It is, of course, better to entrust the installation of an anti-burglary entrance door with a high-security lock to specialists who know not only their job, but also the working techniques of intruders. But cutting a lock into an interior door with your own hands carefully and so that the lock does not jam, the door does not rattle and its loose jamb does not spoil the finish is quite possible for any home craftsman. Just keep in mind that this lock will be “from honest people,” simply to limit access to the room. Most often, the need for this type of work arises when children grow up and/or older family members retire. Quite often, if the apartment has the office of a business person or creative worker. In the first case, the secret mechanism (cylinder) of the lock with the key hole is located inside the room; in the second outside.
Reliability problem
The reliability of an interior door with a lock has a different meaning than an entrance door. An exception is the door to a room to which access is strictly limited (storage of liquid assets, weapons room, workshop with hazardous equipment and/or harmful substances, etc.). Here you need a reliable steel door, no less resistant than the entrance one.
Note: If this is your case, check the walls first. Suddenly they are partitions made of foam blocks, gypsum boards, etc., the room is unsuitable for this purpose. The burglar will immediately see the weakness, use a super-duper lock with all its secrets and simply cut through or break through the partition.
The lock is inserted into the interior door taking into account the trace. circumstances. Atmospheric pressure at sea level is approx. 1 kgf/sq. cm. This is a very large value, we simply adapted to it in the process of evolution. For example, due to an open window, when the ventilation is turned on, due to temperature differences, etc. the pressure on one side of the door changed by only 1%, i.e. at 10 g/sq.m. cm. The area of the standard door leaf is 75x190 cm - 14250 sq. cm. The excess load on the canvas on one side will be 142.5 kgf. If the door is hung on 2 hinges, the tongue of the lock and its catch eye (mating part) under it in the door jamb will account for slightly less than half of this value; if the door has 3 hinges - a little more than a third.
Note: There is no point in hanging a door with more than 3 hinges - the concentrated load on the lock tongue and eye does not drop much, but the door jamb ends up weakened and overloaded.
70-45 kgf pointwise is a small load in general - if it is static. But dynamic, repeating and smaller ones operate on the principle “A drop wears away a stone.” In the case when the lock in the door is not inserted correctly (large play, tight movement of the tongue, etc.), over time, firstly, damage to the door and jamb develops: loosening, cracking, peeling of the door leaf coating. If the door and jamb are very strong, the wallpaper will first tear along its contour, then a crack will creep in, and the plaster will begin to crumble. Then it’s clear: unscheduled repairs with all the worries and troubles that flow from the wallet and flow into the head. Therefore, the material in this article is focused on the intricacies of work that make it possible to embed a lock into a door between rooms so that it does not rattle and spoil the room for at least 15 years.
MDF doors
The design of an MDF door is shown in the figure:
It is generally the same as the old “Khrushchev” doors made of fiberboard on a plank frame. But due to the high overall strength and rigidity of the base material, the frame is assembled from a fairly thin beam, which cannot be weakened with cutouts - the door will quickly become unusable. To insert a lock, the frame is reinforced with a backing beam (highlighted in color). For greater reliability of the entire structure, the distance from the bottom edge of the door to the longitudinal axis of the lock tongue is 965 mm by default. If the lock has a separate latch, the countdown is to the middle of the distance between the axes of it and the tongue. If there are several tongues, then to the middle of the distance between their common longitudinal axis and the axis of the latch.
Locks for interior doors
The security mechanisms for interior locks are usually simple: a cylinder cylinder or a lever. The disk larva is used less frequently.
Due to the ease of insertion, convenience and features of use, trail locks are most often installed on interior doors. species (see figure):
- “flat” - in a rectangular case, with tongue(s) separate from the latch. The mechanism, as a rule, has increased secrecy, the handle is halyard (push);
- “round” – in a cylindrical body. Any type of pen. The tongue and latch are aligned. The cylinder cylinder and latch stopper are embedded in the handle spindle;
- “flat” of reduced height without a latch with a rotary handle;
- “round” with a knob handle.
To insert a lock into an interior door carefully and securely, you must also take into account its design and the thickness of the door leaf:
- Made from MDF 35 mm thick.
- The same, 45 mm thick.
- New wooden with panel thickness from 50 mm.
- Old wooden or fiberboard on a plank frame.
Flat
Flat interior locks are the most expensive, they are more difficult to insert than round ones, but they provide the best protection against burglary by unskilled intruders. However, they weaken a door with a jamb more than a round one. This type of lock must be matched to the existing door. First, only a flat lock of reduced height can be inserted into a 35 mm thick MDF door (item 3 in the figure above).
Also, look at Fig. with dimensional drawings of flat locks. Pay attention to the sizes highlighted in color. Only locks can be inserted into MDF doors if, firstly, the thickness of the thickest tongue is no more than 15 mm. Secondly, the width of the lock's end plate should be no more than 24 mm. Reason: dynamic loads from the lock should be taken by a wooden frame, and not by a skin made of thin, rather fragile MDF. Therefore, from those shown in Fig. Only the one on the left can be inserted into MDF doors.
