Protection Plates

How can we protect door finishes from getting scuffed and damaged by the impacts of objects moving past or through the opening? Protection Plates.

Protection plates are designed to prevent objects from damaging doors or attached hardware. Common types include kick plates, mop plates, armor plates, stretcher plates, door edges/corner guards, and latch protectors.

Kick, Mop, Armor, and Stretcher Plates

These all look very similar with different intended applications, depending on the size and position of the door.

Kick plates - normally installed on the push side at the bottom of a door and can be up to 16” tall.

Mop plates - installed at the bottom of the door but on the pull side of the door, and are typically shorter in height than kick plates.

Armor plates - protection plates that are taller than 16”. Typically, they cover the lower 1/3 to 1/2 of a door. They are often placed on doors that receive heavy cart traffic.

Stretcher plates - installed in the specific area where a gurney or cart would impact the door when it's pushed through the opening.

Door Edge Guards and Corner Guards

These have similar applications.

Corner guards - cover a portion of the door edge and wraps on to one face of the door.

Edge guards - cover the entire edge of the door and wrap around to both faces. Like protection plates, edge guards are intended to provide a layer of protection to doors that have an increased chance of damage.

Latch Protectors

Latch protectors - placed on doors where the leverset or the exit device could be damaged when moving material through the opening, and may protect against tampering with the latch or attempts to pry doors open.

Push and Pull Plates

Push and pull plates - protect doors in high-traffic areas from damage where they're most commonly in contact with hands pushing and pulling doors open.

This is part of our series on door protection. See our posts on Residential Door Stops and Commercial Door Stops to learn more about how to protect doors from damage with the right combination of hardware.