surrounding structure. A door that repeatedly drops, or a hinge that keeps working loose, is often reporting a problem further back in that chain: insufficient reinforcement, fasteners that are too short, a frame that is not securely anchored, or a substrate that has moved. Tightening the hinge again without investigating the load path simply restarts the cycle.

Clearances Are Project-Specific

There is no universal clearance figure for an aluminium door. Head clearance, jamb clearance, meeting stile clearance and threshold clearance are set by the door system manufacturer’s installation instructions, by the seals selected, by the expected movement of the building, and by the performance the assembly is required to achieve. A door that is expected to shed wind-driven rain needs its seals compressed in a controlled way; a door that is expected to satisfy an access requirement needs a threshold that does not create a barrier; a fire doorset needs the gaps that its tested configuration allows. These requirements can pull in different directions, which is why the clearance is a design decision rather than a site preference.

Head, Jamb and Meeting Stile

The head gap controls the compression of the head seal and the clearance for the leaf as it swings. Too little clearance produces rubbing at the top of the leaf, especially after the frame has deflected under wind load or the building has settled. Too much clearance reduces seal compression and allows water and air to pass. The jamb gap performs the same function on the lock side, where the seal must be compressed just enough to remain in contact without preventing the lock from engaging. On double doors, the meeting stiles carry their own seals and often an astragal or rebate, and the clearance there must allow both leaves to close without binding against each other.

Threshold and Floor Clearance

The threshold gap is the one most likely to change after handover, because floor finishes, screeds, door mats and external paving are often completed after the door is hung. A leaf that cleared the slab during installation can end up dragging on a tiled finish or a mat. The clearance must be checked against the finished floor level, not the structural slab, and it must accommodate the sweep seal or drop seal that closes the gap when the door is shut. Where a drop seal is fitted, the mechanism needs enough clearance to lift clear of the floor as the door opens; a seal that remains in contact will wear quickly and mark the floor.

Movement, Tolerance and Seal Compression

Buildings move. Aluminium frames expand and contract with temperature, slabs deflect, timber framing shrinks, and windows and doors are installed into structures that are rarely as precise as the drawings assume. Clearances and adjustment ranges have to absorb that movement without transferring it into the glazing or the lock. Seal compression is the visible indicator: a seal that is compressed to the point of being solid has no capacity to accommodate further movement, and the force required to close the door rises accordingly. A seal that barely touches will not keep out water or air. The correct condition is firm, continuous contact with the ability to recover when the door is opened.

Rollers, Tracks and Keeps

Sliding and Bi-Fold Hardware

Not every aluminium door swings. Sliding, stacker and bi-fold doors rely on rollers, tracks, guides and carriers, and their adjustment logic is different from that of a hinged leaf. Top-hung systems carry the leaf from a head track and use bottom guides to keep it in plane; bottom-rolling systems carry the leaf on rollers running in a sill track. In both cases the leaf must hang plumb and parallel to the frame, with the rollers sharing the load and the guides engaging without forcing the panel sideways.

Dragging on a sliding door is usually a roller, track or guide problem rather than a hinge problem. Debris in the track, a flattened roller, a track that is no longer straight, a guide that has been adjusted too tightly, or a leaf that has settled on one side will all produce the same complaint. Cleaning and inspection should come before adjustment, and adjustment should follow the hardware manufacturer’s sequence, because raising one roller without checking the others can lift the leaf out of its guide or reduce the overlap at the closing stile.

Keeps and Strike Plates

A keep, keeper or strike plate is the fixed counterpart to a moving bolt or latch. Its position determines whether the door closes with a light push or has to be pulled, lifted or slammed. On a multipoint door there may be several keeps along the frame, and all of them must align with their corresponding bolts at the same time. This is why hinge adjustment and keep adjustment have to be considered together: raising the leaf to clear a threshold also raises every bolt relative to its keep, and moving the leaf laterally changes the depth of engagement at every locking point.

Keeps should be adjusted only within the allowance provided by the hardware. Packing a keep out with shims, filing a keep to widen its mouth, or moving it beyond the slotted holes are all signs that the door geometry is wrong and that the correct repair lies elsewhere. On fire-rated and tested doorsets, keeps are part of the tested configuration and should not be altered without the hardware manufacturer’s and the certifier’s agreement.

