Iver Puerto door hardware buying guide
Puerto is the contemporary lever in the Iver range: a clean, slim lever on a round rose, made in solid brass and sold as passage, privacy and entrance kits, with a recessed flush pull for sliding doors. This guide covers the door parts only: what each kit is, how the sizes decide fit, which finishes and coatings the range comes in, and how to set out a door with it. The cabinet pulls and knobs that match are on Iver Puerto cabinet handle, and the whole range, doors and cabinets together, is on the Puerto range page. The brand overview is on Iver, and the door ranges are compared on Iver door hardware.
What the Puerto looks like
The Puerto lever is a plain bar with balanced proportions and a softly finished end, set on a small round rose. There is no ornament, and the shape is slim enough to disappear against a door in a modern house while still reading as a considered piece. It is 145mm long, 52mm wide on the rose and projects 61mm from the door face, so it sits slightly longer than most of the other Iver levers and gives a generous grip.
Because the rose is round and small, most of the door face stays clear. That suits flat doors and doors with a narrow stile, and it works equally well on a painted door or a timber one. The Puerto is the Iver range that carries through to sliding doors and cabinets with the same shape, so it is a good choice for a house where the lever, the flush pull and the cabinet pulls should all agree.
The kits
Every kit comes complete, so you do not need to source a latch or fixings separately. There are five kit types.
The passage kit latches the door without a lock. It has a tubular latch with a 60mm backset and suits hallways, living areas, laundries and any internal door that is never locked. The privacy kit with a separate privacy turn pairs the lever with a small turn on the inside, so the door can be locked from within. The turn is 52mm wide and projects 40mm, and it is also sold on its own for a door that already has a latch. The inbuilt privacy version puts the locking mechanism inside the rose, so there is no separate turn. The rose is wider at 58mm to hold the mechanism, and it suits a bathroom or bedroom where you want a clean plate.
The entrance kits are for doors that lock with a key. They use a euro mortice lock with a 60mm backset and two keys in the box, with the lock set apart from the lever. There are two cylinder types: key and thumb turn, where the key locks from outside and a thumb turn locks from inside, and key and key, where a key is needed on both sides. The thumb turn version is easier to leave in an emergency, and the key and key version suits a door where the inside must also be secured. Check which one the product names before you order, because the two use different cylinders. For sets by function, see passage door handles, privacy door handles and entry door lock sets.
Sizes that decide fit
Every Puerto kit suits doors 35 to 60mm thick, which covers most internal doors and many external ones. The backset on the latch and lock kits is 60mm, the common size on interior doors, so most replacements fit the existing hole. The lever projects 61mm, which is the number to check beside a wall or a cabinet: a handle that projects 61mm needs about that much clear room when the door opens, and a stop is a sensible addition. See door stops for options.
If you are fitting the lever to an existing door, an adaptor plate is needed when the lever is retrofitted to an existing 57 to 60mm hole. Measure the hole with a tape or a drill bit before you order, and photograph the old handle from both sides. A larger bore from an older latch can leave a gap around the new rose, and the adaptor plate closes it.
The screws supplied with Iver products are solid brass, which lets the finish match as closely as possible and avoids rust in coastal areas. Brass screws are soft, so drill a pilot hole and finish the last turns by hand.
The flush pull for sliding doors
A door that slides into a wall cavity cannot carry a projecting handle, because the handle would stop it going into the wall. The Puerto flush pull sits within the door face, so the door can slide fully into the cavity. It is 225mm long and 50mm wide, with fixing centres of 185mm and a projection of only 2.5mm, and it suits doors 35 to 60mm thick. It is made for sliding, cavity sliding and pocket doors, and it is a recessed pull with no lock.
Mark the outline from the template, drill the corners first, and cut the recess a little at a time so the pull sits level with the door face. A hollow door needs a solid block behind the pull to carry the fixing. For locking sliding doors, see cavity slider hardware and flush pulls.
Finishes and coatings
The Puerto is made in brushed gold PVD, satin nickel, signature brass, matte black and polished chrome. It is the only Iver door range made in polished chrome. Signature brass and brushed gold are warm tones, satin nickel and polished chrome are cool, and matte black is neutral and suits most colours.
The coating depends on the piece. Brushed gold is a PVD coating, which is a hard layer applied in a vacuum chamber that resists wear. The brass and nickel pieces are lacquered, and some pieces, such as the inbuilt privacy lever and the key and key entrance kit, are powder coated. A lacquered finish should be wiped with a soft damp cloth and never scoured, since scouring wears the lacquer, and a powder coat resists scuffs but can chip if struck at an edge. Check which coating your set has before you plan the cleaning.
Choose the finish by the other metal in the room. Satin nickel and polished chrome sit well with stainless steel and chrome tapware. Signature brass and brushed gold suit timber and warm paint colours. Matte black works with most colours and is a common choice for hinges and frames. See matte black, brushed nickel and brass for the wider choice in those finishes.
Reading the product names
The names follow a pattern. In Iver Puerto Lever Round Rose Entrance Kit with Separate High Security Lock Key/Thumb Satin Nickel, the range is Puerto, the handle is a lever, the plate is a round rose, the kit is an entrance kit with a separate high security lock, the cylinder is key and thumb turn, and the finish is satin nickel. A name with Inbuilt Privacy means the lock sits within the rose. A name with Passage Kit means a latch only, and a name with Privacy Kit with Separate Privacy Turn means a latch and a turn on a separate plate.
Setting out a door with the Puerto
Fit the latch first, then the spindle and the levers, then the roses. Check that the lever returns to level when released, since a lever that droops usually means a loose fixing or a spindle that is too short. For an entrance set, cut the mortice pocket to the size of the lock body, fit the euro cylinder, and test the bolt from both sides before you close the job. A mortice lock needs more careful setting out than a tubular latch, so a joiner is the safe choice for a door that is already hung.
