Door stops, wedges and floor guides: the small hardware nobody thinks about

This is the hardware that gets bought after something has already been damaged. It is inexpensive, it is quick to fit, and choosing the right type takes about a minute of thought.

Wall-mounted versus floor-mounted stops

A wall-mounted stop is easiest to fit and needs a solid fixing behind it – into a stud, or with a proper hollow-wall anchor, because it takes a repeated impact. Fitted into bare plasterboard it will eventually punch through, which is the problem it was bought to prevent.

A floor-mounted stop takes the load into the floor and does not depend on the wall at all. It is also a trip hazard and a nuisance when vacuuming. Hinge-mounted stops avoid both but limit the opening angle more tightly.

Magnetic catches for doors that must stay open

A magnetic hold-open keeps a door back against a wall, which matters in a hallway where a door swinging shut in a draught is a daily irritation. Fit the magnet to the wall and the plate to the door, not the other way round.

Never fit one to a fire door. Fire doors are required to close, and holding one open defeats the only thing it exists to do.

Wedges: the underrated version

A rubber wedge is the most flexible option: portable, non-marking on most floors, and it holds a door at any angle rather than one. The better ones are heavily ribbed underneath and hold on hard floors as well as carpet.

A wedge that also works as a stop on the wall side – some are shaped for both – is genuinely useful in a rented flat where fixing anything is discouraged.

Sliding closet doors and the floor guide

Sliding doors that swing at the bottom, jam, or come off their track have almost always lost the small floor guide at the centre of the opening. It is a stamped steel or moulded plastic part costing very little, and it is the entire fix.

Guides are not universal. Match the profile to your door thickness and to the existing screw positions, or you will be drilling new holes in the floor.

Track and roller wear

A sliding door that grinds usually has flat spots on the nylon rollers or grit in the track. Vacuum the track, then check whether the rollers still turn freely by hand. Rollers are replaceable on most systems and cost a fraction of a new door.

Adjusting the roller height screws is what levels the door in the opening; do it with the door hung and the gap visible.

Shower curtain hooks, briefly

Double hooks let a liner hang inside the tub and the curtain outside, which is what stops water on the floor. Rustproof material matters here more than anywhere else in the house because the environment is permanently wet.

Roller hooks glide more quietly than plain ones on a metal rail and are worth the small difference in a bathroom next to a bedroom.

Fitting notes

Everything here goes into a floor, a wall or a door edge, and everything here gets repeated force. Pilot-drill rather than driving screws straight into hardwood, and use the anchor grade appropriate to the wall rather than what came in the packet.

The pack usually contains the cheapest possible fixings. Replacing them costs pennies and is the difference between fitting it once and fitting it twice.

Buying once

These parts are cheap enough that buying two of each and keeping a spare is sensible. They are also the items least likely to still be stocked in the same pattern in three years, which matters when you want the second one to match the first.

We list material, fixing type and, for guides and rollers, the compatible door thickness on every listing – the details that decide whether a part fits the door you already own.