Multipoint Locks and Hardware Coordination

Espagnolette and Shoot Bolt Mechanisms

A multipoint lock drives several locking points from a single handle or cylinder, usually through a gearbox and a system of tie bars or an espagnolette mechanism running in the leaf. When the handle is operated, hooks, bolts or rollers engage keeps along the frame. The system multiplies the effect of any misalignment: a leaf that is slightly low at the handle may still latch at the top and fail to engage at the bottom, or may appear to lock while the bolts are only partly seated.

Correct adjustment starts with the leaf, not the gearbox. Once the leaf is plumb, square and at the right height, the keeps can be set so that each locking point enters its keeper without force. The handle should turn smoothly through its full travel, the cylinder should operate without binding, and the door should not need to be pushed or lifted to complete the locking sequence. If the mechanism still binds after the leaf and keeps are correct, the gearbox, tie bars or faceplate may be damaged, and replacement rather than adjustment is the appropriate response.

Handles, Cylinders and Access Control

Handles and cylinders are sensitive to alignment in their own right. A lever that droops, a cylinder that is difficult to turn, or a key that has to be jiggled usually indicates that the door has moved relative to the lock case, or that the spindle and follower are not concentric. Electronic access control adds another layer: the strike or magnet must release cleanly, the door position sensor must register closure, and the request-to-exit device must operate without delay. Adjusting a door to satisfy an electric strike can leave the mechanical latch poorly engaged, so the two systems should be commissioned together rather than one after the other.

Fire Doors and Egress Hardware

Fire doorsets and doors on escape routes are not ordinary doors. Their hardware, gaps, seals and closing forces form part of a tested or assessed system, and the person adjusting them needs to work within that system. Self-closing devices must be able to close and latch the door from any open position, panic and exit devices must operate with a single action, and intumescent or smoke seals must remain intact and in contact. Adjustment that improves the swing but prevents reliable latching is a safety defect, not a maintenance success.

Seals, Gaskets and Weather Performance

Compression and Recovery

Door seals work by deformation. A gasket is compressed between the leaf and the frame, and the elastic recovery of the material maintains contact as the door moves. Foam or sponge seals, hollow bubble seals, blade seals and brush seals each behave differently. Hollow sections tolerate greater movement but can be crushed; blade seals are effective at low compression but can take a permanent set; brush seals accommodate irregular gaps but offer less resistance to wind-driven rain. Adjustment should aim for the compression the seal manufacturer intends, which is why the door clearance and the seal selection cannot be decided independently.

Seals also age. Sun exposure, heat, cleaning chemicals and repeated compression reduce their elasticity. A door that has begun to leak or whistle after several years may need new seals rather than tighter adjustment. Increasing compression on a hardened seal can distort the leaf and overload the hinges, producing the dragging that the adjustment was meant to cure.

Corners, Drop Seals and Sweep Seals

Seal continuity at the corners is a common weakness. Mitred corners can open as the door moves, and the junction between the jamb seal and the head seal is easily left with a small gap that is invisible from the inside. Drop seals and sweep seals close the gap at the bottom of the door, and their adjustment is directly affected by leaf height: lowering the leaf to close a head gap may cause the seal to drag on the floor, while raising it may leave the seal short of contact.

The frame-to-wall junction is a separate seal and should not be confused with the door seals. Water that appears at the base of a door is often entering at the perimeter of the frame, at a sill junction or through a missing bead of sealant, rather than passing the door gasket. Diagnosing the door when the defect is in the wall junction leads to repeated adjustment with no result.

Thresholds and Accessible Transitions

The threshold is where weather performance, drainage, structural support and access meet. An external door needs a sill that sheds water away from the opening, a drainage path that does not rely on the door seal alone, and a step or upstand that suits the exposure of the site. An internal door on an accessible route needs a transition that does not trip or obstruct a wheelchair, and the applicable access standard will govern what is acceptable in that project.