The castle in the center in Fig. Suitable for old wooden and “Khrushchev” doors. They are usually thicker than 45 mm, but old, shriveled wood also becomes brittle; most often also cracked. Therefore, only the thickness of the tongue and resp. becomes critical. lock body. Finally, the castle on the right in Fig. Suitable for wooden doors with a leaf thickness of 40 mm or more. If a decorative coating is applied to solid wood - for a door with a thickness of 50 mm or more, because There must be at least 10 mm of wood left from the side edges of the end plate to the coating.
Round
Round locks for interior doors are the best option for an ordinary apartment or house. You can embed them into any door. Locks with a halyard handle are usually installed where there are sick or infirm people for whom it is difficult or impossible to operate a turning handle. Knob handles are the safest: they cannot be scratched or caught on clothing. The technology for inserting round locks with handles of any type is the same.
The lock design for an interior door in a cylindrical body is shown on the left in the figure:
By default, such locks are produced for doors with a thickness of 35 or 45 mm. Locks for solid wooden doors in the periphery are not always available for sale. In this case, the lock can be adapted to a door of any thickness by replacing the latch carrier (highlighted in red in the center) with a longer one: this is a simple rectangular plate made of ordinary steel 2-3 mm thick with a hole at one of the ends. The latch output switch (on the right in the figure) is set to the corresponding position. door jamb material: 70 mm for wood, 60 for MDF.
Also, by default, round locks are released with the cylinder facing inward, so that you can lock from the inside. If your door is left-handed (opens to the left), and accordingly. There is no lock in the nearest store, the cylinder and the latch can be rearranged in advance (required!) by disassembling the lock (see the figure on the right and below). However, for an office and other premises where outsiders should not have access in the absence of the owner, this is not an option, because From the cylinder side, the round interior lock can be disassembled without special tools.
Disassembly and installation of a round lock
Round locks are sold disassembled into 3 assemblies: a body with a tongue, a socket with a latch handle and carrier, a handle socket with a cylinder. The latch socket skirt has holes for mounting screws; in the skirt of the socket larvae there are blind threaded sockets for them. To install the lock in the door, put the housing in place (see item 4 in the figure below and below) and insert the carrier into the groove of the tongue pusher. Then apply the socket to the canvas and check the movement of the latch: it should retract when the handle is turned to the right (clockwise). If on the contrary, turn the latch socket 180 degrees. Now put the socket of the larva in place so that the end of the carrier falls into its groove. They tighten the sockets with screws, put on a decorative trim - you're done.
To completely disassemble the lock, for example, to replace the cylinder, first remove the handle with it. To do this, you need to press the latch on the neck of the handle (shown by the arrow in position 1 in the figure).
The handle will slide down the chute (item 2), but the cylinder will remain in place. To get to its latch (ring or pin), as well as to the latch stop latch, you need to insert a hook into the window of the decorative trim (shown by the arrow in item 3), use it to pry the latch and pull it towards you. Now the lock can be completely disassembled. More expensive locks are also equipped with linings that cover the heads of the mounting screws. They are removed in exactly the same way.
Standing or lying down?
You need to know how your lock is disassembled and installed even before you approach the door with the tool. But let's get back to the topic. The first issue that is important for the quality of work that needs to be resolved is to remove the door from the hinges to insert the lock (to insert it “lying down”) and work in place (“standing”).
Experienced craftsmen, for whom time is money, who own power tools (see below), always work lying down. Those who are also experienced, but who do mortise locks manually from time to time, also prefer to work while lying down. In both cases, the speed, quality and stability of the work results more than pays for the time spent removing and re-hinging the door, see for example. video:
Video: inserting a door lock while lying down
A novice locksmith who intends to make money/earn extra money by cutting locks must also immediately get used to working while lying down, otherwise you won’t be able to fend off customer complaints. For the home craftsman, the “lying” method will be more convenient, firstly, when completely replacing a door with a jamb. Secondly, in the process of arranging and finishing a new house/apartment, because... The most tedious task of removing old doors is eliminated. But it is better to do a one-time manual insertion of a lock into an existing door while standing, see the video:
Video: inserting a door lock while standing
Tool
It's even more important to get the right tool. Some standard samples may need to be modified to accommodate locks, see below.
If you are going to work on doors and locks professionally and you expect a lot of orders, it is advisable to immediately acquire a plunge-cutting wood milling machine (on the left in the figure), its cost will be recouped by the speed and quality of the work.
As a rule, in addition to the carriage, plunge-cutting routers are supplied with templates, with the help of which you can carry out a full cycle of work on installing the door, see the story:
Video: installing a door with a lock mortise
For a beginner, in this case, the most important thing is not to make a mistake in choosing a rather expensive tool, so we offer a selection of videos:
Video: how to choose a wood milling machine
Video: what cutters a beginner should buy for it
Video: how to determine the quality of a cutter when purchasing
If orders for inserting locks are expected in the meantime, then the router will completely replace the proprietary template for inserting a lock with complete core drills. Its advantage is that many kits allow you to immediately accurately mark and install the mating part of the tongue (eyelet). This is the most difficult operation for inserting a lock, see below. Disadvantage – the template is only suitable for manufacturer’s locks. A possible solution is to install your own lock (bought by a master); owners of lock templates are often given discounts. The owners seem to have a good time: they don’t have to go shopping and struggle with the choice, and a small markup doesn’t hurt their pockets. But in a big city this is hardly an option - where is the guarantee that an unfamiliar master has not made duplicate keys for himself in advance?