For a privacy kit, fit the turn on the inside of the room, which is the side where the lock is used, and test the release from outside the day it is fitted. Keep the release tool where the household can find it, and show everyone how it works.
Doors the Puerto suits
The Puerto suits flat and panelled doors in timber, MDF and painted finishes, in houses from modern to renovated period homes. Because the rose is only 52mm wide, it fits a door with a narrow stile where a long backplate would not. On a four panel door, check that the rose sits clear of the panel moulding, and on a flush door the rose sits flat. For an external door, the entrance kits are the right choice, and the finish should be chosen with the exposure in mind: a covered porch is easy on the finish, while a door that takes full weather wears faster.
The range suits doors from 35 to 60mm thick. Most internal doors are 35mm or 40mm, and most external doors are 40mm to 45mm, so one range covers the house. If a door is thicker than 50mm, check that the spindle and the tie bolts reach through the full thickness, since a short fixing lets the lever rock.
Key and thumb turn or key and key
The choice between the two entrance cylinders comes down to how the door is used. A key and thumb turn cylinder locks and unlocks with a key from outside and a thumb turn from inside, so anyone in the house can leave quickly without a key. It is the usual choice for a front door and for most family homes, because the door can always be opened from inside in an emergency. A key and key cylinder needs a key on both sides, which adds security on a door with glass beside it, since a broken pane cannot be used to reach a thumb turn. The trade-off is that the key must be kept where the household can find it, because leaving the house needs the key.
If you choose key and key, plan where the inside key lives, give every adult a copy, and keep a spare with someone you trust. If you choose key and thumb turn, check that the door has no glass close enough to the turn for a person outside to reach it.
Setting out the privacy turn
A privacy turn is the small fitting on the inside of a bathroom or bedroom door that locks the latch. The Puerto turn is a round plate 52mm wide that projects 40mm. It is made to sit with the Puerto lever, so the two plates are the same size and read as a pair. Fit it at the same height as the lever, centred on the same line, so it does not look as though it was added later. Test the release from outside once the door is hung, because the lock is meant for privacy and not for security, and anyone in the house should be able to open the door in an emergency.
If you are adding a turn to a door that already has a Puerto latch, order the turn on its own. It is sold in the same finishes, so it matches the lever.
Planning a room by room order
List every door in the house against its function before you order. The front door takes an entrance kit. Hallways, living areas, laundries and pantries take passage kits. Bedrooms, bathrooms and toilets take privacy kits, with inbuilt privacy where a clean plate matters and a separate turn where a visible lock is useful. A cavity sliding door takes the flush pull. Write the door thickness beside each entry, and note any door that is thicker than the others. This list stops the wrong kit turning up for a bathroom door and makes it easy to order the whole house in one finish.
Common questions
Can the Puerto be fitted to a door that already has a latch? Yes, when the latch matches the 60mm backset and the spindle size. The kits include their own latch, so most replacements are a full swap, and an adaptor plate is used when the existing hole is 57 to 60mm.
Do the passage, privacy and entrance kits look the same? Yes. The lever and the rose are the same on every kit, so the house reads as one set. The privacy kit adds a turn, and the entrance kit adds a separate lock.
Can the Puerto be used on a bathroom door? Yes, with a privacy kit. A PVD or lacquered finish copes well with bathroom steam if the handle is wiped regularly, and polished chrome suits a bathroom with chrome tapware.
Which finish is the most durable? Brushed gold is a PVD coating and is the hardest wearing, and matte black hides marks. Polished chrome looks best but shows fingerprints most.
Matching the Puerto through a house
The simplest way to get a consistent look is to choose one finish and use it on every handle, then match the hinges and stops to it. A front door can carry an entrance kit, the hallway and living areas a passage kit, the bedrooms and bathrooms a privacy kit, and a cavity sliding door the flush pull, all in the same finish. Order the whole house at the same time, since a finish bought months later can differ slightly in tone from the first batch.
If the kitchen or bathroom joinery uses Puerto pulls and knobs, order them in the same finish so the doors and the cabinets agree. The matching pulls are on Iver Puerto cabinet handle, and the cabinet range as a whole is on Iver cabinet hardware.
Replacing existing hardware
Take off the old handle and check the spindle hole, the screw holes and the backset. A larger plate hides old paint lines and screw marks, and a smaller one leaves them showing, so decide before you fit. If the old lock was a mortice lock, a Puerto mortice entrance kit goes back into the same pocket, and a tubular latch kit does not. Check how the door hangs before you fit new handles: a door that drops at the latch edge makes any handle feel loose, and fixing the hinge first saves redoing the handle.
Heights and positions
The usual handle height is about 900 to 1100mm above the floor, and about 1050mm is common on new doors. On an existing door, use the old hole as a guide. For a pair of doors, set both handles at the same height and the same distance from the meeting edge so they read as a pair. For a flush pull, centre it on the leading edge area of the door at a height that suits the household, and use the same height on every sliding door in a run.
Care
Wipe the levers with a soft damp cloth and dry them. Keep abrasive pads, polishes and acidic or bleach-based cleaners away from the finish. Tighten the fixings once a year, because timber moves with the seasons, and if a latch sticks, a drop of light oil on the latch tongue will free it. A PVD finish is the hardest wearing, and polished chrome shows fingerprints most, so wipe it more often.
Choosing a Puerto set
Start with the function of each door, then the finish. Check the door thickness against the 35 to 60mm range, the backset against 60mm, and the spindle hole against the adaptor plate note if you are retrofitting. Choose an inbuilt privacy kit where you want a clean plate and a separate turn where you want to see the lock at a glance. For the wider choice of handles, see door handles and door knobs.