Threshold adjustment is often really threshold replacement. If the door has been hung to clear a threshold that is too high, or the threshold has been built up after the door was installed, the correct solution is usually to review the threshold detail rather than to plane the leaf or grind the sill. On external doors, reducing the threshold height can compromise the weather barrier; on fire doors, altering the threshold can affect the seal and the tested assembly. The decision belongs with the designer and the certifier, not with the person holding the adjustment tool.

Glazing Inside a Moving Leaf

Safety Glass and Edge Clearance

Glass in doors is subject to specific safety requirements, and the selection and installation of that glass is governed by AS 1288 and the relevant glazing standards. Doors are high-risk locations because people walk into them, push them and mistake them for openings. The glass type, the way it is marked, and the way it is retained in the leaf all form part of compliance. Glazing beads, gaskets and setting blocks must be installed as the system requires, and the glass must not be allowed to bear on the frame or on the fasteners.

Edge clearance and glazing clearance are not optional refinements. Glass that is pinched, or that sits hard against a fixing, is at risk of cracking as the leaf flexes. When a door is adjusted, the movement of the leaf can transfer load into the glazing if the beads or setting blocks are incorrect. A crack that appears shortly after adjustment is a warning that the leaf geometry or the glazing installation needs review.

Insulating Glass Units and Panel Weight

Where the leaf contains an insulating glass unit, the unit’s durability and construction are addressed by AS 4666. An insulating glass unit is heavier than a single pane of the same size, and that additional mass must be carried by the hinges, the leaf reinforcement and the frame. A door that was adjusted for a lighter panel and then reglazed will often sag, and the resulting drag is a load problem rather than an adjustment problem.

Glazing also affects the leaf’s stiffness. A large pane can stiffen a stile, but it can also restrain movement and concentrate stress at the corners if the leaf is distorted during adjustment. Before any hinge is moved, the person doing the work should confirm that the glazing is correctly seated, that the beads are fully engaged, and that the drainage path within the system is clear.

Diagnosing Rubbing and Dragging

Diagnosis should be systematic and recorded. The aim is to identify where the contact occurs, when it occurs and what has changed, before any adjustment is made. A practical sequence is set out below.

Talk to the person who uses the door. Does it drag at the top, the bottom, the lock side or the hinge side? Does it drag all the time or only in certain weather? Did it start after a floor was laid, after the building was occupied, or after a heavy delivery struck the leaf?
Inspect the whole door in the closed position. Look for contact marks on the frame, the leaf edge, the threshold and the seals. Shiny or polished spots show where metal, seal or floor is being rubbed.
Open the door slowly and watch the gap at the head and the lock side. A gap that closes as the door opens indicates a hinge-axis or plumb problem. A gap that changes only at one point in the swing indicates a twisted leaf or a bent hinge.
Check the leaf for square and twist with a straight edge and by comparing diagonals. If the leaf itself is out of shape, hinge adjustment will not fix it.
Inspect the hinges for loose screws, worn bearings, corrosion, paint or powder-coat build-up, and evidence of movement in the frame. A hinge that has pulled out of its reinforcement is a different repair from one that needs a quarter turn of adjustment.
Check the threshold and the floor finish. Confirm that the leaf clears the finished floor and any mat, and that a drop seal lifts as the door opens.
Operate the lock through its full cycle. Note whether the bolts engage without lifting or pushing the door. If the door has to be lifted to lock, the leaf height or the keeps are wrong.
Inspect the seals for compression, tears and permanent set. Check the corners and the bottom seal, where continuity is most often lost.
For sliding and bi-fold doors, clean and inspect the track and rollers before adjusting anything. Debris and worn rollers mimic alignment faults.
Record the findings and the adjustment made, including the date and the person responsible. A door that is adjusted repeatedly without a record is a door whose history is being lost.

The Boundaries of Adjustment

Adjustment has limits, and knowing them is part of competent work. Hinge adjustment can correct small variations in height, lateral position and compression. It cannot correct a leaf that is out of square, a frame that has settled, a missing reinforcing insert, a failed weld, a cracked pane or a floor that is out of level. Attempting to force those conditions through the hinge produces a door that is under stress and a hardware set that will fail early.