Note: the template(s) for inserting a branded lock/locks according to his/their dimensional drawings can be made with your own hands, see next. video:
Video: a simple template for marking a door
For manual work
A one-time insertion of a lock with your own hands for yourself will have to be done manually according to the markings: it will take 3-4 hours to make the simplest template, and without it, standing in place, the greenest, but not armless, “teapot” will insert the lock in an hour. A more or less experienced home craftsman - in half an hour. For an electrified tool, you will need a drill or screwdriver with a power of 170 W or more, because... For a flat lock you will have to drill deep holes, and for a round lock, wide ones.
In addition to the usual household tools, you will need, firstly, a feather drill and, for a round lock, a core drill for wood, pos. 1 in Fig. There are no problems with crowns: the required diameters (50 or 54 mm) are standard. But the nib for a round lock needs 23 mm. This is non-standard; these do not exist in regular sets (item 2). This means you need to either look for it separately, or adjust it to 25 mm manually, for example. on a surface grinding machine – grinder. It is not advisable to turn: you can screw up the drill, the cutter, and the machine itself. The best option is a tabletop drilling machine (you can use a drill): a 25 mm pen is clamped into the chuck, turn on the drill and use an emery block to bring it to 23 mm; Micron precision is not needed here.
It is easier to select a chisel/chisels (item 3): it is used to select a recess under the end plate of the lock. Its width for most locks corresponds to the standard sizes of chisels. If the legs of the lining are rounded (nowadays they are rarely done), the chisel will need a joint knife (like a shoemaker's knife) with a hard blade, see below. A mounting knife will not work!
Finally, if you are installing a lock on an old wooden door, it is highly advisable to purchase a hand crank, pos. 4. This simple and not particularly expensive tool is generally very useful for working with old wood. Unlike a power tool, a rotator allows your hands to feel the resistance of the material - the likelihood of chipping, cracking and generally damaging the part is much less with it.
How to work manually
Inserting a lock into a door is a rather delicate matter: from the holes for the lock and tongue catcher to the outer surface of the door leaf (possibly with an expensive finish), no more than 10-12 mm of wood remains; usually 5-7 mm. Therefore, you need to work with the lock manually carefully and correctly: one awkward movement - and the door is damaged.
First, do not drill right through the door with a crown for a round lock, pos. 1 in Fig. The likelihood of ruining the finish is very high. You need to drill with a crown until the guide drill appears on the other side, and drill further from there. The hole will have a slight ledge inside, but it does not affect the quality of this work in any way.
Secondly, do not drill with a pen immediately following the markings, especially when working while standing in weight, pos. 2. First you need to drill a pioneer (guide) hole with a diameter of 3-4 mm. Achieving its deviation from the perpendicular to the part by 2 degrees or less with a twist drill is easy for a beginner, but with a pen it is difficult for an experienced one. Moreover, since the guide tooth of the pen describes, while rotating, a conical surface, it will not initially feel the bevel of the pioneer hole; it will stand perpendicular. And when the feather wings enter the tree approx. 1/3 of the height, then the entire drill will become self-guided.
If the door is wooden, then you need to select the end plate with a chisel, holding it with the bevel of the blade towards the wood, pos. 3 – this way the tool will not crash into the tree and split it. If the door is made of MDF (homogeneous material), then the chisel is held, on the contrary, with the bevel outward. This way the decorative coating will come off as shavings (item 4), but if it’s the other way around, a long flake may come off.
Note: if the legs of the end plates are rounded, resp. Parts of the markings, melted under them before being removed with a chisel, are cut with a jamb knife to a depth equal to the thickness of the end plate (2-3 mm). On MDF doors this is much simpler - the thickness of the decorative coating corresponds to the thickness of the linings, and the difference in the cutting force of the coating and the base material (it is harder) is very well felt by the hand.
About markup
Most of the marking operations when inserting a lock are carried out using templates or parts of the lock applied locally. It is better to make markings with a needle or a sharp awl, then you can process directly along the contour. If you use a pencil, then when processing you will have to take into account the width of the stroke and the indentation of the lead from the template/part, which is not easy for a good craftsman. But you cannot replace the awl/needle with a metal scriber: it is sharpened in such a way that it gives an indentation even greater than the stylus, and the scratch from it does not erase.
Flat lock mortise
The procedure for inserting a flat lock into a wooden door is shown in Fig. below. Notes to it, first - on the door, first mark with a pencil a vertical center line and a horizontal line at 965 mm from the bottom (for doors made of solid wood and old ones - at 800 mm). In this case, it is also better to make markings along the attached lock (pos. a in the figure) with a pencil and select a socket along the lock along its contour, this will provide the required installation gap.
Second, it is better to drill the lock socket (pos. b) with a feather drill with a diameter 1-3 mm larger than the thickness of the lock body. For accuracy, drill in 2 steps, along the pioneer holes, see above. Sampling the socket with a chisel, marking the outline of the hole using the lock inserted into the socket, and sampling the hole (pos. c-d) are carried out as described above.
