Door stop

Door stops are objects or devices used to hold a door open or closed, or to prevent a door from opening too widely.

Holding doors open

A door may be held open by a door stop which is simply a heavy solid object, such as a brick, placed in the path of the door. These stops are predominantly improvised. Historically, lead bricks have been popular choices when available. However, as the toxic nature of lead has been revealed, this use has been strongly discouraged.

Another method is to use a door stop which is a small wedge of wood, rubber, plastic or another material. Manufactured wedges of these materials are commonly available. The wedge is kicked into position and the downward force of the door, now jammed upwards, onto the door stop provides enough static friction to keep it motionless. These are safer to use than simple heavy objects, as they generally weigh much less. Moreover, they are easier to transport. However, if the floor is slick it may be difficult to get them into place and in any case they must be in the correct orientation to work.

A third strategy is to equip the door itself with a stopping mechanism. In this case, a short metal bar capped with rubber or another high friction material is attached to a hinge near the bottom of the door opposite the door hinge and on the side of the door which is in the direction that it closes. When the door is to be kept open, the bar is swung down so that the rubber end touches the floor. In this configuration, further movement of the door towards being closed increases the force on the rubber end, thereby increasing the frictional force which opposes the movement. When the door is to be closed, the stop is released by pushing the door slightly more open which releases the stop and allows it to be flipped upwards.

Image:Brick_door_stop_in_action.jpg|A metal brick used as a door stop Image:Wooden_wedge_door_stop.jpg|A hand-made wooden door stop Image:Rubber_door_stop_in_action.jpg|A commercially available rubber door stop Image:Built-in_door_door_stop_in_action.jpg|A door mounted door stop

Preventing damage by doors

The second category of door stops is used to prevent doors from opening too far and damaging nearby walls. In this case a short length of rubber-tipped wood or metal is screwed into either the wall or the floor in the path of the door. If it is attached to the wall, it may be either a few inches above the ground, at such a height as to meet the doorknob, or, least often, near the top of the door.

On occasion, stops are used that are fitted at the midpoint of the door, as part of the central door-hinge. Such a stop is known as an "hinge pin".

Image:Built-in_wall_door_stop.jpg|A doorknob-blocking wall mounted door stop Image:Built-in_floor_door_stop.jpg|A floor mounted door stop Image:No_Door_Stop.jpg|What can happen without a door stop

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