Do you put cremone bolt on both of the French doors, or just 1?

threeapples

11 years ago

These are double doors going into the master bedroom. Also, do I just put a privacy knob on both? Thanks.

Featured Answer

User

11 years ago

A Cremone bolt is an antique/decorative latch set that consists of vertical surface-mounted half-round rods that are pushed up and down into latches at the bottom and/or top of one of a pair of doors (or windows) with a rack and pinion gearbox operated by a small knob or lever at normal knob height.

You could have matching Cremone sets on both doors but the usual setup is to put one on the inactive door and the other one would have a conventional knob or lever set that would not match since these are two very different kinds of devices and it should be obvious which door is to be normally used. This is especially important if there is an astragal that closes the gap between the doors and prevents the inactive door from opening first.

Another option is to use top flush or surface bolts on one door if it will rarely be open.

Here is a link that might be useful: cremone bolt images

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

millworkman
11 years ago
Cremone on the inactive door with dummy knows and privacy knob on the active door.
Related Professionals
Plainville Architects & Building Designers · Washington Architects & Building Designers · Lincolnia Home Builders · Bellview Home Builders · Broadview Heights General Contractors · Centereach General Contractors · Milton General Contractors · Nashua General Contractors · Panama City General Contractors · Pinewood General Contractors · Riverdale General Contractors · Saint Paul General Contractors · Springfield General Contractors · Wolf Trap General Contractors · Wright General Contractors
ElectraToo
11 years ago
Renovator8, I'm having this same issue. I would probably rarely lock my master bedroom doors, so I am fine with having to manually lock a bolt (be it cremone or surface) when I need to. Most times I'd like it to be unlocked so both doors can be opened when entering and exiting. Are you saying a standard 12" surface bolt that you might use on an exterior door could be mounted with the bolt going into the jamb at the top? Would that be sufficient to hold that inactive door stationary so that the other door could lock using a privacy lock?

I think the cremone bolts are beautiful but they are pricey and not really where I want to be splurging at this point in my budget. If a regular surface bolt would suffice, I'd prefer to use that, esp. since I'm the only one who will ever see it.
millworkman
11 years ago
Standard surface bolts should work just fine and no need to go to 12" either as a 5" or 6" would be fine.
virgilcarter
11 years ago
Unless one is concerned about a major break-in into the master bedroom, the 5"-6" (or even less) dead bolts on the inactive leaf, with a pair of matching levers or knobs as part of a standard lock set on the active leaf should work fine.

After all, how often will the MBR be locked and what's the threat potential for which locking is desired?

On the other hand, if this is the sanctuary for a dooms-day scenario, might be better to put an underground concrete storm room under the garage slab or elsewhere under the house. Don't forget the water and canned soup!
brickeyee
11 years ago
There are sets around with the same knob on the bolt side as the latch side.

The 'plain' side uses a surface mount latch.

I also recall at least on setup that had cremone hardware on one wide and a matching keyed lever set on the other.

Still not the best from a security viewpoint since the glass is easily broken, and in many cases the openings are then large enough for a person to enter.

I do not even remember if they put a dummy lever on the outside of the cremone side.

The old places I have stayed in Paris did not have anything on the 'off' side.
The cremone hardware trapped the off side closed.
One know on one side. the off side was free once the cremone side was opened.

A number of them had various systems to hold them open in a fixed position.