There is a nuance in the marking of the holes for the handle cylinder and spindle, pos. e. It is made according to the lock attached to the side, but the holes are drilled with an additional offset from the end of the door S, equal to the thickness of the end plate. A shaped hole for the cylinder is made in 3 steps: drill a round one for the cylinder (larger), a smaller round one for the bottom of the pin cassette, and remove the remains with a chisel.
The last operation is fitting the lock, see fig. on right. It is put into the nest without the handle and the larva, and both are put in place. A loose lock assembly should have a play of approx. 1 mm on all sides.
Note: The handles from the flat lock can be removed if you unscrew the screws holding the sockets together, as with a round one, see above. There is no need to remove anything else from the lever lock. To remove the cylinder lock cylinder, you need to unscrew the Phillips screwdriver, the head of which is located on the end plate under the tongue/tongues. After this, turn the cylinder of the larva with a key little by little back and forth, pushing the larva with your finger until it comes out. The larva is put in place in the reverse order. After installation, check, also turning the cylinder with a key, whether the tongue moves, i.e. whether the carrier (link) of the larvae entered the groove of the tongue crossbar.
Round lock mortise
Installing a round lock on an interior door is much easier than installing a flat one. First, pioneer holes are marked using a template according to the thickness of the door and the exit of the tongue. The marking is carried out from the side of the larva. If the sockets of the cylinder and the latch need to be swapped, this is done before marking, see above. Then the pioneer holes are drilled. There is one very important trick here, which is discussed below in the section on installing the response part. Then large holes are selected with a crown, and the lock is inserted into the socket. The countersunk is marked along its end plate, selected, and the lock is assembled on site using standard screws.
Drawings of templates for marking doors for round locks with a diameter of 50 and 54 mm are given in the figure. To transfer them to cardboard/paper, the drawing is printed and redrawn to scale so that the distances marked in green are equal to those indicated. This can be done the old fashioned way with a drawing pantograph; homemade will work too. More accurate and faster - in a good vector graphics program, for example. CorelDraw. There you can set the length of the measured segment with an accuracy of literally up to a micron, and scale it in steps of hundredths of a percent. The raster image (bitmap) is imported into CorelDraw, scaled according to a measured segment (CorelDraw also has measuring tools, but in this case it is more convenient to scale as needed) and printed - that’s it, the template is ready.
Installation of the mate
This is the most difficult and important part of inserting a lock into an interior door. It is an incorrectly installed or bad eye that is the most common cause of rattling and skewing of the door, jamming of the lock, loosening of the jamb and damage to the wall finish. To avoid this, a modern lock tongue eyelet consists of 2 parts (except for fastening hardware): the eyelet itself (lining on the jamb with a cutout for the tongue) and a tongue catcher - a plastic box (on sale for some reason it is called decorative, although it is not visible ), pressed by the eye. The box dampens dynamic loads on the tongue and protects the jamb material from direct contact with it. For the same purposes, the eyelet is made with an adjustable mustache, see below.
About markings under the tongue
Installation of the eye begins with marking the end of the lock tongue on the jamb; everything else is not tied to. Usually the tongue on a joint is marked by marks and measurements, see fig. on right. But this can be done much more accurately in other ways, different for flat and round locks. In the first (“flat”) case, a lining with a thickness of approx. 2 mm is the size of the operational gap of a closed door. The simplest way is to fold a piece of paper into several layers, wet your finger, place it on the paper and immediately stick it on the door. Then washable paint is applied to the tongue of the lock (you can smear it thickly with a felt-tip pen). The door is now closed until it slams, i.e. until it stops at a quarter, and with a key push the tongue several times until it stops in the jamb. It will leave a mark clear enough to mark the full outline of the tongue.
In the case of a round lock, the matter is simplified again. There is no need to coat its tongue with paint, especially since it is beveled and has a complex cross-section. But you need to take your time at the end of the door to drill a 23 mm hole (socket) for the lock body. They drill a 50 or 54 mm hole in the canvas for the sockets, and for now leave a pioneer hole with a diameter of 4 mm at the end. Then the door is closed until it slams (without lining), a 4 mm self-tapping screw is inserted from the cylinder side and the center of the tongue on the jamb is marked with it. For clarity, what it looks like with the door open is shown in Fig. on the right, but in reality the door should be closed. The tip of the screw will go 1-1.5 mm as the door opens, which will give the required operating clearance.
Installation of eye and catcher
Installation of the counterpart of the interior door lock after marking the tongue mark on the door jamb is carried out step by step. order (see also fig.):
- The lock must be fully assembled on site and securely fastened;
- The eyelet is turned over (it is symmetrical about the horizontal axis), placed in place so that the vertical axes of the tongue and eyelet coincide and its mounting holes are marked (marked with arrows). Do not bend or break off the adjusting tab (also marked with an arrow)! At the same step, a pocket with a depth of the thickness of the eye is selected;
- Apply the catcher in the same way and mark the outer contour of its tray with marks by hand;
- The outer contour of the catcher tray is beaten in place;
- Drill a socket for the catcher. Do this with a pen, as in pos. 5, actually it’s not necessary, especially if the jamb is made of MDF: a through hole from the guide tooth will weaken the jamb. It is better to drill in the corners with a twist drill;
- Using a chisel, select the catcher's nest;
- The catcher is already applied in the working position;
- Mark its outer contour;
- Choose a trap under the catcher;
- The catcher is put in place;
- Cover it with an eyelet already in the working position;
- Drill holes locally for small self-tapping screws, with a diameter 1.5-2 mm smaller than the standard ones;
- Temporarily secure the eyelet with small self-tapping screws;
- Check the movement of the tongue (whether it is stuck) and the play of the closed door - yes, no;
- The tight movement of the tongue and the play of the closed door are eliminated by removing the eye and carefully bending/bending its adjusting tab;
- The mating part is finally secured with standard fasteners.