Certain interventions should be treated as out of bounds unless the manufacturer and the responsible designer approve them. These include elongating fixing holes, bending hinge leaves, packing hinges with washers beyond the permitted allowance, grinding or filing keeps, reducing seal thickness to stop dragging, cutting the leaf, altering a threshold, and modifying the hardware on a fire doorset or a tested weather door. Each of these changes can void a warranty, invalidate test evidence, or create a safety hazard, and each is difficult to reverse.

Where adjustment cannot solve the problem, the correct path is a documented review: report the condition, identify the likely cause, and refer the decision to the builder, the system supplier, the designer or the certifier as appropriate. That is not a failure of maintenance; it is the boundary between maintenance and rectification.

Commissioning the Door

Commissioning is the point at which the installed door is proven to do what the specification requires. It should include a check of the leaf alignment, the clearance at head, jambs and threshold, the operation of the hinges and closers, the engagement of every locking point, the compression of the seals, the drainage path, the glazing retention and the condition of the finishes. Each check should be recorded against the door identification used on the drawings.

Operation should be tested through the full swing, not just at the latch. The door should open and close without binding, the closer should control the leaf through its whole travel, and the latch should engage without assistance. On a multipoint door, the handle should complete its travel without excessive force, and the door should not need to be pushed, pulled or lifted to lock. Seals should show continuous contact, and the threshold should shed water away from the opening when tested in the way the project requires.

Commissioning also provides the baseline for future maintenance. Photographs of the hinge positions, the keep positions and the seal contact, together with a note of the adjustment settings, give the facility manager something to compare against when a complaint arises years later. On projects where performance is demonstrated by testing, the relationship between the tested specimen and the installed door should be understood: a laboratory result describes a specific configuration, and any change to hardware, glazing, seals or gaps takes the installation outside that description unless it is assessed.

Maintenance Over the Life of the Door

A maintenance regime for aluminium doors is simple but easily neglected. Hinges should be inspected for loose fixings and lubricated with a product compatible with the hardware and the surrounding finishes. Tracks and rollers should be cleaned of grit and debris, and drainage paths should be cleared so that water does not stand in the system. Seals should be checked for tears, hardening and loss of contact, and replaced when they no longer recover. Lock cylinders should be lubricated with a suitable lock lubricant rather than an adhesive or a general-purpose oil that attracts dust.

Coastal and industrial environments require more frequent inspection. Salt deposits, airborne contaminants and humidity attack fixings and finishes, and stainless steel is not immune to corrosion if it is contaminated by carbon steel debris or chlorides. In these locations, cleaning with fresh water and a mild detergent, followed by inspection of the hinge and fastener condition, is more valuable than occasional heavy lubrication. Any sign of galvanic corrosion at a fixing should be investigated before it becomes a structural problem.

Maintenance records matter for compliance. Fire doors, doors on escape routes and doors that form part of an accessible route may be subject to periodic inspection requirements, and the owner or occupier needs evidence that the inspection occurred and that defects were rectified. A simple register that lists each door, its hardware, its last inspection and any adjustment made is enough to demonstrate diligence.

Safety When Adjusting a Door

A door leaf can be heavy, and a door that is partly unhinged can fall. Adjustment should be planned so that the leaf is supported before fixings are released, and so that nobody stands in the swing path while the door is being moved. Glazed leaves add the risk of breakage, and damaged glass should be replaced rather than adjusted around. Power tools should not be used near glass unless the area is protected, and the correct personal protective equipment should be worn.

Safety also includes the door’s function. A door that is adjusted to close more easily may no longer latch, and a fire door that does not latch does not perform its role. A door that is adjusted so that its closer slams may create a finger-trap or impact hazard, particularly for children and older people. Where a door is on an escape route, the adjustment must preserve single-action operation and the required clear opening. If there is any doubt, the door should be left in a safe condition and referred for assessment rather than left half-adjusted.

