Different Types of Door Knockers

You’re most likely not knocking on too many doors right now – your family, your friends, your neighbours and more. We’re all practising social distancing and staying on the other side of the beautiful doors that serve as an entry to your homes. It won’t be forever, but the team at Valley Windows always wants to give you things to look forward to. Our piece of the puzzle, our niche if you will, is quality windows and doors. We aim – no, we strive, to give you a better view. So, while you’re not seeing the exterior view of your door right now, neighbours passing by are, and soon you’ll be greeting it when you come home after any sort of excursion or after a long workday.

So, why shouldn’t you have something beautiful to greet you? The colour of the door is a big piece of it and we’ve written about that on the Valley Windows blog before. Chances are good that we’ll do it again. Another piece of your door is the knocker and that brings us to today’s topic. How else are you supposed to have your guests announce their presence in a classy and creative way? There’s a common misconception that there are only one or two types of knockers and that’s simply not the case. Read on for more information.

We’re guessing that if we say door knockers, you picture a giant brass piece of art that you lift and drop so that it’s noise reverberates through the house. Your picture in your head is quite accurate – brass knockers are very popular and for good reason. They have a storied history. While they’re commonly associated with Great Britain, your fun fact for the day is that the first door knocker actually originated in Greece – as do many of our favourite architectural details.

There are two main families of door knockers – surface-mounted and through-the-door. Surface-mounted (like the style we were just mentioning) are affixed directly to the surface of your door using tools like screws. Through-the-door knocker varieties (surprise, surprise) are attached from the inside using bolts that traverse the entire depth of the door.

You can pick out door-knockers in any number of materials and this is where the real fun starts. Brass, bronze, iron, steel – pick your favourite. The most important part of this conversation is the style of your home and the colour of your door. After all, it’s the first impression for visitors when they arrive and the last impression when they leave. Living in a time period where architects, stylists and decorators are having more and more fun with what they do, you can spend hours on the internet (while safely socially distancing) determining exactly what sort of knocker you like best. The most appealing part of the selection process? It can be as short-term as you deem fit, giving you the option to change up the entry experience to your home every couple of years if you like.

Questions? Let the Valley Windows team know!