Note: The adjusting tabs of the mate parts of cheap “alternative” locks often break off at step 15. The only thing I can advise here is to bend it carefully with pliers.
About magnetic locks
There are mainly 3 types of magnetic locks for interior doors on sale. The first ones - electromagnetic - came into everyday life along with intercoms. The disadvantages are the same: they are volatile, the electricity is small, but they drain. If the room is de-energized, the lock opens without the possibility of locking - enter whoever wants. Additionally, in residential premises, you need to drill a channel in the door, and tap a groove in the walls for the power wires. Or cover them with boxes, which is also quite labor-intensive and ugly. An electromagnetic interior lock most often fits like a round one; less often as flat. Suppliers even offer coded electromagnetic locks for interior doors. In a Stalinist-style communal apartment or for partitions in a privatized dorm, these may be needed. But in a family apartment or house, it frankly smacks of paranoia.The second type is still very rare due to the sky-high price and the lack of any advantages over mechanical ones. These are non-volatile locks with niobium supermagnets. They cut in like flat ones, but the requirements for accuracy and precision of work are lower: the counter part is a strip made of ferromagnetic material. It is impossible to push open a door with a supermagnet lock, and not every healthy man can knock it down with his shoulder. Unlocking - interception of the magnetic flux by countermagnets introduced by turning the handle between the holding ones. The disadvantage is serious: fairly rapid degradation of magnets.
Reading time ≈ 3 minutes
Installing a locking mechanism in an interior door allows you to increase the comfort of your stay. To carry out installation, you need a small number of tools: drill, screwdriver. Any homeowner can do the job. It takes about 15-30 minutes to insert a lock into an interior door with your own hands.
What tools are needed to install the lock?
The accuracy of installing a lock on an interior door depends on the correct preparation, tools and components used. The use of amateur or professional equipment will increase the reliability of the design and simplify the installation procedure. To work, the owner will need:
- set of handles and lock mechanism;
- chisel;
- self-tapping screws (included) and a screwdriver;
- feather drill for wood 23 mm;
- drill and hole saw for wood (diameter 5 cm).
If you don’t have the tools, it is recommended to borrow them from friends or neighbors. It is impossible to carry out the work carefully without the use of auxiliary equipment. A detailed study of photo instructions and advice from craftsmen will help you learn how to embed a lock into an interior door.
Step-by-step instructions for installing a lock on an interior door
After purchasing the kit and preparing the tools, you can immediately start working. Additionally, it is recommended to study the requirements and recommendations of the lock manufacturer. Direct insertion of the lock is carried out according to the following instructions:
1. 95 cm is measured from the bottom of the canvas, 6 cm is measured from the edge. The intersection point is marked with a pencil on the canvas itself.
2. The mark from the canvas is transferred to the center of the end part (using a square).
3. At the point marked on the end, using a pen drill and a drill, a hole is drilled for the locking mechanism.
4. A hole for handles is prepared on the blade using a hole cutter at the previously established mark.
5. The locking mechanism is inserted into the hole prepared at the end of the door, traced around the perimeter with a pencil, and removed from the hole.
6. Using a chisel, an area for the lock is prepared in the end part (along the marked perimeter of the outer part of the mechanism). The thickness of the cut-out section should be equal to the thickness of the lock latch (approximately 0.5 cm).
7. The lock is installed and fixed in the prepared hole using self-tapping screws.
8. The handle with screws is installed first. First, the screws are unscrewed, then the handle is installed in the door.
9. From the second part of the element, remove the handle itself and the decorative trim (using the key from the kit). This procedure is well demonstrated in the attached video instructions.
10. The second part of the handle is inserted into the door and secured with screws. The decorative overlay and the handle itself are installed. The installation work is completely completed.
After the installation is completed, the contractor will only have to check the operation of the elements and remove the resulting debris. In the future, it will be necessary to periodically adjust the handles (every 3-4 years) due to their loosening as a result of use. The lock is lubricated in case of severe jamming (ingress of dust, debris). The mechanism is disassembled and processed according to the manufacturer's instructions.
When installing a lock on an interior door yourself, you should remember to carefully drill holes and cut out the area for the latch. Drilling holes with a cutter must be done on both sides of the blade. This will help you prepare the required diameter and easily install the components. It is also important to gradually tighten the screws holding the handles together. When tightened too tightly, the likelihood of the elements fitting too tightly and the difficulty of opening the door increases. Compliance with these requirements will help you install the lock efficiently without professional help.
Video of inserting a lock into an interior door with your own hands
Have you ordered the installation of interior doors, but for some reason did not install locks on them? Don't worry, you can do this kind of work yourself. Next, we will show you step by step how to embed a lock into an interior door, but since locks are different, you will learn how to correctly embed a lock in 2 options, with your own hands and with a minimum set of available tools.