Standards and the Compliance Framework

In Australia, the National Construction Code (NCC) sets the performance requirements for buildings, and the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) administers the code and its referenced documents. For windows and external glazed doors, AS 2047 provides the framework for performance and for the evidence that a system meets the required characteristics. Glass selection and installation is addressed by AS 1288, with safety glazing classification described in AS/NZS 2208. Insulating glass units are covered by AS 4666. Locksets and door hardware are addressed in the AS 4145 series, fire doorsets in AS 1905.1, access and mobility in AS 1428.1, and facade testing in AS 4284. Wind actions are described in AS/NZS 1170.2.

In New Zealand, the Building Code establishes performance requirements that include structure, durability, external moisture, internal moisture, safety from falling, means of escape and energy efficiency. These are supported by standards such as NZS 4211 for window performance, the NZS 4223 series for glass in buildings, and NZS 3604 for timber-framed construction where relevant. The compliance path may run through acceptable solutions, verification methods or alternative solutions, and the specific pathway for a project should be confirmed with the building consent authority.

Standards do not replace project-specific design. They set minimum expectations, test methods and ways of demonstrating performance, but the actual clearance, seal compression, fixing type and adjustment range for a given door come from the system manufacturer’s instructions and from the project documentation. A door that is adjusted to a generic rule of thumb rather than to its own system’s requirements may pass a casual inspection and still fail in service.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why does my aluminium door rub only in summer or only in winter?

Thermal movement changes the dimensions of the frame and the leaf, and it can also change the way a seal behaves. A door that is adjusted at one temperature may bind at another if the clearance was set at the limit of the available range. The solution is not to adjust it twice a year but to establish whether the clearance is adequate for the expected movement and whether the seals are still elastic.

Can I fix a dropping door by tightening the hinges?

Only if the hinge fixings are loose and the reinforcement is sound. If the leaf has dropped because the hinge bearing has worn, the reinforcement has failed or the frame has settled, tightening will not restore the geometry and may strip the fixing. The cause should be identified before any fastener is turned.

How much clearance should a door have?

There is no single figure. Clearance is set by the door system, the seals, the expected movement and the performance requirements of the project, and it may be constrained by fire, access or weather criteria. The manufacturer’s installation instructions and the project specification are the correct sources.

Why does my multipoint lock need the door lifted to engage?

That symptom usually means the leaf is sitting low relative to the frame, so the lower bolts cannot enter their keeps. It can also mean a keep has moved or the door has twisted. Adjusting the keeps without correcting the leaf height may allow the lock to engage while leaving the seals and the head gap wrong.

Can I remove a seal to stop the door dragging?

Removing a seal changes the weather, acoustic, smoke or fire performance of the assembly, and it is rarely an acceptable repair. If the seal is causing the drag, the correct response is to check the clearance, the seal type and the leaf alignment, and to replace a damaged or hardened seal with the specified component.

Does a new door need adjusting after installation?

It should be commissioned, which includes checking alignment, clearances, locking and seals, and making any adjustment the system allows. Buildings continue to move after handover, so a follow-up inspection after the first period of use is prudent, particularly for large or heavy leaves.

Who should adjust a fire door?

Someone competent to work on fire doorsets and aware of the tested configuration. The hardware, gaps and seals are part of the door’s performance, and changes outside the manufacturer’s guidance can compromise the doorset. Where the required adjustment exceeds the permitted range, the matter should be referred to the supplier and the certifier.

Conclusion

Hinge adjustment is often treated as a small maintenance task, but on an aluminium door it sits at the centre of alignment, weather performance, security and safety. A leaf that is plumb, square and correctly supported will compress its seals evenly, present its bolts to their keeps without force, clear its threshold and glazing, and continue to do so as the building moves. A leaf that is forced into position will do the opposite, and the symptoms will migrate from the hinge to the lock, the seal, the glass and the frame.

The disciplined approach is to measure before adjusting, to understand the system, to work within the manufacturer’s limits, and to record what was done. Where the cause lies beyond adjustment, the correct action is to report and refer rather than to improvise. Standards such as AS 2047, AS 1288, AS 4666, AS 4145, AS 1905.1, AS 1428.1 and AS 4284, together with the NCC and the New Zealand Building Code framework, provide the structure for that judgement, but the final decision for any particular door belongs to its designer, its supplier and the relevant certifier.

Aluminium Door Hinge Adjustment: Alignment, Seals, Locks and Service Checks