Surface-mounted vs concealed door closers

The difference that actually decides it

Both patterns close a door. The difference that matters in practice is timing: a surface-mounted closer can be fitted to a door that is already hanging, and a concealed one cannot. The leaf needs a pocket cut for the body and the frame needs preparing, and both are far cheaper at the door factory than on site.

Surface-mounted

• Fits an existing door with no machining.
• Closing speed, latch speed and — on an adjustable model — closing force are reachable with the door still hung.
• Visible: a body on the leaf and an arm to the frame.
• Replacing one is unscrewing it and screwing on another.

Concealed

• Nothing visible when the door is shut.
• Has to be decided before the leaf is made, or the door has to be taken off and machined.
• Adjustment means reaching the valves through whatever access the design provides.
• Leaf thickness and grooving dimensions have to match the specific model. Confirm them before anything is cut.

What we would ask you

Is the door already made? If yes, the question is usually settled. If not, does the opening have a reason to hide the closer — a lobby, a showroom, an architectural specification — that justifies committing to the machining now?

Either way the sizing question is the same: measure the leaf, weigh it or describe it, and tell us whether the door is exposed.