Fitting a lock into an interior door with your own hands is a very real task for a home craftsman.
In specialized departments, the number of different types of locks and constipations dazzles the eyes, however, specifically for interior doors, there are only 2 types of locks:
- A regular latch with a handle, which is designed to simply fix the door leaf in the opening. Often such mechanisms are installed in services or in the kitchen. They differ from their competitors in that there are no keys. At most, they can have a rotary lock;
Latch locks are not intended for permanently locking doors.
- The second option can already be called a full-fledged lock with a set of keys. In apartments and houses, such locks are rarely installed on interior doors. Most often, this type of door lock is used in offices where there is a need to lock department doors.
Major installation of a lock on an interior door requires a set of keys.
Relatively recently, such a curiosity as a magnetic lock appeared on this market. It is inserted in exactly the same way as a regular one, but it works a little differently. There are 2 magnets installed, one in the lock, the second in the strike plate. When closing the canvas, they are attracted and the doors click into place.
To open such a mechanism you need to turn the handle or key. The solution is certainly interesting, but it is not in great demand among people. Firstly, the price of a magnetic door lock is higher, and secondly, not everyone likes such automatic locking, plus various metallic debris is attracted to them.
Installing magnetic locks on interior doors is not yet very popular.
Self-installation of locks in 2 options
We’ve decided on the locking models, now let’s talk about how to install them yourself in interior doors. But first, let's look at the tool, since in both cases the set is the same.
Minimum set of tools
To install a lock on an interior door, you don’t need many tools, plus all the tools are relatively inexpensive; often every home craftsman has such a set.
- Electric drill;
- Screwdriver or set of screwdrivers;
- A pair of chisels with a sting of 10 mm and 20 mm;
- Tape measure and pencil;
- Hammer;
- A 23 mm drill bit for wood, or better yet a set of 10 – 25 mm drill bits;
- A wood bit with a diameter of 50 mm and an adapter for an electric drill for this bit.
Installing locks on interior doors does not require a large number of expensive tools.
Option number 1. Install a light latch
We begin installation, as usual, with markings. The distance from the bottom edge of the door leaf to the core of the lock according to the rules is 950 mm. In office buildings, it is advisable to adhere to it so that the fireman does not get nervous, but at home it can be placed at any height.
Often on such latches the distance from the side edge of the blade to the center of the mechanism is 60 mm. But it is better to clarify this parameter in the instructions for the mechanism, because the insertion depth may differ in different models.
Information on the lock's insertion depth is in the instructions for it.
Now, using a square or the same tape measure, we transfer the side mark to the center of the end of the door leaf and make a mark.
To drill a strictly horizontal, even hole on an already installed door, it is advisable to firmly fix the leaf. The easiest way is to insert a couple of wedges on both sides between the floor and the canvas. Then insert a feather drill (23 mm) into the drill and drill a horizontal hole along the length of the mechanism.
Be careful, the slightest misalignment to the right or left can cause the drill to come out from the side and irrevocably damage the blade.
To cut a hole on the front of the canvas we will need a wood crown. Insert it into the drill and start drilling according to the markings. But at first the hole is not drilled all the way through, but only until the moment when the central drill of the crown comes out from the back side. After that, pull out the crown and do the same on the back side.
The moment of drilling the blade with a crown on both sides is very important; if you try to go through the entire blade on one side, then when it comes out, the crown can seriously damage the back side of the blade.
Now you need to insert the lock into the end hole and outline the perimeter of the lock plate. Make sure that the bar is in a strictly vertical position.
The stock for the lock's end plate is cut out using a chisel. Be careful not to go too deep, often 1 - 1.5 mm is enough. If you accidentally choose a groove that is too deep, you can place a piece of cardboard or paper under the bottom.
To firmly secure the mechanism, it must be inserted into the hole and secured with two self-tapping screws. Self-tapping screws will fit much better if you first mark the entry points with an awl or drill holes with a thin drill.
Option No. 2. Put a permanent lock
We will not repeat the marking technique for this type of lock again, since any locks on interior doors are installed at the same height. But it is highly undesirable to install permanent locks hanging, so you will need to remove the door leaf from the awnings, then install and secure it with the end up.
Unlike a simple latch, a capital lock has a rather large mechanism. We will select the groove for it using the same feather drill; to do this, you need to mark the center line at the end of the blade. Then we select a feather drill according to the thickness of the lock and drill a series of holes to the depth of the lock.
When the hole is completely selected, all we have to do is select the stock for the lock face plate. The sampling technology is identical and we have already talked about it above. Next, screw the lock, insert the handles into it and mount the decorative trims.
A few words about installing the strike plate
The technique for installing the strike plate for a small latch and a major lock is no different. If you have mastered the insertion of the lock into the canvas, then installing the strike plate on the lock will not cause you any difficulties.
First, a hole is marked on the loot and drilled for the lock tongue. Then we apply the counter strip to the loot and trace it around the perimeter. Now all that remains is to cut out the stock under the bar with a chisel and screw it on with self-tapping screws.
Installing a strike plate is often not difficult.
