Strike Lock Entry – Operation Refuge

Strike Lock Entry

What You Need To Know When Changing The Doors On An Existing Home

Its time to renovate your home and one of the biggest impacts you can make is to change the old interior doors with a new 6 panel model like you see on the right. At first glance this seems like a very easy task. You unscrew the old doors from the frames and screw new ones in. Simple right? Unfortunately there are a couple things that usually go wrong so to save you time and frustration I'll tell you what those are and how you can fix them.

The problems that occur can take a bit of time but are not usually a very big deal in the grand scheme of things. When a house is built it settles for the first few years. This means that if something was square when it was built it may not be the same shape 20 years later, or even 5 years later. The problem this causes is that when you put a new door in the same way as the old one it may not fit all that well. This means that you may need to sand or cut the door so that it fits in the jam properly.

To do this make sure you absolutely measure everything properly. Take a square and make sure that the Jam is still square. If it is then you just need to measure the length of the door and make sure that it is cut short enough that the flooring properly fits underneath. If it is not square you will need to find out what it is off by and plane or cut the door to fit properly. Once you have the dimensions that fit the jam properly you need to again measure the door and cut off enough at the bottom for the floor to have clearance.

The next problem you may have it that the strike from the door handle/lock no longer lines up with the old strike plate in the door jam. If this is the case then take a pencil and mark where the middle of the strike is when you close the door. Now you will need a hammer and a chisel. Take the strike plate that you are going to use and outline it where it needs to go on the door jam with a pencil. The hole in the middle of the strike plate should line up with the mark you made earlier showing where the middle of the strike is.

Now that you have the strike plate outlined in the appropriate spot on the jam you can now take the chisel and make a recess where the strike is going to go. You don't want to take too much wood out of the door jam, just enough to let the strike plate fit flush. Now you need to cut a deeper hole in the middle where the actual strike is going to sit in the strike plate. Make that hole at least a half inch deep and the diameter of the hole should be just a tiny bit bigger then the strike needs. Once this is done and looking good just screw the strike plate on and that part is finished.

The last common thing you might encounter is the door hinges. If you are using the original ones then outline them on the door in the proper locations that you measured and cut them a flush hole with the chisel. Make sure that you cut these holes on the appropriate side of the door so that it swings properly. If you are using new hinges then you need to make sure that they fit the holes that were previously in the door jam. Some hinge hardware comes in a square shape and some have rounded edges so if the old ones were rounded and the new ones are square you'll need to cut the new shape into the door.

I really hope this helped you save some time installing your new doors and if you get a chance check out our website athttp://www.shopkeylesslocks.com

About the Author

Sean Martin is a security professional who has been in the business for a number of years. He currently owns interests in Time Lock Inc. and www.shopkeylesslocks.com.

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