Conclusion
Fitting a lock into an interior door is not a tricky task and any home craftsman can do it. The main thing is not to forget about the little things that we pointed out in the article.
Sections of the article:
Quite often, doors do not have locks installed at the time of sale. Of course, you can order their installation additionally. However, the cost of a product with installed fittings is much higher, and for budget repairs such an expense will most likely be unjustified. Having basic knowledge of carpentry, you can embed a lock into an interior door yourself.
Selection of locking mechanism
Before starting work, decide on the type of lock to be installed, since different models have their own nuances in preparing holes in the door leaf. So, when selecting a lock, the main attention should be focused on the appearance of the product. In most cases, mortise locking mechanisms for interior doors are equipped with door handles or are integral with it.
If there are several doors in the room, the selected fittings should be as close as possible to the existing locks or be combined with them.
Since there are a huge number of mortise locks, they are classified conditionally into the following types:
- Push with straight shapes;
- Round or knobs.
Locks are also divided according to the type of fixation of the reed element. So there are roller, halyard and magnetic locks. Roller ones move with the help of a spring and roller elements. Bevel locks are the most common mechanisms and can secure the position of the latch if necessary. In the magnetic system, the tongue is attracted by a magnet, and the installed spring blocks the movement.
In addition to such mechanisms, cylinder, disk and lever locks are used to embed into interior doors. For sliding sliding doors, locking systems with an L-shaped crossbar are installed. This design makes it easy to grip the plate. Position adjustment is carried out using a rotary plate.
Tools and preparation for work
In order for the installation of a lock on an interior door to be faster and of higher quality, it is necessary to initially prepare all the tools necessary for the work. So, during the preparation and installation process you will need:
- Lock;
- Electric drill with a set of feather-type wood drills or crowns;
- A simple or construction pencil for marking. It is possible to use colored crayons with a contrasting shade for the canvas;
- A tape measure or a centimeter, as well as a ruler, a square;
- Chisel;
- Carpenter's knife;
- Hammer. It is better to take a lightweight and small size for ease of use;
- File;
- Screwdriver Set;
- Bit.
Features of working with various materials
Before the process of cutting a hole in the door itself, it is necessary to carefully take all the necessary measurements. In addition, you should take into account the material from which the door leaf is made. This need arises due to the peculiarities of the filling of door structures.
The easiest door to work with is a door made of natural wood. However, such products are not very common nowadays. It is also not too difficult to cut a hole for a lock in sheets with a protective laminated layer applied. But for high-quality execution and to ensure the integrity of the door surface, it is necessary to use a drill with a special “crown” attachment.
One of the most difficult locking mechanisms to install is an interior door made of MDF. When working with it, it is necessary to take into account that almost always manufacturers place an additional wooden block inside such canvases at approximately a height of 90 to 110 cm.
Determining the optimal installation location
To install locks on interior doors, you need to determine the location of the handle that is comfortable for use. Undoubtedly, according to GOST, the height at which the lock is recommended to be installed is 100 ± 10 cm. However, such calculations were performed for people of average height.
To determine the comfortable height of the handle with a lock, you should focus on the level of your elbow. This height of the lock is the most convenient for a particular person.
If you want to insert a lock into an interior door not on the handle mechanism itself, but under it, you should opt for push products. To install such a lock, a fairly large section of the inside of the door is drilled from the end side. In addition, it is necessary to drill through holes for the keyhole and the rotary locking element, as well as square holes for mounting handles.
Installation of the push mechanism
Initially, it is necessary to determine the dimensions of the internal hole. To do this, the existing lock is applied to the side of the door so that the decorative strip lies in the same plane as the end of the door. The product is outlined with a simple pencil. After this, using a corner, the lines are connected on the end of the door.
Drilling a hole deep into the blade is done with a chisel drill. The hole of the required size is selected using a hammer and chisel. The place for the faceplate is selected using a chisel.
Using a square, mark the location of the square for the door handles and keyhole. After this, the holes are drilled. This procedure is performed alternately on both sides of the canvas to avoid damage to the coating.
After preparing and cleaning all mounting holes from sawdust, the lock is installed in the interior door and secured with a escutcheon using self-tapping screws. After installing the handles on the squares and securing them with self-tapping screws, a decorative ring is applied. Its installation is carried out through flange holes.
The final stage of installation is to install the strike plate by using a chisel to make a recess and drill a hole for the tongue.
Handle-lock knob
This castle is one of the most popular. This trend is explained by the original appearance of the product and ease of use. However, the knob handle is not always equipped with a lock. The product may have a rotary type latch with a latch tongue or a spring reed element without the possibility of fixation.
To carry out installation, it is necessary to drill a hole of the appropriate size using a “crown” attachment.
Knob installation
In most cases, installing a lock on an interior door is done on an already hung door leaf. Of course, it is permissible to embed a lock into a removed door, however, to install the strike plate and cut a hole for the tongue, a measurement is required on the fixed door leaf. This will allow you to effectively compare all design elements.
It is worth knowing that the procedure for inserting a locking system of this type can be carried out at any convenient height of the door leaf. However, when working with frame doors, you should perform the insertion carefully in order to avoid damage to the door leaf. The task is made easier by the manufacturer's installed bar for inserting the handle and lock, located at a distance of 100 cm from the floor.
To install the lock, 2 holes are cut: in the end part for the latch and in the leaf to accommodate the rotary handle of the product. Initially, you need to do the marking. The distance from the bottom of the door is 96.5 cm. The distance from the end of the door leaf is based on the length of the lock latch. On average, this figure is 6-7 cm. The intersection point of these lines is the center of the hole for the knob handle.
Drilling a hole in the canvas is carried out in several stages. After installing a “crown” attachment of a suitable diameter into the drill, partial drilling is performed on one side of the door. Initially, you can insert the nozzle approximately halfway into the canvas. After this, drilling is done from the reverse side. This time a through hole is drilled. Such measures are necessary to ensure the integrity of the canvas and protection against chipping.
After this, a feather-type attachment for woodworking is installed in the electric drill. The hole for the latch is drilled from the end part of the blade after mandatory marking. Expanding the hole to the required size is done using a chisel.
A latch is inserted into the hole thus obtained. To select a place for mounting the strip, the part itself is first placed on the end and outlined with a pencil. When working with a veneered door, you must carefully cut through the required shaped layer of coating. In order to embed a lock into an interior door, a carpenter's knife is used. After sampling, the latch is secured using self-tapping screws.
To install the knob handle, you need to disassemble its upper part and remove the decorative ring. The outer part of the product, which has bushings for screws, is applied to the prepared hole. The inner part is applied to the opposite side of the canvas and both halves are connected with screws. After these procedures, a decorative ring is applied. The handle is installed by pressing until it clicks.
The strike plate is mounted where the tongue stops. A hole for it is drilled, and the place for the strip is prepared with a chisel. The plank is secured with self-tapping screws.
Additional accessories
When using a mortise lock, dust often collects in the hole in the strike plate, which is intended to hold the tongue, and chips also form in the hole. Such phenomena worsen the operation of the mechanism and the design of the interior door as a whole.
To avoid such consequences for the strike plate, there are special cell attachments for the reed element. In most cases, such a cell is made of durable plastic and is mounted under the strike plate.
This article will help you figure out how to embed a latch handle into a door leaf. By adhering to the work algorithm described in the article, you can easily do this operation yourself, with a minimum set of tools and very quickly.
No door can do without a handle. The most popular type of handle for interior doors today is the latch handle.
The design of handles of this type is such that, regardless of appearance, they are all installed in the door leaf in the same way. This article will tell you how to do it yourself.
Latch handle design
The handle itself, that is, the visible part of it, can look completely different. So:
or like this:
All these latch handles essentially consist of two parts - the handle itself:
and the latch mechanism:
Both parts of the latch handle require separate insertion into the door leaf.
Latch handles come without a latch - a door with such handles cannot be locked from the inside, with a latch - an additional turning mechanism installed on the handle and allowing you to lock the door from the inside, and a key - on one side of the handle there is a key holder that allows you to lock the door from the outside, on the other there is a latch . All handles have design differences that do not in any way affect the insertion process. The internal part (latch) is also the same, that is, it cuts in the same way for all types of latch handles.
So let's get started.
Necessary tool
To make the process of installing the latch handle as easy as possible, you will need:
- Hand drill or screwdriver.
- Wood crown with a diameter of 50 mm.
- Wood drill with a diameter of 23-24 mm.
- Chisel.
- Hammer.
- Pencil.
The crown and drill can be purchased separately, or in the form of a set, which is called “Kit for inserting latch handles.”
Installing the latch handle
1. We begin the installation process by marking the door leaf for drilling. The marking diagram, as a rule, comes complete with the handle.
If there is no diagram, you can mark it manually. To do this, place a mark at a distance of 60 mm from the edge of the door.
2. On the side edge of the door, along the center marking line, mark the center for drilling.
3. Using a chisel, hollow out a three-millimeter recess under the face plate of the latch. It makes sense to first mark the center with an awl so that you don’t have to mark it again.
4. Using a crown with a diameter of 50 mm, drill a through hole. It is better to do this on both sides of the door to avoid damage to the door covering at the exit of the crown when drilling.
5. As a result, we get the following hole:
6. Move on to the side edge. Using a wood drill with a diameter of 23-24 mm, drill a hole for the latch into the marked center. You should not make it too deep, otherwise you risk drilling through the door all the way to the panel.
7. We now have two holes.
8. Install a latch in the side hole and screw it with self-tapping screws.
9. Remove the upper part of the handle. To do this, look for a hole on the side.
Using the included key or any other thin flat object:
press the tongue inside the hole:
and remove the handle itself:
10. Remove the decorative trim and thereby open the mounting holes.
11. Insert the outer half of the handle.
12. Insert the inner half. We tighten both with the screws included in the kit.
13. Put on the decorative trim and handle body. Don't forget to press the inner tongue with the key.
14. With the door closed, mark the place where the door jamb latch tongue touches, and then hollow out a recess for the latch tongue in the resulting location.
15. Insert a decorative plastic pocket.
16. Screw on the metal plate.
17. The handle is installed.
If you don’t have a drill, then all the holes can be made using a suitable chisel, however, in this case, installing the handle will require more serious repair and construction skills and may turn out to be an overwhelming task for an untrained person.